ENSALADA is a ‘flexing ensemble’ formed in 2012 by a core group: violinist Lydia Forbes, cellist Myles Jordan, and guitarist/lutenist Timothy Burris. (‘Flexing’ refers to the occasional addition of other players when called for by the repertoire or the venue.)
Their repertoire includes sonatas from the mid- to late-Baroque, by composers such as Isabella Leonarda and J.S. Bach. The following video excerpt of Leonarda’s Sonata Duodecima was recording in concert in the Chapel of St Luke’s Cathedral, Portland.
Reviewer Allan Kozinn said of an Ensalada concert (in which they used expanded resources):
“The ensemble was at its best and most freewheeling in its version of Arcangelo Corelli’s “La Folia.” Usually heard in a version for solo violin with harpsichord accompaniment, the group re-orchestrated the piece for its combination of timbres, with individual players, duos and trios within the ensemble taking individual variations and frequently adding new turns of their own. Interesting as the other offerings were, a full program of arrangements like this would make for a killer evening.” — Portland Press Herald
Bios:
Lydia Forbes (Violin):
Lydia’s career has been guided by a singular intention — to delve as deeply as possible into the magic of great chamber music literature, old and new.
Lydia has concertized throughout Europe and the U.K. with Ensemble L’Archibudelli, Zephyr Kwartet, Het Schoenberg Ensemble, Sinfonietta Amsterdam, Het Blazers Ensemble, Osiris Piano Trio, I Fiamminghi, and Ensemble Explorations. During this time, she recorded with some of the world’s most prominent labels; Sony Classical, Harmonia Mundi, CNM, and for Vienna Modern Masters as soloist with the Czech Radio Philharmonic. She has also performed for festivals in Europe, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S. Lydia has also served as concertmaster for Het Orkest van het Oosten in the Netherlands.
Myles Jordan (cello and violoncello piccolo):
Myles Jordan worked as a child actor for CBC Television and the National Film Board of Canada before taking up the cello. Inspired by the North American premiere of the second Shostakovich cello concerto and a Casals master class, Myles asked for and received from his father a bright orange Hofner cello as a birthday present. He went on to train at the Banff School of Fine Arts in Alberta, the Britten-Pears School of Advanced Musical Studies in England, and at Schloss Weikersheim in Germany. In 1981, he won a Floyd S. Chalmers Foundation Award, which enabled him to study at the Juilliard School, and by 1983 he had earned two degrees there. From New York he moved to Philadelphia, where he served as associate principal cellist of the Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra, completed a Doctor of Musical Arts, and founded the DaPonte String Quartet.
Myles uses historical research to inform his musical performances so he can remain as faithful as possible to the composer’s original intentions. His Bach cello suites recording, available worldwide on the Centaur label, is the first to dispense with Pablo Casals’s interpretive model in favor of a conception based strictly on sources close to Bach, such as Johann Mattheson’s 1739 treatise Der vollkommene Capellmeister and written testimonies from Bach’s students. This recording drew a rave review from James Mannheim in the All Music Guide and Laurence Vittes, in Gramophone Magazine, described it as “astonishing.” Vittes lauds Myles’s break from the Casals model, indicating how his approach produces “a completely new spectrum” of interpretation that comes closer to Bach’s original conception than previous recorded performances.
Myles has delivered lectures on early music performance practice at both the University of North Texas Graduate School Early Music Division and the Boston Early Music Festival.
Timothy Burris (lute and guitar):
Timothy Burris has performed widely in Europe and the US, including appearances with world-renowned early music specialists Derek Lee Ragin and Jennifer Lane (he recorded two CDs for the PGM label with Ms Lane). Among his other seven recordings is Dido and Aeneas with Koorprojekt Rotterdam, on which he accompanied the celebrated Dutch mezzo-soprano Willeke te Brummelstroete in the role of Dido.
A Bach specialist on lute, his recordings Bach Meets Weiss and Ciaccona feature, respectively, Bach’s Third Lute Suite, BWV 995, and Mr Burris’ own transcription of the Bach Ciaccona for solo violin (from Partita No 2, BWV 1004). Since his first performance of the lute obbligato part to the St John’s Passion (“Betrachte, meine Seele”) with the Residentie Orkest of The Hague under the baton of the late Peter Schreier, he has developed a continuo part for arias and chorales throughout the work. Maine performances include with the Portland Symphony Orchestra, under Robert Moody, the Oratorio Chorale directed by Peter Frewen, and Anthony Antolini’s Bowdoin Chorus.
He also participated in the recreation of the Florentine Intermedii of 1589 with original instrumentation—including multiple lutes and keyboards, triple harps, etc.—under the baton of René Clemencic.
Lute instructor at the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Music in Antwerp from 1990-96, he is currently on the applied music faculties of the Portland Conservatory of Music and Colby College. A Fulbright alumnus (Dresden, Germany, 1994-95), he holds a soloist’s diploma from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where he studied lute with Toyohiko Satoh and guitar with the Uruguayan guitarist Antonio Pereira Arias. He also holds a PhD from Duke University.
Mr Burris founded the Portland (Maine) Early Music Festival in 2011, and was its Artistic Director from its inception through its final iteration in October of 2019. He is also the co-founder of the “Early Music in St Luke’s Chapel” series in Portland. That series continues, though on hiatus this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When the series resumes, information will be posted to https://www.portlandearlymusic.com/chapel-series/.
For more information on Mr Burris’s activities, visit https://www.baroquelute.com.