About Ensemble Chaconne

…excellently played with vitality and character…The Ensemble Chaconne is an American group founded in 1985 and has made a specialism of the music of this period; they play with style and verve. "
                                                    ~ MusicWeb International

​Ensemble Chaconne enthralls audiences with dramatic period-instrument performances of music from Renaissance and Baroque Europe. Repertoire ranges from well-known masterpieces to recently discovered works. Peter H. Bloom (renaissance and baroque flutes), Carol Lewis (viola da gamba), and Olav Chris Henriksen (lute, theorbo and early guitar) bring exhilaration and theatrical intensity to an intimate chamber setting.

At the National Gallery, London

"Ensemble Chaconne, both in its individuals and together, is a powerhouse of great playing" ~ Classical Voice of North Carolina

Founded in 1985, Ensemble Chaconne concertizes extensively, with tours in England, Ontario, and throughout the United States. The ensemble has performed at London's National Gallery; Atlanta's famed Spivey Hall; the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Residency at Davidson College; the venerable Edison Theatre in St. Louis; The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa; The Bach Festival Society of Winter Park Florida; Boston’s legendary Jordan Hall; and The Yale Center for British Art, to name a few. 

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Ensemble Chaconne with mezzo-soprano Burcu Gulec

At St Mary Le Tower, Ipswich, UK

​Ensemble Chaconne - Bios

​Peter H. Bloom, renaissance and baroque flutes, whose playing has been called “a revelation for unforced sweetness and strength” (The Boston Globe), concertizes in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand; is featured on 47 recordings (Sony Classical, Dorian, Leo Records, other labels); and is a winner of the American Musicological Society’s Noah Greenberg Award for “distinguished contribution to the study and performance of early music.”  His career encompasses chamber music from the Renaissance to the 21st century, as well as jazz standards, blues, bebop, free improvisation and the avant-garde.   Mr. Bloom tours internationally with Ensemble Chaconne and other noted groups. As a specialist in historical flutes, he has given lecture-recitals for Animusic Portugal (Braga), The New York Flute Club,  The American Musical Instrument Society, The National Flute Association, Early Music Boulder, Historic Macon (Georgia) and others, and has curated period-instrument recordings for The New York Historical Society, The American Museum of Britain (Bath, UK), and the American Antiquarian Society.  He lectures and performs regularly at The Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and has recorded for the Museum's audio guide to woodwinds.  He is author of the Alfred G. Badger entry in the Lexikon der Flöte.  Mr. Bloom is contributing editor for Noteworthy Sheet Music. 

The viola da gamba playing of Carol Lewis has been called "quick-speaking, prismatic, sweet-sounding" (The Boston Globe). She has demonstrated her musical virtuosity and versatility as a soloist in recitals in the United States and abroad, as well as in performances of cantatas and Passions by Bach and others.  A former student of Jordi Savall, Ms. Lewis holds a soloist diploma from the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Basel, Switzerland).  She is an accomplished ensemble musician, having toured and recorded extensively with Hespèrion, the Boston Camerata, and Capriccio Stravagante.  Recent performances include appearances with Hespèrion at the Cleveland Museum of Art and Baylor University, and with the Boston Camerata at Dumbarton Oaks (Washington, DC), the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum concert series (Boston, MA), and the Radio France Auditorium (Paris). She has recorded on Astrée, EMI, Lyrichord, Harmonia Mundi, Nonesuch, Erato, Atma Classique and Koch International.  
Ms. Lewis has taught at Festival dei Saraceni (Pamparato, Italy), Milano Civica Scuola di Musica (Italy), New England Conservatory of Music, Amherst Early Music, and the annual summer conclave of the Viola da Gamba Society of America, and she has lectured at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  She is a co-founder of the Society for Historically Informed Performance.  The Boston Herald called her playing “brilliantly florid,” and the Centre Presse (Poitiers, France) admired her “technique and musicality, her breathtaking dexterity.”

​Olav Chris Henriksen acclaimed throughout Europe and North America as a soloist on lute, theorbo and early guitars, is also a much sought-after ensemble player, performing and recording with the Boston Camerata, Handel & Haydn Society, Waverly Consort, Boston Baroque, Emmanuel Music, Musicians of the Old Post Road, Four Nations Ensemble, and Chanticleer, among others.  His playing has been hailed as "exemplary" (The Kansas City Star), "musically first-class" (The Boston Globe) and "powerful and vibrant" (Lute Society of America Quarterly). Performances include Monteverdi’s Vespers with the Cantata Singers and Bach’s St. John Passion with Emmanuel Music, concerts with the Boston Camerata in Paris and Normandy, and appearances at the Library of Congress (Washington, DC) and the Wadsworth Atheneum (Hartford, CT).  His solo recording, Guitar of the North, is on the Centaur label; his earlier solo recording, La Guitarre Royalle: French Baroque and Classical Guitar Music, is on the Museum Music label, and he has also recorded for Nonesuch, Erato, Pro Musica, Telarc and Decca.  He performs and lectures frequently at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, playing musical instruments from the Museum’s collection.  He has also lectured at Harvard University, Cambridge; Nelson Atkins Museum, Kansas City; Musikkhögskolen, Oslo; Aston Magna Academy, Rutgers University; and Lincoln Center Institute, New York.  He teaches at the Boston Conservatory and the University of Southern Maine.  The Boston Herald praised his playing, saying, “Henriksen was able to dazzle with his virtuosity in the fantastical figurations of John Dowland’s solo Fantasy for lute and Kapsberger’s similarly brilliant Toccata prima.”

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​Mezzo-soprano Burcu Gulec, guest artist, has performed in New York, Boston, Detroit, Seattle, and other U.S. locations, and throughout Turkey (in Ankara, Antalya, Kastamonu, and other cities). Acclaimed for charisma, versatility, and impressive vocal range, she has appeared with Grammy-nominated Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol, Robert Larabee, the early music/world music group Dünya, Ensemble Chaconne, Duo Maresienne, and other noted ensembles. 

Photos:  Robert Bigio and Heloise Tanglewood.    Video editing:  Mark Gardner, and WCTV Wilmington MA