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In Modern Style - Music from 17th century Italy
February 27th - March 3rd, 2024
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The beginning of the 17th century ushered in the earliest music in what we now refer to as ‘baroque’ style. Composers, notably in Italy, made a radical departure from the complex polyphony of the late 16th century in favour of a more direct expression of the poetic text, setting one or more sung or played lines to a harmonized bass line (basso continuo). Monteverdi referred to this new style as the seconda prattica, and it also became known as stile moderno, or le nuove musiche.
The 2024 Pacific Baroque Festival will include an intimate morning concert of this repertoire by La Modestine (Marc Destrubé, Natalie Mackie, Marco Vitale), performances by Italian master organist Edoardo Bellotti on the spectacular Wolff organ of Christ Church Cathedral and the Brombaugh one-manual organ at St Barnabas Church, a program of instrumental music for violins and sackbuts, as well as a selection of madrigals from Claudio Monteverdi’s “Songs of Love and War” with an ensemble of emerging singers from the Victoria region.
Artist Biographies
Marc Destrubé
Canadian violinist Marc Destrube is a musical polymath - soloist, chamber musician, concertmaster, orchestral leader and teacher - whose career straddles the contemporary and “early music” worlds.
Marc grew up in Victoria BC and started violin lessons at 9. Following studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, he attended the University of Toronto and the University of Western Ontario and became an active freelancer.
He was a founding member of Tafelmusik in Toronto and was soon invited to play with leading early music orchestras and ensembles in Europe.
He’s traveled the world and made dozens of recordings as co-concertmaster of the Orchestra of the 18th Century. He’s led the Belgian ensemble Anima Eterna, the Academy of Ancient Music and the Hanover Band. He’s toured with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and is concertmaster of the Oregon Bach Festival Baroque Orchestra. He’s been concertmaster of the CBC Radio Orchestra and music director of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra.
Today, he’s a member of the Axelrod String Quartet, quartet-in-residence at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., which plays on the museum’s exceptional collection of Stradivari and Amati instruments; Vancouver’s Turning Point Ensemble, which specializes in contemporary music, and the Microcosmos Quartet, whose repertoire ranges far and wide.
Edoardo Bellotti
Internationally renowned organist and harpsichordist Edoardo Bellotti is considered a leading expert of Renaissance and Baroque keyboard repertory and improvisation. In addition to his musical studies (Piano, Organ, Harpsichord) he studied humanities at the University of Pavia, his Italian native town, completing degrees in philosophy and theology.
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Alongside teaching and performing, he has devoted himself to musicological research, publishing articles, essays and critical editions of organ music and presenting his work in international conferences. He has edited the first modern edition of two of the most important Baroque treatises on organ playing: Adriano Banchieri L’ Organo suonarino (Venice 1605), and Spiridion a Monte Carmelo Nova Instructio pro pulsandis organis (Bamberg 1670). Bellotti has published over 30 CDs, both as a soloist and in collaboration with vocal and instrumental ensembles, with the mission to document and make known historical instruments and their repertoire.
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Edoardo Bellotti taught organ and harpsichord performance and theory and practice of improvisation in several European institutions, including the conservatories of Milan, Trento, Udine and Pavia (Italy), Trossingen and Bremen (Germany) and has been invited as guest teacher in many institutions in Europe, Japan, South Korea, Canada and the United States. From 2013 to 2018, he served as an Associate Professor of Organ at the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester. In October 2018, he was invited to coordinate a new curriculum at the University of the Arts in Bremen (Germany) where he taught Organ, Clavichord and Improvisation. In September 2023, he returned to Eastman as Associate Professor of Harpsichord, teaching Historical Keyboards and Continuo.
Natalie Mackie
Natalie Mackie studied cello at the Conservatoire de Musique (Québec), followed by a degree from the School of Music, University of British Columbia. While at UBC she was introduced to the viola da gamba, and following graduation, she pursued further studies at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague.
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Natalie has played with many ensembles in Canada and the US, including New World Consort, Les Coucous Bénévoles, Tafelmusik, Portland, and Seattle Baroque Orchestras, Les Voix Humaines, Tempo Rubato, Les Voix Baroque, Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, Victoria Baroque Players, and Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra among others.
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Natalie is a member of Pacific Baroque Orchestra and the chamber ensemble “La Modestine”- both Vancouver-based ensembles.
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She has toured throughout Canada, Europe, and the US and recorded for Radio France, German Radio, BBC, CBC, and NPR, as well as the Canadian label Atma Classique.
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Natalie is a regular performer in the Pacific Baroque Festival, held annually in Victoria, BC, and teaches in the Baroque Orchestra Mentorship Program at the University of British Columbia.
Marco Vitale
Marco Vitale was born in Palermo, Italy. After finishing studies in his hometown, he attended the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague where he studied harpsichord with Ton Koopman and organ with Jos van der Kooy, graduating with a master’s degree in Early Music. Throughout his career Marco has performed at the most prestigious venues and festivals throughout Europe, the USA, Canada, South America, the Middle East and Asia. From 2008-2011 Marco Vitale worked at the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus, Syria, where he taught early music performance practice and performed concerts together with Syrian musicians.
He is the co-founder and musical director of Contrasto Armonico, an ensemble specializing in Baroque operas and the performance of music in the Italian style, using period instruments and historically informed performance practices. In 2012 he founded his own record label ayros, and is currently involved in recording the Complete Italian Cantatas by Handel, a thrilling project that will bring to light many undiscovered jewels of Handel’s which have yet to be either edited or recorded. Marco has appeared on several radio and TV broadcasts, including the specialized music channel Mezzo.tv. In addition to ayros, he has recorded for Alia Vox, Naïve, and Brilliant Classics.
Marco has a truly international reputation as a harpsichordist and teacher of baroque music performance. He cooperated with many international institutions giving masterclasses, lectures and workshops at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, Fondazione Paolo Grassi in Martina Franca (Italy), ESMUC in Barcelona, the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus, the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and the University of Victoria in BC.
Between 2021 and 2023 Marco lived and worked at the West Coast of Canada, in Victoria (British Columbia) cooperating with institutions like Victoria Baroque, Victoria Symphony, Early Music Society of the Islands, Denman Baroque as well as being music director at St. Barnabas Anglican church.
He is a member of the ensemble La Modestine with Marc Destrubé and Natalie Mackie.
Marco regularly performs with Jordi Savall and his ensembles Le Concert des Nations and Hespèrion XXI.
He moved to Vienna in the summer 2023, where he works as a harpsichordist for Orchester 1756 and as lecturer at Early Music institute of the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts (MDW). In the summer semester of 2024, Marco takes over the subject of Literature Studies with thoroughbass at the Institute for Early Music and Performance Practice at the University of Arts in Graz (Austria).
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Check out his website at: marcovitale.art
Kathryn Wiebe
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Originally from Windsor, Ontario, Kathryn is an active & versatile freelance violinist and educator on Vancouver Island. Her passionate and intuitive musicianship has brought her the opportunity to perform with distinguished ensembles around Canada, in orchestral, chamber, and solo opportunities. Currently, she regular performs with the Victoria Symphony, Victoria Baroque Players, Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Pacific Baroque Festival, and has appeared as a guest leader/violinist for Per Sonatori Baroque Ensemble in Regina, Saskatchewan. She can be heard on various CBC In Concert broadcasts, as well as the album, “La riche canadienne: The Music of Elinor Dunsmuir”, a local project which premieres a collection of post-romantic, recently-unearthed chamber works by the fascinating Canadian composer.
She studied at the University of Toronto and University of Michigan under the tutelage of the late Yehonatan Berick as a merit scholar. Over the years, she has brought her talent various music festivals, including the Berwick Academy at the Oregon Bach Festival, Brott Music Festival, Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, Domaine Forget, National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and Interlochen Centre for the Arts.
As an educator, Kathryn has a private studio of budding musicians, and has been an adjudicator for Campbell River and Cowichan Valley Music Festivals. She is also currently on faculty as Violin Coach and Orchestra/Ensemble conductor and organizer at the Comox Valley Youth Music Centre.
As a busy entrepreneur, Kathryn is the owner, artistic director, and avid arranger of Cascadia Strings, a highly sought-after, award-winning professional event music company, as well as a concert chamber ensemble, providing live music and unique concert experiences from Victoria to Whistler and everywhere in between. In this venture, Kathryn’s goal is to bridge the gap between classical music and more popular genres, bringing audiences of all demographics and interests to live concerts.
Kathryn lives in Esquimalt with her husband and musical partner, Tyson Doknjas, as well as their delightful 2 year old son, Aidan. Kathryn and Tyson enjoy performing concerts together, under the name of “Sombrio Duo”, both independently, and through organizations such as Health Arts Society, where they have the opportunity to perform at various retirement and assisted living homes. They especially enjoy unearthing rarely-heard or performed works for two violins, as well as arranging their own renditions of other repertoire for the unique instrumentation.
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Check out her website at: kathrynwiebe.com
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Robert Fraser
Robert Fraser (goes by “Bob”) is the bass trombonist in the Victoria Symphony, a position he has held since 1990. He has also worked with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Island Symphony Orchestra, and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Since 2007 Bob has given the pre-concert lectures before all the Victoria Symphony’s Main Series programmes and has been actively involved in the symphony’s outreach.
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A native of Neepawa, MB, Bob was educated at Brandon University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Music Education, and McGill University, where he earned a Licentiate Diploma in trombone. In 2002, Bob went back to school to earn his master’s degree at the University of Victoria, where he did a double-major in musicology/performance. His M.A. Thesis was a repertoire study of six Canadian symphony orchestras, examining and cataloguing performances of works by Canadian composers. His trombone teachers included John Miller (Winnipeg/Brandon), Ted Griffith (McGill) and Ian McDougall (UVic).
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Besides being a passionate advocate for orchestral music, Bob has been a chorister for his whole life and is currently an active member of the choirs at Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria and the Vox Humana Chamber Choir. He was a member of the very first National Youth Choir of Canada in 1984. He is also a keen devotee of both jazz and early music (he plays both tenor and bass baroque sackbuts and numerous early wind instruments). Since 2007 he has performed early wind music with “A Great Noyse” – Victoria’s Renaissance Wind Band, a group that specializes in music for consorts of wind instruments from the pre-Baroque era. He has also done numerous recitals of early chamber music for strings, voices, and trombones with his wife, violinist Ann Fraser, and colleagues at the Cathedral.
Jeremy Berkman
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A graduate of Juilliard School of Music and Oberlin Conservatory and College (with degrees in music and economics), trombonist Jeremy Berkman currently performs on sackbut with Cappella Borealis, and on modern trombone with the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, The Peggy Lee Band (led by cellist Peggy Lee), and Turning Point Ensemble (TPE). Jeremy first played sackbut more than 25 years ago, but more recently has been more seriously exploring the instrument and its repertoire guided by Greg Ingles, with whom he studied at the Madison Early Music Festival in 2019. Jeremy has performed in various ensembles produced by Early Music Vancouver, and is thrilled by this invitation from the Pacific Baroque Festival. He also feels so fortunate to be performing on the first sackbut built by Vancouver Island resident master brass instrument builder Andrew Clark. Jeremy has contributed to over 30 commercial recordings, and is featured with the Bozzini String Quartet in Still Image (music of Owen Underhill) on the Centerdisc label. Jeremy is a Sessional Instructor of Trombone and coaches chamber music at the University of British Columbia.
Antoine Malette-Chénier
Bringing his musical expertise and creativity to every field in which he engages, Canadian harpist Antoine Malette-Chénier plays a repertoire ranging from the Renaissance and the Baroque, on period instruments, to contemporary creations. An active orchestral musician, Antoine holds the Principal Harp chair with the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières, and has played with many ensembles in Canada, France, and the United States, including the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Les Violons du Roy, the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, and Les Voix humaines. Antoine has won many awards, including the 2014 Michael Measures prize from the Canada Council for the Arts, a first prize at the 2013 Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Competition, and two scholarships from the National Arts Centre Orchestra. As the winner of top prizes in several concerto competitions, he was awarded soloist appearances with orchestras in Canada, Hungary, France, and the United States. He was a guest artist at the 2007 Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, and at the 11th World Harp Congress in 2011, in Vancouver. He received the prize for the best interpretation of a work in any style at the Prix d’Europe Competition in Montréal in 2012, as well as the Second Prize, and the Jury’s Prize in 2017. Antoine Malette-Chénier, a graduate of McGill University and the Université de Montréal, holds master’s degrees in harp performance from Yale University, and in historical harp performance from the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Lyon.
His first solo album, Consolations released with ATMA Classique, is available everywhere.
Follow him at facebook.com/leharpiste and instagram.com/leharpiste.
Christina Mahler
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Dutch cellist Christina Mahler grew up in a musical family. Her mother, a professional violinist, gave up her career for the family. All five children played instruments. Christina’s earliest chamber music experience came from ensemble playing at home. Her dream was to be a professional cellist playing in a chamber orchestra, just about the size of Tafelmusik. After five years of study with Anner Bijlsma in the Hague, the opportunity presented itself in 1981. She immigrated to Canada to serve as principal cellist of the Tafelmusik Orchestra, a position she held until 2019.
Christina always had a special affinity for baroque music, as well as a passion for 18th and 19th century chamber music. She can often be heard playing music by composers such as Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Brahms or Mendelssohn in solo recitals or with small ensembles. Reviews have praised her for her colourful sound, energetic playing and insightful musicianship.
She has played and recorded numerous concertos, including works by Boccherini, Haydn, Vivaldi, C.P.E. Bach and Leo. Christina can be heard on over 80 recordings on multiple labels including Sony, Hyperion, CBC, BMG, Atma and Analekta. She is a devoted and gifted teacher and students have come from around the world to study with her, not only through the Tafelmusik Summer and Winter Institutes, but also at the University of Toronto and in her private studio.
After 38 years as principal cellist of Tafelmusik, Christina has moved to Victoria where she is focusing on chamber music and pursuing her hobbies, such as pottery.
Jayne Hammond
Praised for her “clear soprano voice” (Winnipeg Free Press), Jayne Hammond has recently returned to her hometown of Victoria after eight years in Winnipeg. She embraces repertoire ranging from Baroque to world premieres, appearing as a soloist with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Opera Victoria, the Victoria Symphony, the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Winnipeg, the Pacific Baroque Festival, the Victoria Baroque Players, Opera NUOVA, and Living Room Live.
Favourite operatic credits include Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Clorinda (La Cenerentola), Poppea (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Elsie Maynard (The Yeomen of the Guard), and Casilda (The Gondoliers). Her love of concert repertoire has resulted in performances of Handel’s Silete venti (Pacific Baroque Festival), Bach and Buxtehude’s Wachet auf! (Victoria Baroque Players), Stravinsky’s Les Noces (UM Singers), Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate (UM Symphony Orchestra), and Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 2: Lobegesang (Wind Chamber Concert Series).
A passionate advocate of new music, Jayne was a finalist in the Eckhardt-Gramatté competition and has premiered works by Canadian composers including Gordon Fitzell, David Foley, Kristen Wachniak, and Rebekah Cummings. She earned praise for her “mesmerizing” interpretation of the final aria (Opera Canada) as Milica in Ana Sokolović’s Svadba for Manitoba Underground Opera.
Offstage, Jayne is proud to be the Director of Development for the Victoria Conservatory of Music. She holds a BMus and Opera Diploma from Wilfrid Laurier University and an MMus from the University of Manitoba, where she studied with Tracy Dahl.
Celeste Lingas
Celeste Lingas is a soprano hailing from Oxford, England who travelled to Canada to pursue her undergraduate studies in music at the University of Victoria. Since commencing her studies in voice with Benjamin Butterfield, Celeste has been both chorister and soloist for various university ensembles and played Diane in a semi-staged production of Charpentier's Actéon.
Beyond the university, notable highlights of her time since leaving England include joining the Victoria Symphony for a performance of Mozart's Requiem, participating in the Portland Byrd Festival, and singing as soprano soloist for Bach on the Rock's Messiah.
Celeste also devotes her time to the parallel study of Byzantine Chant. She is the current Protopsaltria (Head Chanter) at Ypapanti Greek Orthodox Church in Victoria, where she runs the cantor's stand and teaches. The intersection of her experience in these different traditions is fundamental to her love of music, and she endeavours always to inform her art with that variety.
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Carson Moore
Carson Moore is a rising young artist in Victoria BC. A recent graduate of the University of Victoria, he received a Bachelor of Music studying under Benjamin Butterfield. He now performs with a variety of musicians and directors in Victoria BC, including the Victoria Philharmonic Choir directed by Peter Butterfield, the Christ Church Cathedral Choir directed by Donald Hunt, the Victoria Choral Society directed by Brian Wismuth. He has recently performed as the alto soloist in Christ Church Cathedral’s Messiah from Scratch, and with the Victoria Philharmonic Choir’s production of J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.
Cassidy Stahr
Equipped with a bright, bell-like voice, mezzo-soprano Cassidy Stahr (B'Mus 2020) works as a vocalist and B&B manager of a heritage house in Victoria. Cassidy loves choral singing as well as soloing; she was a choral scholar at Christ Church Cathedral for 5 years, and returns occasionally to sing with the Cathedral Choir ensembles.
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Recent productions include The Consul (Secretary) and the musical Tuck Everlasting (Mae) with Opera NUOVA. In the chorus at Pacific Opera Victoria, she appeared in the Canadian premiere of The Birds, and she sung a feature chorus role in Ainadamar in February. She has been a concert soloist with the Victoria Philharmonic Choir, Victoria Chamber Orchestra, and Bach on the Rock on Saltspring Island.
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Throughout her undergraduate degree, Cassidy was a chief organizer of the award-winning UVic Vocal Jazz and Contemporary Music Ensemble, and she stepped in as the director form 2021-22. She regularly composes arrangements for solo and small-ensemble vocal jazz groups. She now sings background vocals and dances for The Midnights R&B band in Victoria, which toured to Denmark last summer to play in Copenhagen, and Aalborg's Den Blå Festival.
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This is her second concert this year with Pacific Baroque, after having performed as a concert soloist in Old Music for the New Year at Christ Church Cathedral.
Adam Dyjach
A native of Waterloo Ontario, Adam commenced his musical education at Wilfrid Laurier University in Voice Performance under the direction of Kimberly Barber. He now resides in Victoria, BC where he completed his Masters in Voice Performance with Benjamin Butterfield at the University of Victoria.
Adam has performed both as a soloist solo and member of the ensemble with various groups on Vancouver Island and the mainland including the Vancouver Island Symphony, Victoria Baroque, Handel Society of Music, Capriccio Vocal Ensemble, Bach on the Rock, Capriccio Vocal Ensemble, Via Choralis, Sooke Philharmonic Choir, Victoria Baroque Festival, Civic Orchestra of Victoria, La Modestine, Victoria Choral Society, North Island Choral Society, Malaspina Choir, Victoria Philharmonic Choir, Oceanside Concert Choir and the Cowichan Consort.
Adam currently sings at Fairfield United and St. John Henry Newman churches and is also a member of the Vancouver Island Chamber Choir. In addition to performing, Adam teaches music lessons out of his home studio AD Music and at the Taber Music School.
To find out more about Adam go to adamdyjach.com
Tim Carter
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Calgarian-born tenor Tim Carter currently resides in Victoria BC and recently completed his Master of Music at the University of Victoria, studying under Benjamin Butterfield. Taking a round-a-bout path to becoming a singer, Tim studied Psychology at the University of Calgary for years before making the switch, completing his Bachelor of Music at UofC under Dr. Laura Hynes. Having a keen passion for the study of languages, as well as a deep love of performing, opera was a natural fit. Tim is in the early stages of his career and is particularly excited about Early Music and Baroque opera. Monteverdi has always held a special place in Tim’s repertoire, and he is particularly excited to be working with this fabulous ensemble to bring this music to life!
Louis Dillon
Louis first discovered his abilities and love of singing when his mother, a voice teacher, made him choose between voice lessons or paying rent after high school. He made the wise choice to sing and hasn’t stopped learning since. Originally from Halfmoon Bay, BC, he currently resides in Victoria where he completed his Diploma in Music Performance at the Victoria Conservatory of Music.
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Spurred on by mentors Ingrid Attrot and Nancy Argenta, Louis is eager to share his love of music through performance and teaching students of his own. He fell under the spell of opera early on, first joining Pacific Opera Victoria’s chorus in 2015 and appearing most recently as Maestro in their 2024 production of Ainadamar. He has taken the stage in operas, oratorios, recitals, churches, care facilities, and—on one memorable occasion—anchored in a kayak in Victoria’s Inner Harbour.
Jordan Rettich
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Born in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Jordan Rettich has been an avid singer since he began as a boy soprano in The Pacific Mennonite Children’s Choir. He has since trained as a classical singer under Susan Young and Benjamin Butterfield at the University of Victoria, where he explored many styles of soloistic, large ensemble, and small ensemble singing, including jazz, Romantic art song, Baroque opera, and Renaissance madrigals. He graduated with a Bachelor of Musical Arts in 2022.
Since then, Jordan has had the privilege of being repeatedly hired to sing with several local choirs as a choral scholar, including The Victoria Choral Society, The Victoria Philharmonic Choir, Vox Humana, and The Cathedral Choir of Christ Church Cathedral. He also sang with Pacific Opera Victoria’s opera chorus for their Spring 2022 production of Don Giovanni and during their entire 2022/2023 season, which included Carmen, the Canadian premiere of Walter Braunfels’ The Birds, and Così fan tutte. Choir leaders cite not only Jordan’s proficiency as a musician, possessing a “sapid, rich” tone, but his professional, eager, and good-natured manner of collaborating with his colleagues
