Bard's Baroque is composed of Mardou Case and Art Whitfield, wind synthesizer and flute players capturing musical textures written long ago. With a timespan from the 1200's up to the 1800's, this Renaissance and Baroque music harkens back to the time of Shakespeare, Henry VIII, and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The music is largely written for wooden recorders, but has been adapted for the wind synthesizer by the performers.
Some additional parts have been custom written by the performers to more suitably fit a duo arrangment. With no vocals and minimal sound reinforcement, this music softly fills the performance area, providing the ideal background music for many occasions.
Setlist includes: Sellengers Round, Summer Is A Cumen In, Phyllis On The New Made Hay, Dulcina, A Lover and His Lass, Lilliburlero, Walsingham, What If A Day, Ubi Caritas, Ode to Joy, and many more baroque and ancient pieces.
Composers/Arrangers include: Telemann, Dr. William Crotch, Henry VIII, Bach, Handel, William Byrd, Thomas Campion, John Playford, Henry Purcell, John of Fornsete
About the Musicians
Mardou Case has played wind synthesizer for about 20 years. She is also a flute, bass and guitar player, songwriter, and has performed with several local bands. Her love of baroque music perhaps can be attributed to her childhood spent in England.
Art Whitfield has played saxophone for 45 years, with self taught flute and wind synthesizer being added for the past 25 years. With a background in Jazz and Blues bands, he is blending that influence into his long ago performances with the Circleville Recorder Society, where he developed his affinity for Baroque Music.
Previous Engagements
- SPCC 125th Gala following Phantom of the Opera
- Ontario Beach Park Gazebo, Charlotte NY
- Rochester Toy Library
- Corn Hill Cookery Restaurant (monthly standing engagement 1996, 1997, and 1998)
- Private Parties (1996, 1997, 1998, 2000 - 2004)
- SPCC Fund-Raiser Gala at People's Pottery (1999 and 2000)
- Shorewinds Home Facility
- SPCC 125th Anniversary Gala Reception at the Auditorium Theatre (2001)
- Junior League of Rochester Centennial Celebration at the Hyatt Grand Ballroom (2002)
- Presbyterian Home
- Monroe Library Branch for their Grand Re-Opening (2005)
- Monroe Library Branch for their Medieval Night, and for A Saturday Afternoon Concert (2006, 2007 & 2009)
- Monroe Library Branch for their Storybook Tea Party (2008)
- Monroe Library Branch for their Anniversary (2010)
- Gala Wedding at Genesee Country Museum (2008)
- Pittsford BarnesAndNoble Library Bookfair (2011)
About the Instruments
Wind Synthesizers resemble electronic clarinets, but allow the music to be played with a greater range of musical sounds, including trumpets, violins, cellos, english horns, and clarinets. Originally the duets had been arranged for either acoustic flutes or flute/wind synthesizer combination, but now both performers play wind synthesizers.
If you would like see more things related to Wind Synthesizers and related music technology, go back to WindWorks Design Page to learn more.
Performance Photos
