Cincinnati Early Music - The shakespeare band

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Cincinnati, Ohio, Kentucky Lute Player Renaissance music

Cincinnati Lute Player Tina Gutierrez

Tina Gutierrez- Director, Lute - Cincinnati, Ohio
Lute, Baroque Guitar, Renaissance Guitar and Renaissance flute, Tina's interest in early music began at a young age. While all of her friends listened to rock and roll, she spent hours listening to recordings of early music. She has studied Baroque guitar and lute with Hopkinson Smith, Ron McFarland Patrick O'Brien, Paul Odette, David Walker, Rodney Stucky and has attended and performed at countless festivals and workshops, both in the US and abroad.

She now performs almost exclusively on lute, renaissance and Baroque guitars, and the rare and beautiful medieval citole. She has performed with early music ensembles in St. Louis, Cleveland, and in Cincinnati at The Cincinnati Art Museum, Classical Revolution, the Mercantile Library, The Public Libraries, Christ Church music series, Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and many other locations around town. She was also one of the invited artists to record on both volumes of "Ring," a Christmas CD released by Public Radio, where you can hear her perform original compositions. As the Shakespeare Band's' musical director, she also contributes with keyless renaissance flute in addition to her lute work. She has performed on the lute both locally and abroad. Her duo "The Shakespeare Pair", with actress Suz Flemming smith consists of Shakespearean lute music paired with texts from the plays as another delightful offering. She works regularly with Soprano Jackie stevens as a duo offering as well as trio with Jackie and Suz.

Rodney Stucky - Lute, Archlute and Renaissance Guitar

Rodney Stucky performs with the Shakespeare Band

Rodney Stucky, co-director of the Early Music Lab at CCM and head of classical guitar studies in CCM’s Preparatory Department, has performed throughout the United States, Central America, and South America as classical guitarist, baroque guitarist, lutenist and vihuelist. His performances include appearances in New York at the Cloisters with the Dupont Circle Consortium and in Washington D.C. with the Theater Chamber Players, directed by Leon Fleisher. He is also a member of the early music group, “Apollo’s Cabinet.” He studied guitar with Aaron Shearer at the Peabody Conservatory and has been a leading pioneer in guitar education for young children. Mr. Stucky can be heard on Vienna Modern Masters and Fleur de Son Classics.

He often performs in duo with his wife, Mary Henderson-Stucky. Since their debut recital in 1991 at the St. Louis Conservatory of Music, where they were both faculty members, the Stucky-Henderson Duo has performed often throughout the mid-west and eastern United States. They have also performed at the École Normale de Musique and the Conservatoire Supérieure in Paris, France and at the Caribbean resort, Maroma, in Quintana Roo, Mexico. Their repertoire spans the gamut of 16th century lute and vihuela songs to 20th century music for voice and guitar. They have been active in commissioning and inspiring new works for voice and guitar, one of which was given it’s world premiere at a Guitar Foundation of America International Festival. Mr. Stucky has also published “Five Spirituals” for voice and guitar through Southern Music. They have been featured on WGUC in Cincinnati and KFUO in St. Louis and have recorded for Fleur de Son Classics.

Soprano Jackie Stevens performs with the Shakespeare Band

Soprano - Jackie Stevens
holds a masters degree from the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music and an undergraduate degree from Texas Tech University, both in vocal performance. She was seen recently as the title role in CCM’s production of Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea. Jackie works as a voice teacher in the Cincinnati area and as a Program Administrator for the esteemed art song festival SongFest. She is currently teaching voice as a Graduate Assistant at CCM, while pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts under the tutelage of soprano, Gwen Coleman Detwiler. Singing early music is her passion, and she is thrilled to join The Shakespeare Band.

Larry D. Brown
Lute, medieval and renaissance recorders, hurdy-gurdy.Larry graduated from Ohio State in 1972 with a B.A. in English literature with an emphasis on Medieval and Renaissance studies. He immediately traveled to London, England where he studied lute with teachers at the Royal College of Music. In England he took an interest in instrument making and studied construction techniques and museum lutes with several lute makers. The 70's was a pivotal period of research and discovery in the early instrument world, more so in England than anywhere else.
He returned to the U.S., set up a workshop and began building lutes and historical stringed instruments. For several years he served on the board of directors of the fledgling Guild of American Luthiers. He attends the American Lute Society seminars each summer and continues his study of lute technique. After many years of building, he made a half-hearted attempt to retire from instrument making and stopped accepting orders for custom-made instruments. He and his wife enjoy traveling and have attended early music programs at U. of Madison, Wisconsin and most recently the Francesco da Milano week in Spello Italy, where he was the only American luthier to be invited to join the Cetra Project, an effort by Italian musicians to resurrect the medieval Italian cetra. This was followed by two weeks of visits to museums around Italy to inspect lutes and other early instruments. He has retired from instrument making and no longer accepts repair work of any kind, but still builds an instrument or two as a hobby.

Actress Suz Fleming-Smith performs with the shakespeare band

Suz Fleming-Smith
Actress

Suz earned a B.A. in theatre and art from Northern Kentucky University. She is also a professional photographer and wedding officiant and actively engages in personal projects in her writing and art. She has done print modeling and stage work, but she is most well known for her mini online performances of Shakespearean Pop Songs in which she delivers the lyrics from modern songs in a Shakespearean style. Her Roles have a level Thoughtful and personal style that is rarely seen.

Colin Lambert - Baroque Cello, Vielle

Colin Lambert earned his Bachelor’s degree in 2011 in Cello
Performance from Ohio University in Athens, OH where he studied with
Dr. Michael Carrera, spent two years as principal cellist of the OU
Symphony Orchestra, and in his final year was a winner of his school’s
Student Soloist competition. Colin went on to attend the Chicago
College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University where he earned his
Master’s degree in Cello Performance in 2013. While there, he studied
with Patrick Jee, the former Assistant Principal Cellist of the Lyric
Opera Orchestra. Additionally, Colin has also played in master classes
for Desmond Hoebig, Professor of Cello at the Shepherd School of Music
at Rice University, and for the late Janos Starker, former Professor
of Cello at Indiana University.
After finishing school in Chicago, Colin returned to his hometown of
Cincinnati and has been building his career as an orchestral and
chamber musician. He performs regularly in the Middletown, Richmond,
and Springfield Symphony Orchestras, among several others. Colin also
teaches private lessons every week, and is a trained teacher of the
Suzuki Method for cello. Colin recently began pursuing an Artist
Diploma specializing in orchestral studies at UC’s
College-Conservatory of Music.

William Willits Lute and Theorbo

William Willits performs with the Shakespeare Band

William Willits is a classical and fingerstyle guitarist and lutenist from Cincinnati, Ohio. Bill earned a bachelor's degree in guitar from Grand Valley State University, followed by master's degrees in classical guitar performance and music history from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. He currently performs on instruments such as classical guitar, Renaissance lute, baroque guitar, vihuela, Renaissance guitar, theorbo, ukulele, and bass guitar as a solo artist and in chamber settings. Bill has collaborated with many singers and instrumentalists, and has recently been involved in projects with groups such as the CCM Philharmonia, The Noyse Merchants, Consort in the Egg, the Allan Pray Ensemble, and CCM Opera. He also performs regularly as a solo artist in concert series, festivals, and recitals. In addition to performing, William also maintains an active private teaching studio and runs an after-school guitar ensemble for middle and high school students.

Matt Zory performs with the Shakespeare Band

Matthew Zory is the assistant principal bass of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the rhythm section bassist of the Cincinnati Pops. Before moving to Cincinnati in 1993, Matt served as principal bassist for the San Diego Symphony and Opera. As a long time NYC freelancer he played with the New York City Opera, Metropolitan Opera and served as guest principal bassist with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.

Melisa Bonetti Mezzo- soprano

If you ask Melisa Bonetti what her favorite song is, you will get no reply--it is the very diversity of music that draws her, the way different peoples and cultures have approached musical expression and invented it anew every time. Her favorite place, though, is easy: on stage, performing.
Melisa Bonetti, mezzo-soprano, completed her Master’s in voice at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. She completed her undergraduate degree at Queens College's Aaron Copland School of Music in New York. Melisa was also fortunate enough to attend LaGuarda High School for the Arts as a vocal major. Melisa has just completed her first Opera Outreach tour as the role of Mercedez in Carmen Redux with Cincinnati Opera. She has been a studio artist at Wolf Trap Opera and a young artist with I Sing Beijing, in China. Opera roles include Emelda in Champion, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Lady with the Hat Box in Postcard from Morocco, Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte, the Old Lady in Candide. Concert performances include El Amor Brujo, Britten's Spring Symphony, Mahler's Symphony No. 2, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Mozart’s Requiem, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, the Vivaldi Gloria and Bernstein's Jeremiah Symphony No.1.

“Alison Vodnoy, who has consistently been an electric performer...starts her out-there performance early and her energy never wanes. Her precise character drawing never has a false moment. I look forward to following her career."
-Jackie Demaline, Cincinnati Enquirer’s review

Playwright and performer, Alison Vodnoy Wolf is currently working on her MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts at Goddard College. Much of her performance work is interdisciplinary in nature, combining acting, dance, and her original writing. She also teaches Acting courses at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Most recently, Alison was a performer, writer and choreographer in a collaboration with Pones, Inc, a Cincinnati movement company. The piece, titled TRAFFICK, was an immersive theatre performance about sex-trafficking in Cincinnati. In 2014, it was honored with a Producer’s Pick of the Fringe Award and a “Fringe Favorite” Award by the League of Cincinnati Theatres.

Alison toured her original one-woman show, In Rehearsal, to the Cincinnati, Minnesota, and Indianapolis Fringe Festivals, as well as to theaters just outside the cities of Chicago and Cincinnati. For its premiere in Cincinnati, In Rehearsal was recognized with two Cincinnati ACCLAIM Awards, one for solo performance and one for solo script. The show explores relationships from both female and male perspectives, and Wolf becomes 6 men and 2 women to tell the story.

In the past several years, Alison has appeared multiple times as a narrator with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra (CCO), and played Puck and Hermia in CCO’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream which interwove Mendelssohn’s music and Shakespeare’s text. She has been onstage many times at The Know Theatre of Cincinnati, and appeared in the independent, feature-length thriller, numB as well as in the Hollywood short film, Ready? OK! by Anthony Meindl. She holds a BFA in Dramatic Performance from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM).
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