Vivian Montgomery, early keyboards Event

A program of keyboard variations on beloved melodies from across the centuries, performed on period instruments and including works by Antonio de Cabezon, JP Sweelinck, Georg Böhm, CPE Bach, Alexander Reinagle, and A Lady of Philadelphia.

Biography

Vivian Montgomery is a prize-winning early keyboardist, praised for her "…exquisite music-making...exceptional for its precision, blend and stylistic unity...sprightly and charming" (Music in Cincinnati). Recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship as well as an Individual Artist Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, Vivian served on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, teaching early keyboards and Baroque Performance from 2003 to 2013. Having earned her Masters in Early Keyboards from the University of Michigan and the DMA in Early Music from Case Western Reserve University, Vivian has served as Director of the Jurow International Harpsichord Competition since 2009. Her performing life encompasses concerto solos, solo recitals, chamber music performances, and vocal accompanying work throughout the United States. She has recently been heard in many performances of 19th-century American and women’s music, including a newly released CD Reviving Song: Spirited Works by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Héléne Montgeroult, and Louis Spohr (Women and Music Project, WSRC, Brandeis University 2013). Her work on little-known Antebellum piano music for domestic use is exemplified by the upcoming Centaur Records release entitled Brilliant Variations on Sentimental Songs, and will be expanded upon in her Fulbright research work at the University of Southampton in Winter and Spring of 2014. While building on collaborations as half of the period instruments duo Adastra and the dynamic Galhano/Montgomery Duo, Vivian has avidly explored, throughout her career, the musical lives of women from 1500 to 1900, especially through two decades of cross-disciplinary work with her ensemble, Cecilia’s Circle. Recordings can be found on the Centaur, Schubert Club and Innova labels. Her work as a conductor has led to engagements directing baroque opera, orchestras, and choirs in Minneapolis, Cleveland, Pennsylvania, and in her current residence, Boston. Vivian holds a post as a Resident Scholar at the Brandeis University Women’s Studies Research Center, where she is founder and chair of the Women and Music Mix.