The Gallery Players of Niagara have built a reputation around presenting intimate chamber music concerts in the region. Their next offering, titled Playful Partners: Oboe & Violin, features members from Toronto-based Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra in a chamber ensemble that will perform on period instruments.
On the program are works by Handel and Telemann, two composers who delighted in pairing oboe and violin.
“I am absolutely delighted to welcome this outstanding chamber ensemble from Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra to Niagara next month; it is always a special occasion to share artists of this calibre with our audience. I have had the privilege of working with Tafelmusik as an extra player for nearly 30 years, and for more than a decade have brought a Tafelmusik chamber group to Niagara every other season. These are concerts our audience has consistently embraced with enthusiasm, and are usually our best sellers!” says Margaret Gay, Artistic & Administrative Director of The Gallery Players.
The concert takes place March 22 at The Recital Hall of FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in St. Catharines.
The Tafelmusik Ensemble
The members of the Tafelmusik ensemble are Daniel Ramírez Escudero (oboe); Geneviève Gilardeau (violin); Keiran Campbell (cello); and Charlotte Nediger (harpsichord).
Daniel Ramírez Escudero
Daniel Ramírez is a native of Mexico City, where he studied oboe performance with Boris Glouzman, Rafael Tamez, and Miguel Salazar. He was appointed principal oboe of the Carlos Chávez Youth Symphony Orchestra, and not long after, while still a student, assistant oboe and English horn of the Mexico City Philharmonic.
He went on to study historical oboe performance in Spain at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC), and the Isaac Albéniz Conservatory in Girona. After earning a Bachelor’s degree at ESMUC, he continued is studies at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where he completed a Masters degree.
He’s a specialist in period oboes and performance of the music of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Daniel’s career includes solo, chamber, and orchestral performances, and he’s worked with several renowned ensembles internationally, including Concerto Copenhagen, Orquestra Barroca Catalana, Wrocław Baroque Orchestra, Vespres d’Arnadí, La Tempestad, Finnish Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble Zefiro, Ensemble Matheus, Il Pomo d’Oro, La Folia Barockorchester, and Holland Baroque, among others. He also performs as a member of Pérgamo Ensemble.
Geneviève Gilardeau
Violinist Geneviève Gilardeau discovered her passion for period performance while studying towards her Masters degree at the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec à Chicoutimi. She became a core member of the acclaimed Québec ensemble Les Violons du Roy from 1995 until 1998, a period when she was also commuting to Toronto regularly from Québec City to study Baroque violin with Jeanne Lamon at the Glenn Gould School.
She has been a core member of Tafelmusik since 1999, and has performed as a soloist several times with the ensemble, including on recordings of concertos by Vivaldi and Leclair, as well as in concert.
Geneviève also performs with several other ensembles, including Aradia, Toronto Consort, and Classical Consort, and in Montréal, Masques, and Les voix humaines. She release the album The Bach-Weiss Sonata with her husband, lutenist Lucas Harris.
Keiran Campbell
Keiran Campbell performs both Baroque and modern repertoire on the cello, an instrument he’s been fascinated with since he was a child. He grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he began taking lessons at the age of eight. Keiran studied with Leonid Zilper, the former cellist of the Bolshoi Ballet, and went on to earn both a Bachelors and Masters degree at the Juilliard School. He later studied with Steven Isserlis and Ralph Kirschbaum at Prussia Grove.
Keiran is a core member of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, and has performed with other ensembles such as The English Concert, NYBI, Philharmonia Baroque, The Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, Four Nations Ensemble, The Toronto Symphony, Twelfth Night, and Les Violons du Roy. He toured Europe with Le Concert Des Nations under Jordi Savall, and contributed to Savall’s Beethoven CD.
Keiran is the guest principal cellist with Utopia Orchestra, and has performed at the BBC Proms and The Edinburgh festival with The English Concert, among other international music festivals and events.
He is also a dedicated educator, and has taught at his private studio in New York City, as well as giving masterclasses at UNC Chapel Hill, Duke University, Penn State, Bucknell University, The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, and other institutions.
Charlotte Nediger
Charlotte Nediger is a native of southwestern Ontario, and began playing piano as a child. When she was 14, her father, a devotee of woodworking, built her a harpsichord, and she’s never looked back.
She earned both a Bachelors and Masters degree from the University of Western Ontario. She also went on to earn a Solo Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague in the Netherlands.
She enjoys performing continuo in an orchestral or choral setting, and that’s been her role with Tafelmusik since joining the ensemble at the age of 21. For Tafelmusik, she also serves as Assistant to the Music Director, Librarian, and Program Editor, and oversees Tafelmusik’s Artist Training programs.
Charlotte is Artistic Coordinator of the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute and Tafelmusik Winter Institute, and teaches at the University of Toronto.
The Concert (And The Next)
Thanks to generous support from sponsors, Pay-What-You-Choose tickets are available at all Gallery Players concerts, and children under the age of 16 can always attend free of charge.
Following Playful Partners: Oboe & Violin The next concert presented by The Gallery Players of Niagara will feature the Odin Quartet with Michele Jacot in a performance of Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet. That takes place on April 26 at the Silver Spire United Church in St. Catharines.
- Find tickets for Playful Partners: Oboe & Violin, and additional details on the remainder of their 2025/26 season, including adaptive performance, [HERE].
Are you looking to promote an event? Have a news tip? Need to know the best events happening this weekend? Send us a note.
#LUDWIGVAN
Get the daily arts news straight to your inbox.