WILLIAM Bauer, baroque violin

William Bauer specializes in early bowed strings instruments including the Renaissance violin, the Baroque violin and the exotic viola d’amore. He has numerous national and international performance credits as well many recording appearances. Bill’s recent performances include work as a featured soloist with Boston Baroque, Chicago's Ars Antigua, and Atlanta's New Trinity Baroque. In addition to his regular appearances with KCBC, Bill has maintained an important position as an Early Music teacher and performer across the region, directing ensembles in St. Louis and Louisville and offering early string lessons, classes and workshops from Texas to Wisconsin. Highlights of recent seasons included solo appearances in Budapest, Hungary; Berchtesgadden, Germany; Zagreb, Split and Dubrovnik Croatia; and the Belgrade Early Music Festival (Serbia). Bill’s most recent solo recording is Vivaldi's Concerto in D Minor for viola d’amore with the Washington Bach Sinfonia for the Dorian label. Many of his recordings may be heard as MP3s at arsantiguapresents.com.

Richard Bell, Baroque cello

Richard earned the BMus in cello performance at the University of Iowa where he studied with Charles Wendt. He attended the Cleveland Institute of Music in the class of Alan Harris, graduating in 1978 as the class Valedictorian and receiving the Ellis Siemon award. Richard also attended the Blossom Music Festival and the Aspen Music Festival. In 1978, Richard moved to Columbus, Ohio where he served as associate principal cellist of the Columbus Symphony. In Columbus, he formed a string trio with two colleagues from the orchestra in 1985. Since moving to Kansas City in 2008, Richard has performed regularly with the Kansas City Symphony as a substitute cellist. He has also worked with many of the area’s musical groups, including the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra and the Kansas City Baroque Consortium.

Matthew Bennett, Baroque violin

Matthew is a member of the Omaha Symphony, New Generation Festival Orchestra in Florence Italy, and the Philharmonie Stiftung in Zurich Switzerland. He has premiered violin works by Grammy-winning composer Michael Colina and Joshua Peterson in New York City. This Fall marks the inaugural season for two chamber ensembles of which Matthew is a founding member: the tango quintet Tango KCuerdas and the Amea String Quartet.

Monty carter, Baroque violin

Monty Carter serves as Baroque violinist and violist for the Kansas City Baroque Consortium, principal violist and program annotator for the Saint Joseph Symphony, and concertmaster for the Heritage Philharmonic of Jackson County, Mo. For two decades Monty has provided private instruction, ensemble coaching and music festival adjudication in Kansas City. He has served as a long-term adjunct professor of strings for Benedictine College, Kansas City Kansas Community College, Missouri Western State University, Northwest Missouri State University, and William Jewell College. He holds a Master of Music Performance degree from Louisiana State University, and his Bachelor degree in the same area is from the University of Missouri - Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. 

Carl Cook, Baroque Violin

Carl Cook  has maintained a full private teaching studio in the Kansas City area since 1995. In that time he has performed with a wide range of local, national and internationally acclaimed artists. Carl has been a  member of the KCBC since its inception. He holds a bachelor of music from the UMKC Conservatory of Music and a master's degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Nell French, Baroque Viola

Nell French has performed with KC Baroque since 2010. As a period violist, she has participated in the Bach Cantata Vespers Series, Jewell Early Music Summer Festival, the Kansas City Bachathon, Ensemble Musical Offering (Milwaukee), and Collegeum Vocale (St Louis). As a modern violist, Nell is co-founder and violist with the string trio Fontana, Heritage Philharmonic and the Mountain Duo, as well as serving as an extra with the KC Symphony. She has taught applied music at Missouri Western University and at KCK Community College, and currently maintains a private viola studio. A graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy and University of Colorado at Boulder, Nell plays a 1792 Jakob Staininger viola with a Tourte reproduction bow by Andrew Dipper.

Charles Metz, harpsichord

Charles Metz studied piano at Penn State University, beginning his harpsichord studies through private lessons with the legendary Igor Kipnis. In the process of earning a Ph.D. in Historical Performance Practice at Washington University in Saint Louis Missouri, he studied with Trevor Pinnock. More recently, Charles has worked with Webb Wiggins and Lisa Crawford at the Oberlin Conservatory. He has performed across the country with concerts in Chicago IL, Saratoga NY, Bennington VT, Louisville, KY as well as solo recitals at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., Oberlin Conservatory.  With the Chamber Music Society of St. Louis, Charles appeared as the featured keyboard soloist in Bach’s Fifth Brandenburg Concerto under conductor Nicholas McGegan. He has appeared with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Ars Antigua Chicago and the Newberry Consort of Chicago. As an early keyboard specialist, Charles currently performs on his historic Italian virginal, harpsichords and fortepianos. Dr. Metz also earned a doctorate in Optometry and worked for twenty years in his own private practice and Clarkson Eyecare in St. Louis before retiring ten years ago. In addition to his performing activity, Charles serves on the Board of Directors of Chamber Music Society of St. Louis and the Newberry Consort.

Ken Mitchell, Violone

Ken joined the Kansas City Philharmonic in 1980 and continued with the Kansas City Symphony until retiring in 2013. For two seasons prior to coming to Kansas City, he served as principal bass of the Evansville Philharmonic in Evansville, Indiana. Originally from Commack, NY, Ken holds BMus and MMus degrees in music performance from Indiana University as well AS the MS and PhD in computer science and networking from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He has played in the Grand Teton Music Festival, the Colorado Music Festival, the Jeunesse Chamber Orchestra in Vienna, the Des Moines Metro Opera and with many local groups.

Jeffrey Noonan, Theorbo, Baroque Guitar, and Program Annotator

Jeffrey Noonan (theorbo & baroque guitar) has played early plucked instruments for nearly forty years across the country, including numerous appearances with KCBaroque. Based in St. Louis, he has performed regionally with Shakespear’s Bande, Early Music St. Louis, Bourbon Baroque (Louisville), Madison Early Music Festival (Wisconsin), Ars Antigua Chicago and Musik Ekklesia (Indianapolis). In addition, Jeff has founded and directed the quintet Such Sweete Melodie; Musicke’s Cordes¸a violin/theorbo duo; and La petite brise, a trio featuring the Baroque flute. An in-demand accompanist and continuo player, Jeff performs a repertoire ranging from sixteenth-century chanson with solo voice to Handel’s Messiah with the St. Louis Symphony. An expert on the early guitar, Jeff has produced two books and several articles for Oxford Music Online on that subject as well as an edition of eighteenth-century violin sonatas for A-R Editions. Jeff holds degrees from the University of Notre Dame (AB), the Hartt School of Music (BMus) and Washington University in St. Louis (MMus., PhD) He has received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and in 2015 the Newberry Library awarded him the Cullen Fellowship to research music manuscripts in its collection. In 2016, the St. Louis Regional Arts Commission awarded him an Artist Fellowship in recognition of his accomplishments in scholarship, pedagogy and performance.

Rob patterson, Baroque violin

Rob Patterson is a graduate of William Jewell College where he received a Bachelor of Science in Music with an Emphasis in Violin Performance. Rob has performed, with violin or voice in numerous ensembles in Missouri and Kansas, including the Liberty Symphony Orchestra, Kansas City Baroque Consortium, Lawrence Chamber Orchestra, St. Joseph Symphony, Southeast Kansas Symphony, Webster University Symphony, Lindenwood College Orchestra, Opus4 String Quartet and the Kansas City Symphony Chorus. In 2009, Rob was appointed Co-Concertmaster of the Liberty Symphony Orchestra. When he’s not playing the violin, Rob is Owner of Diversified Computer Services, a provider of IT services, and RecordingKC, a location recording service. 

Brendan Pearson, baroque viola

Brendan has been playing viola and teaching music lessons in the Kansas City area since 2007. As a founding member of the Bountiful String Quartet he has spent more than a decade exploring ways to combine his love of music and his faith. As an undergraduate at Cal State Long Beach, Brendan was a member of the University String Quartet, the groundbreaking Studio Orchestra, the CSULB Collegium Musicum, and performed with the Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra. At the Boston Conservatory, he studied with Patricia McCarty and studied quartet playing with Roger Tapping and Andrew Mark.

Signe Sandquist, Baroque violin

Signe Sandquist began studying Suzuki violin at the age of five with Catherine Service in Topeka and soon after with Eleanor Allen in Lawrence. Singe  studied with Tiberius Klausner at the University of Missouri Kansas City where she earned a BMus in Violin Performance. A former member of the Omaha Symphony, the Kansas City Symphony, and the Lawrence Chamber Orchestra. Signe now works as a freelance violinist and private teacher.

Eric T. williams, Baroque violin

Eric Williams is a violinist and violist with an eclectic background, with music degrees from the University of New Mexico and Yale University, and a law degree from the University of Kansas. His Baroque violin studies include lessons with Michael Kimber and coaching with Jaap Schroeder. He has performed with numerous ensembles and is especially devoted to baroque music. Eric practiced law in Kansas and Missouri as a solo practitioner for nearly 11 years before joining the Kansas City Symphony staff as manager of grants. He and his wife, Ann Marie Rigler, College Organist for William Jewell College, make their home in Liberty, Mo., and greatly enjoy the all-too-rare occasions when they can play Bach together.