Unfortunately, Cantata à Trois has disbanded.
Thank you for your interest.
About Cantata à Trois
Cantata à Trois is a chamber ensemble which performs diverse repertory
for
voice, recorder, and keyboard. The trio's founders, Susan Harris, mezzo-soprano,
Carolyn
Jean Smith, recorders, and Ronald Dynneson, harpsichord and organ,
were students
together at the Longy School of Music. Having played together for
years and
participated in each other's graduation recitals, the individuals
coalesced in
1997 to form Cantata à Trois.
1999 Concert Highlights
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Biographies
Carolyn grew up in New York City and
moved to
Boston in 1983 to pursue a BS in Biology at MIT. After working in
research for
several years, she returned to school to pursue her lifelong love of
recorder.
She completed her Master of Music degree in Early Music
at the
Longy School of Music in May 1999. She is a member of Cantata
à Trois, Serendipity, and
Stämbandet, with whom she
has recorded a CD. Carolyn has
studied with Ford
Weisberg and Sonja Lindblad, and has done masterclasses with Michael
Lynn, Gerd
Lunenberger, John Tyson and Paul Leenhouts. She has participated in the
Oberlin Performance Institute and the International Baroque Institute
at Longy, has performed in the Society for Historically Informed
Performance (SoHIP) Concert Series, the MIT Chapel Concert Series, the
Noon Concert Series at Cathedral Church of St. Paul, in the Gardner
Museum Concert Series, and at First Night Boston, and has been heard
on WGBH's Morning Pro Musica with Stämbandet.
Ronald Dynneson (harpsichord)
Ronald Dynneson has performed widely in the Boston area on organ and
harpsichord, including recitals at First Church in Cambridge and the
Newton Free Library. Recently he performed in a 'Festival Organ'
event, playing the solo organ part in an aria of J.S. Bach.
He has accompanied the Cambridge Madrigal Singers and the Tufts
Chamber Choir in concert. Receiving a Master of Music Degree in
Early Music Performance from the Longy School of Music (Cambridge)
in 1997, Ronald studied organ and harpsichord there with Peter Sykes
and Francis Conover Fitch, and at the Oberlin Baroque Performance
Institute with Patrick Allen and Web Wiggins. In 1996 he was an
honors competition winner at Longy for performance with Susan Harris
of music of Henry Purcell. Mr. Dynneson is currently the Minister of
Music at St. John's Episcopal Church in Arlington, MA.
An Early Review
The new ensemble Cantata à Trois is comprised of three recent
graduates of
Longy School of Music: Susan Harris, soprano, Carolyn Jean Smith,
recorder,
and Ronald Dynneson, harpsichord. The October 7 preview of their
debut
performance showed their range and versatility. Although the program
contained works by only two German composers, J.S. Bach and Georg
Philipp
Telemann, it covered several different genres and combinations, from
harpsichord solo (Bach's French Suite No. 5) to recorder and
harpsichord (the
overture to Telemann's Suite in A Minor for recorder and orchestra),
to arias
and cantatas for voice and harpsichord, with recorder obbligato. The
texts of
the vocal pieces traces the path of the soul from original sin,
through
penitence, to the joy of the redeemed. Short readings from C.S. Lewis
enhanced the transitions.
All of the performers are capable musicians, and they worked well
together.
Susan Harris has a wide vocal range, and is able to do exactly what
she wants
to in all parts of it. Carolyn Jean Smith is a very accomplished
recorder
player, who negotiated the most complex lines with ease. Ronald
Dynneson
excelled as a soloist in the Bach suite, as accompanist in the
keyboard
arrangement of the orchestra parts of the Telemann recorder suite, and
as
continuo player in the Bach aria and the Telemann cantatas. From the
most
dramatic (Telemann's cantata "Du bist verflucht, O Schreckenstimme")
to the
most virtuosic (Telemann's cantata "Locke nur"), the ensemble always
worked
together towards the common goal of effective and very musical
performance.
Cantata à Trois is an extremely promising new group, well deserving
of
support.
Hope Ehn
Music Faculty,
Cambridge Center for Adult Education
Other Early Music Groups and Links
Carolyn Jean Smith (cjsmith@mit.edu)
