Contact Info: Belladonna, PO Box 4096, St. Paul, MN 55104 galhano@aol.com
The baroque ensemble Belladonna was founded in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1993 and has since performed in festivals and music series around the globe. The group was recently featured on National Public Radio's Performance Today, Pittsburgh's WQED-FM classical music station and the nationally syndicated radio program Harmonia. Recent performances have included the Seattle Early Music Guild, The Shrine to Music, (Vermillion, S.D), the Renaissance and Baroque Society, (Pittsburgh), and Early Music Now, (Milwaukee). In November, 2001, Belladonna makes their New York debut in Merkin Hall. Their critically acclaimed Folias Festivas CD was re-released on the Dorian label in May, 2001. The quartet, consisting of Rebecca Humphrey on baroque cello, Barbara Weiss on harpsichord, Clea Galhano on recorder and Margaret Humphrey on baroque violin, has received wide recognition for their exciting interpretation of familiar works and their own colorful arrangements of little-known pieces. Belladonna was selected for the Early Music America 2001 Star-Spangled Season Roster.
Folias Festivas, Ten Thousand Lakes Recordings, (1999)
Folias Festivas, Dorian Recordings (2001) (DOR-93228)
"The Belladonna Quartet plays with an intense virtuosity…"
-Early Music America, Summer 2000
"…While the names of the composers may be familiar - Falconieri,
Merula, Castello, Marais, Ortiz, etc. - none of the selections seems tired in
the hands of these high-energy and highly skilled musicians."
-American Recorder, March 2000