Baroque and Beyond

The ensemble, like many chamber music groups, formed organically out of musical friendships and shared experiences. “We started because we loved playing together,” says Brazilian–born recorder player Cléa Galhano. “Then we formalized things as we started growing.” But they played for several years without a name.

The relationship began in 1999 when Galhano performed Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto no. 2 with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. “It was instant chemistry,” Galhano says of trading phrases with SPCO oboist Kathryn Greenbank. Galhano also met violinist Daria Adams in the greenroom.

The following year, Adams, an expert in Baroque music, asked Galhano to perform a house concert with her and Greenbank, bassoonist Charles Ullery, and harpsichordist Layton “Skip” James as an auction item for the SPCO’s gala. The five had such a good rapport they started exploring Baroque repertoire together, which led to appearances for the Schubert Club’s early music series and a group residency in Wyoming. As an ensemble, they were getting serious. But they still needed a name. When the residency organizer called from Wyoming to ask how they should be billed, Galhano dubbed the group the Blue Baroque Band. Why? “We were coming from a blue state to play Baroque music in a red state!” Galhano says.

Since then, the band has recorded its first album, Party of Five, which was released last August during their Music in the Vineyards residency, a Napa Valley festival run by Adams and her husband, Michael, a violist with Minnesota Orchestra. The ensemble is planning its next recording around the repertoire it plays this month for a Music in the Park Series concert with guest soprano Maria Jette—concertos by Vivaldi and Telemann, Bach’s Cantata BWV 189, and the Baroque–flavored “Clarissa Graceful,” a piece written for the ensemble by Minnesota composer David Evan Thomas based on Alexander Pope’s “The Rape of the Lock.” (Note: Oboist Jim Snow will play in place of Greenbank for this concert.) Dec. 3. Saint Anthony Park United Church of Christ, 2129 Commonwealth Ave., St. Paul, 651-645-5699, musicintheparkseries.org

Reach Lani Willis at laniwillis@aol.com.