Classical Happy Hour

Jeri-Lou Zike is a violinist, entrepreneur, triathlete, and a fixture in Chicago's music scene.

Rubén Dubrovsky is a conductor and multi-instrumentalist based in Vienna, Austria. He founded and directs Bach Consort Wien (Vienna), and Third Coast Baroque (Chicago). He was also appointed the new music director of the Gärtnerplatz Theater in Munich beginning in September 2023. We played La Vieja. Recorded in Evanston, IL, USA.

Heather Boehm is a violinist, violist, contractor, and President of the Theater Musicians Association- nationally and in Chicago. She played in the orchestra for Hamilton, and handles the music for the Goodman Theater. An active freelancer, she can be heard all over Chicago performing in everything from pop/rock concerts to musicals. We played a canon by G.P. Telemann. Recorded in Chicago, IL, USA...

Ingrid Matthews is a Professor of Baroque violin and Historical Performance at Indiana University. She also founded the Seattle Baroque Orchestra and directed it for many years. We performed the Sarabande from violin Partita No. 1, BWV 1002, in my Bachfor2 arrangement (Volume 2). Recorded in Staunton, Virginia, USA.

Ruben Valenzuela is founder and Artistic Director of Bach Collegium San Diego and Director of Music at All Souls' Episcopal Church in San Diego. We played the Larghetto from Handel's sonata in G minor HWV 364. Recorded in San Diego, CA, USA.

John Mark Rozendaal is a cellist and violist da gamba based in New York City. He runs the Viola da Gamba Dojo and plays with L'estrange Viols, Trio Settecento, and Brandywine Baroque. Recorded in Wilmington, DE, USA.

Cynthia Freivogel is a violinist based in Amsterdam. Among her current jobs, she leads Combattimento and the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado. She can also be heard (with me) playing the opening music of every Classical Happy Hour episode. We played the Largo of Divertimento Primo from Carlo Tessarini's Il maestro e discepolo , Op. 2. Recorded in Denver, Colorado, USA.

David Schrader is an organist, harpsichordist, pianist, and retired university professor. We played a tipsy rendition of the first 2 movements of Sonata 5 from Henry Eccles' first book of sonatas (which we previously recorded in 2014 as Callipygian Players). Preludio, and Adagio. Recorded in Chicago, IL, USA.

Rachel Barton Pine is a violinist based in Chicago. We discuss her diverse tastes in music (including heavy metal), and other topics. We play my arrangement of Bach's longest fugue -the C major (available in Bachfor2 Volume 1) and also Rachel's arrangement of the slow movement from Vivaldi's Winter concerto. Recorded in Chicago, IL.

Nicholas Kraemer is a conductor and harpsichordist based in London. He is principal guest conductor with Chicago's Music of the Baroque. Recorded in Chicago.

John Lenti is one of America's greatest players of the theorbo. We discuss how that happened, his upcoming projects, and we play Sonata Quarta by Johan Schmelzer from Sonate Unarum Fidium (1664). Recorded in San Diego, California.

Derek Reeves is principal violist with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and plays jazz, rock and classical music across the US. We talk about his diverse skills, and his upcoming collaborations. Recorded in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Musical selection: Chaconne by Louis Couperin, arr. for violin and viola by Martin Davids. Sheet music available at: www.bachfor2.com/melisma  It's in Volume 1 of French Du...

My guest is David Yearsley, organist, musicologist, and writer. We discuss Bach, his recent book, Sex, Death, and Minuets, and other topics. Then we play Galliard Ex D, by Heinrich Scheidemann in a violin/organ arrangement. Recorded in Ithaca, NY.

In this episode I talk with Edwin Huizinga, violinist, about his new album Alma, and other things. At the end we play Andante from J.S. Bach's second sonata for solo violin, arranged by me for two violins. Music available at www.bachfor2.com. It's in Volume 2. recorded in Wilmington, Delaware.