B i o g r a p h i e s
Hailed as “a fine, flexible ensemble” by The New York Times, Ensemble Origo is an early music organization founded in 2011 and directed by Connecticut-based musicologist and conductor Eric Rice. Its aim is to present vibrant performances of early music (from the Middle Ages through the baroque) that reflect the context in which the repertory was originally produced and heard; “Origo” is Latin for “earliest beginning,” “lineage,” or “origin.” The ensemble draws on a roster of professional musicians from Connecticut, Boston, and New York. Its debut recording, released on the Naxos label in 2021, is “Orlande de Lassus – Le nozze in Baviera: Music for the 1568 Wedding of Wilhelm V of Bavaria and Renate of Lorraine." It includes Lasso’s moresche — settings of texts uttered in Neapolitan dialect by enslaved Africans from the Bornu Empire. Another recording still in post-production is "Luther's Deutsche Messe" a reconstruction of a mass as it might have been performed in Martin Luther's orbit ca. 1530, which grew out of a concert program commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in 2017. A third recording project in post-production is “The Last Imperial Coronation – Music for the 1530 Coronation of Charles V in Bologna”; a collaboration with Digital Media colleagues at the University of Connecticut on a multi-modal virtual reality presentation published on the Meta-Quest platform. The ensemble completed a recording of "Us sarao de la Chacona — Tracing the African and Mesoamerican Origins of the Sarabande and the Chaconne," now also in post-production, in May 2025.
Artists for the June 2026 Concert at the Connecticut Early Music Festival Saravanda! Dances of New Spain
MICHAEL BARRETT, tenor, is a Boston-based conductor, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and teacher. He serves as music director of The Boston Cecilia. Barrett is also an Assistant Professor at the Berklee College of Music, where he teaches courses in conducting and European music history, and until recently served as Interim Director of the Five College Early Music Program. Michael has performed with many professional early music ensembles, including Blue Heron, the Boston Camerata, the Huelgas Ensemble, Vox Luminis, the Handel & Haydn Society, Nederlandse Bachvereniging (Netherlands Bach Society), Seven Times Salt, Schola Cantorum of Boston, Ensemble Origo, and Nota Bene, and can be heard on the harmonia mundi, Blue Heron, Coro, Naxos, and Toccata Classics record labels. He holds degrees in music (AB, Harvard University), voice (First Phase Diploma, Royal Conservatory in The Hague, The Netherlands), and choral conducting (MM, Indiana University; DMA, Boston University).
Maine native JENNIFER BATES enjoys a multifaceted career in the opera, concert, and recital worlds. Recent engagements include the role of Pepik in the New York Philharmonic production of Janeček’s The Cunning Little Vixen and Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg with the American Symphony Orchestra. She was the featured soloist at the Bach Vespers Cantata Series in New York for ten years. Her European engagements have included Elgar’s The Kingdom with Leonard Slatkin in the prestigious Three Choirs Festival; Haydn’s Creation with Robert Tear at the Dartington International Summer Festival; and Fauré’s Requiem with Sir David Willcocks at Royal Albert Hall. As a recitalist, she has toured Great Britain and Europe extensively and was presented at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C. Jennifer was a Chamber Music Fellow at the Aspen Festival, a Scholar at the Steans Institute for Singers at the Ravinia Festival, and is on the faculty of Colby College.
JULIA BENGTSSON is a Swedish dancer and choreographer based in New York. Her performances range from classical ballet to experimental theater and opera. In 2021, she was the first dance artist to be awarded a position in Early Music America’s Emerging Professional Leadership Council. She is a Board Member and Choreographer of Higher Ground Festival and Bach Cello Suites Festival. As a dancer, she has performed nationally and internationally with companies including New York Baroque Dance Company, Connecticut Ballet, Neglia Ballet, Victoria Ballet, Vadstena Castle, as well as at Sweden’s two finest theaters; the Gothenburg Opera and the Royal Swedish Opera House. She received ten years of training from the Royal Swedish Ballet School and she was a Scholarship Student at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York. She has received awards from various organizations, including Anders Sandrew’s Foundation (2014), Arts Umbrella (2014), Willinska Foundation (2012), Cecilia Rilton Ballet Foundation (2012), F. Barck Foundation (2012), and Carina Ari Foundation (2008).
Bass vocalist DANIEL FRIDLEY resides in the Boston area and uses his “spotless, resonant bass” (Cleveland Classical) as a virtuosic vehicle suited to a wide range of musical styles. He performs a variety of operatic genres, specializing primarily in the music of the Baroque and Classical periods, and sings in a number of ensembles focusing on music from the Middle Ages through the 20th century. He also explores the folk music traditions of a number of European cultures, as well as those of New England. When not performing, he also teaches voice students of all ages and aspirations, sharing his love for music. Highlights of previous seasons include appearances as Eumenide in Henri Desmarets’ Circe (Boston Early Music Festival); Bass Soloist in J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion (Ashmont Bach Project); Azarias in Britten’s Burning Fiery Furnace (Enigma Chamber Opera); Bass Soloist in Monteverdi’s Vespro della beata Virgine (Upper Valley Baroque); Basilio in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia (Teatro Nuovo); Bass Soloist in Mozart’s Requiem (Boston Cecilia and Lowell Chamber Orchestra); Bass Soloist in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass (Arlington Chorus and Philharmonic); Bass Soloist in Handel’s Messiah (Bourbon Baroque); and Contrabass Soloist in Emilio Rautavaara’s Vigilia (Chicago Chorale).
CATHERINE HEDBERG, mezzo-soprano, is a concert soloist and ensemble musician concentrating in early and new music. Recent performances include songs by Nadia Boulanger at Brandeis University, a South Korean tour of Korean art song with the American Soloists Ensemble of National Chorus of Korea, Monochromatic Light (Afterlife) (Tyshawn Sorey) with Trinity Wall Street, A Point on a Slow Curve (Dana Lyn) at Joe’s Pub, and Cilice (Lewis Nielson) with Wavefield Ensemble. She performs regularly with the Handel and Haydn Society, with whom she has appeared as a soloist in works including J.S. Bach’s B Minor Mass, Magnificat, and cantatas, and in a concert of Dowland songs with lutenist Catherine Liddell. She has been a frequent collaborator with the chamber ensemble Musicians of the Old Post Road, and appears on the ensemble’s recording of Christmas music from 18th-century Central and South America. Catherine is based in New York City and Maine.
BRIAN KAY (guitar, lute, theorbo) is a modern-day troubadour. He is the Artistic Director of the early music meets early theater group THEATRO and oversaw their international recording of music from the plays of William Shakespeare. He won a GRAMMY® Award for his work on Apollo's Fire's Songs of Orpheus album. He works as a recording artist for the Netflix music lab and is a featured soloist on the soundtrack of their original series The Witcher and The Decameron. He also created arrangements of Russian folk songs for their Guillermo del Toro film Frankenstein. He has performed throughout the world at venues such as the National Concert Hall of Dublin, Belfast Castle (Ireland), Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Folger Theater. His live radio appearances include NPR, Baltimore's WYPR, Baltimore's 98ROCK, Boston's WGBH, and Cleveland's WCLV. He has recorded with labels Avie and Sono Luminus and has appeared on releases which include original, early music, folk, traditional sephardic, chamber and orchestral. He is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, arranger, and a traditional and historical music specialist.
DANIEL S. LEE thrives in the intersection of the arts and spirituality. His work involves redefining the roles of sacred and secular music with regard to their intention, function, and venue. Praised by The New York Times as “soulful” and “ravishing,” he performs as a period violinist and leader with various ensembles throughout the United States and Europe, including his own, the Sebastians. He currently serves as the concertmaster for the Providence Baroque Orchestra (RI) and the resident baroque orchestra at the Washington National Cathedral (DC). He performs on various historical instruments and fosters ongoing collaborative research with luthier Karl Dennis (Warren, RI) and bowmaker David Hawthorne (Waltham, MA). When not traveling and performing, he splits his time between Willard, MO, where he pastors a Presbyterian Church (USA) congregation, and New Haven, CT, where he teaches early music at the Yale School of Music. Born in Chicago and raised in Seoul (South Korea) and in New York City, Daniel is equally (un)fluent in Korean and in English. He identifies himself as ethnically a New Yorker. He enjoys learning different languages and cultures, and is a student of various ancient languages.
SARAH MEAD is a sought-after teacher of viol and Renaissance performance practice who has performed throughout the U.S. and overseas as far afield as New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Brazil, and the UK. In this country she has performed with ARTEK, Tenet, Emmanuel Music, the Handel & Haydn Society, Pegasus Baroque, Schola Cantorum, and Ensemble Origo. She served as Music Director of the annual Conclave of the Viola da Gamba Society of America for seven years and returned to that role in 2025. Her performing editions of historical and original works for viols have been published by PRB Productions, and she edits a quadrennial publication of little-known works for viols for the VdGSA. In 2007, she received the Thomas Binkley Award from Early Music America for outstanding achievement in performance and scholarship for her work with the Early Music Ensembles at Brandeis University, from which she retired as Professor of the Practice of Music after forty years. Mead is a founding member and musical director of the viol consort Nota Bene, whose recording "Pietro Vinci: Quattordeci Sonetti Spirituali" was released by Toccata Classics (London) in 2020.
A versatile multi-instrumentalist, DAN MEYERS is a flexible and engaging performer of both classical and folk music; his credits range from premieres of contemporary chamber music, to headlining a concert series in honor of Pete Seeger at the Newport Folk Festival, to playing Renaissance instruments on Broadway for Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre Company. He is a founding member of the early music/folk crossover group Seven Times Salt, and in recent seasons he has performed with The Folger Consort, Hesperus, The Newberry Consort, The Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, Severall Friends, The Henry Purcell Society of Boston, Amherst Early Music, The 21st Century Consort, and In Stile Moderno, making concert and theatrical appearances around the US and Europe. He enjoys playing traditional Irish music with the band ISHNA, and eclectic fusion from around the Mediterranean with his own group Zafarán. As an educator, he has taught historical wind instruments for the Five Colleges Early Music Program in MA, at Tufts University, and at festivals and workshops around the US. www.danmeyersmusic.com
Colombia native CAMILA PARIAS is a frequent soloist with the Boston Camerata. Parias, whose tone has been praised for its strength and clarity, also collaborates with ensembles such as La Donna Musicale, Skylark Ensemble, and Handel & Haydn Society. Her international appearances include performances in "Europe of Borrowed Light" with the Boston Camerata. She can be heard on Camerata’s most recent CDs, "Free America!" and "A Medieval Christmas – Hodie Christus Natus Est." Upcoming engagements include concerts with Pegasus, Upper Valley Baroque, and a performance at the Houston Early Music Festival. In addition, she will sing Belinda in Dido and Aeneas with the Camerata, a role she has previously performed. Camila is particularly interested in early music of Spain and the New World. She recently introduced Cantos y Suspiros, an ongoing collaboration with harp and Baroque guitar/theorbo which celebrates 17th century Spanish secular songs. In Bogotá, she recorded selections of archival manuscripts belonging to that city’s Cathedral. She holds a B.M. in Vocal Performance from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá and a M.M. in Historical Performance from the Longy School of Music of Bard College.
Musicologist and conductor ERIC RICE is Professor of Music and former Department Head at the University of Connecticut. He researches representations of cultures from outside Europe in Western notated music and the relationship of liturgical music to architecture, politics, and secular music. He engages in multimodal projects involving performance, musicological research, and emerging technology to understand and teach the musical cultures of medieval and Early Modern Europe and their relationships to the Global Early Modern. He is the author of Music and Ritual at Charlemagne’s Marienkirche in Aachen and co-editor of Young Choristers, 650-1700. He directs the UConn Collegium Musicum and Ensemble Origo, which performs his reconstructions of music’s original contexts and which The New York Times calls “a fine, flexible ensemble.” He was awarded the 2019 Thomas Binkley Award given by Early Music America for excellence in performance and scholarship by the director of a university early music ensemble. He held previous appointments as Artistic Director of the Connecticut Early Music Festival and Music Director of the Boston-based vocal ensemble Exsultemus.