Sunday Baroque Conversations

Emily Lau is a composer, singer, teacher and restauranteur who has carved out her own, unique career blending many art forms – and her projects often bridge the gaps between ancient music and modern themes. Her work includes helping creative people channel their empathetic impulses in healthy ways, and impart a spirit of true understanding and collaboration. Suzanne spoke with Emily Lau about what she's most passionate about in this moment.

Mexican musician Krishnasol Jiménez is an expert in baroque guitar and lute, and historical performance practice. He studied in his native Mexico City, as well as in Spain and Switzerland. Krishnasol Jiménez talked with Suzanne about his career in music, including his collaboration with singer Maria Cristina Kiehr and bassist Roberto Koch on a program that combines music by Spanish baroque composers Santiago de Murcia and Gaspar Sanz with Son Jarocho, present-day folk music from Veracruz in South Mexico. He also shared the story of how he was allowed perform and record on an extraordinary and rare instrument.

Laury Gutiérrez is a performer, scholar, teacher, and passionate advocate for underrepresented musicians. The Venezuelan viola da gamba player became a Fellow in 2008–2009 for the Harvard Radcliffe Institute working on a project to develop the repertory of music composed by Italian women into concert and educational programs for performance and professional recordings. Suzanne spoke with Laury Gutiérrez about her work as an instrumentalist and scholar, and her passion and enthusiasm for music.

Award winning cellist Bion Tsang is an international soloist and chamber musician, as well as a teacher. He recently released a recording of Johann Sebastian Bach's 6 Suites for Unaccompanied Cello – the "holy grail" for all serious cellists. Bion Tsang's performance is extra-special because he used an extraordinary instrument considered one of the world's finest. Suzanne spoke with Bion Tsang about Bach, the instrument, and his passion for music.

Johann Sebastian Bach's Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello are such exquisite compositions that it's not only cellists who are eager to play them. Zachary Carrettín is a violinist, violist, and conductor. He has a new recording of Bach's Cello Suites played on viola, and he joined Suzanne to talk about it, and about his varied career as a musician.

Rafael Sanchez Guevara is a viola da gamba player and cellist based in his hometown of Mexico City. Suzanne discovered one of his exquisite performances on YouTube and featured it on her daily BEAUTIFUL MUSIC blog. She connected with the musician about his early introduction to music, his passion for the baroque era, and his international career as a performer and teacher.

Award-winning American musician Richard Danielpour is a prolific composer, and many of his high-profile works have embraced timely, topical and historic subjects. In early 2020, Danielpour was deeply troubled by COVID-19. Suffering from insomnia and anxiety, he found solace in pianist Simone Dinnerstein's Bach recordings. As he witnessed extraordinary heroism by so many people across the country, Danielpour wanted to honor them. It seemed only natural to write something for solo piano, and to ask Simone Dinnerstein to give the premiere of his composition, An American Mosaic. Richard Danielpour spoke with Suzanne about his new work, Bach, Simone Dinnerstein, and more.

Dr. Joyce Chen is an award-winning harpsichordist who performs frequently as a soloist and in various ensembles in the northeast US, across the country, and internationally. She is a woman of many talents, interests and accomplishments, and Suzanne was fortunate to speak with her about some of them, including her pandemic-era apprenticeship in making her own harpsichord!

Bassoonist Andrew Brady is at the top of the top tier instrumentalists. Immediately after graduating from the prestigious Colburn School in Los Angeles he won the audition to become Principal Bassoonist in the Louisiana Philharmonic in 2013. Soon after, he earned the Principal Bassoon job in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. The young virtuoso has also long been deeply committed to his family and to community service. Andrew Brady spoke with Suzanne about how he started playing bassoon, and what he hopes to accomplish in his future.

Acclaimed soprano Sherezade Panthaki has an international career as a singer, teacher, and expert in the field of baroque and early music. Born and raised in India, Ms. Panthaki began her musical education at an early age, first as an accomplished pianist, until she discovered that singing was a more personal and expressive means for her to connect with audiences. Sherezade Panthaki chatted with Suzanne about her career, and some of the music she finds most compelling.