Friday Music Series Presents: Capitol Baryton

The baryton is a stringed instrument that enjoyed popularity during the 17th and 18th centuries. A member of the viola da gamba family, it features six or seven bowed strings and up to 11 sympathetic strings which are plucked. Franz Josef Haydn, an Austrian composer of the Classical period, composed around 175 works for the baryton, making him the most prolific composer for this instrument. His compositions for baryton include divertimenti, 126 trios, 25 duos and 3 concertos (sadly lost). The baryton compositions are characterized by their melodic richness, expressive qualities, and the integration of the instrument’s unique capabilities, such as the ability to play both bowed and plucked sounds. Haydn’s patron, Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, was an avid baryton player, who inspired the composer to create a significant body of work for the instrument. These compositions often showcase the baryton in combination with other instruments, creating a delightful and harmonically rich musical experience. Haydn’s baryton compositions contribute to the historical legacy of this distinctive instrument and highlight his versatility as a composer.

Amy Domingues performs on the cello and viola da gamba. Her early career found her honing her ensemble skills as a session cellist, recording and touring with rock and experimental bands in the USA, Europe, and Japan. Later, armed with a strong interest in music history, Amy turned her focus to the viola da gamba and baroque cello. Following several years of study, including masterclasses with Wieland Kuijken, Paolo Pandolfo, and Philippe Pierlot, she earned a master’s degree in Early Music from Peabody Conservatory. Amy has enjoyed an ambitious career as a historically informed musician, performing on baroque cello and viola da gamba with groups as varied as The Folger Consort, Hesperus, and The Washington Bach Consort. Amy is a founding member of Sonnambula (Ensemble in Residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art 2018-2019), and co-founder of Corda Nova Baroque.  She is an avid educator and maintains a private studio of cello and gamba students. Ms. Domingues has served as faculty at the Madison Early Music Festival, the Conclave of the Viola da Gamba Society, and appears on over 70 albums, most recently Sonnambula’s world premiere of Leonora Duarte’s Sinfonias (Centaur Records 2019). She resides in Washington, DC with her husband and two cats.

John Moran enjoys a broad-ranging musical career. He holds performance degrees from Oberlin and the Schola Cantorum in Basel as well as a PhD in musicology from King’s College London. His own formative teachers have included Brigitte Czernik-Gruenther, Robert Ashby, Richard Kapuscinski, Catharina Meints, and Hannelore Mueller. He teaches viol, baroque cello, and musicology at the Peabody Conservatory, where he and Risa Browder are founding co-directors of the school’s critically acclaimed Baltimore Baroque Band. Moran is artistic director of Modern Musick, in residence at Georgetown University. He is a longtime principal player with the Washington Bach Consort and co-creator of that group’s Wunderkind Projekt, an outreach program that introduces Washington, D.C. Public School students to Bach cantatas. He has performed and recorded with many of Europe and North America’s leading period-instrument ensembles. The Washington Post has called his Bach “eloquent”, and praised the “bravado” of his Boccherini and the “nimble fluency” of his Vivaldi, while the LA Times has written, “Cellist Moran projected vigorous and expressive bass lines.” He is a contributor to the revised New Grove Dictionary of Music (2001), is writing a historical monograph on the cello for Yale University Press, and is currently president of the Kindler Cello Society of Washington, D.C., and vice president of the Viola da Gamba Society of America. He is married to the violinist Risa Browder.

Risa Browder has performed with the Folger Consort, Washington Bach Consort, Smithsonian Chamber Players, REBEL, English Concert, London Baroque, Consort of Musicke, London Classical Players, Academy of Ancient Music, Hanover Band, Florilegium, Musiciens du Louvre, and Purcell Quartet. Her recording credits include Chandos, Hyperion, Dorian, Virgin Classics, Erato, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI. She is the concertmaster of Modern Musick. Ms. Browder earned a MusB at Oberlin Conservatory, studied at the Royal College of Music in London, and pursued post-graduate study at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland.

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