Fiona Gillespie is a singer, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Raised in a family of traditional Celtic musicians in Pennsylvania, she grew up step dancing, singing ballads, and playing the Irish whistle. Fiona holds degrees in classical voice, and she traverses the country performing music from an eclectic mix of genres, styles, and historical eras.
In addition to the Crickets, her commercial recordings include the classical albums Wisps in the Dell and The Gallant David Rizzio. Tam Lin is her folk-rock cantata based on the ancient Scottish ballad and recorded with the Makaris ensemble. This season, Fiona will appear as a featured artist with the Choral Arts Philadelphia, Apollo’s Fire Baroque Orchestra, The Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, Skylark Ensemble, and as a duo with her partner Paul Morton, Disordering the Attic.
Bradley King has been praised by reviewers and audiences for his profound and engaging style while performing regularly in a broad range of programs from ancient to contemporary. A specialist in early music, he sings with many of the nation’s premiere ensembles and orchestras including Piffaro Renaissance Band, Apollo’s Fire Baroque Orchestra, The Baroque Orchestra of Colorado, Les Canards Chantants, and The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, as well as frequently collaborating with composers such as Doug Balliet and Andrew Lovett. Bradley’s unique blend of power and sweetness has earned him accolades all over the world, notably as a first prize winner of the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition, a semi-finalist in the New York Oratorio Society Competition, and in performances at the Mozarteum Academy in Salzburg, Austria.
In a departure from his “day job” as a classical tenor, he favors the instruments of his youth, the cello and electric bass, in an accompanist role with the Chivalrous Crickets, as well as bringing his background in Appalachian singing to the folk stage.
Genevieve Gillespie King has been playing the traditional Irish fiddle since she was five years old. A national and international champion, she has played at most of the major folk music festivals in the United State and has toured England, Ireland, and Canada with Poor Man’s Gambit, The John Whelan Band, Irish Blessing, The Tartan Terrors, and Burning Bridget Cleary among others. Genevieve is enjoying expanding her practice to include American olde time fiddling.
Ben Matus is a woodwind specialist and vocalist with a varied career in music, specializing in modern and historical bassoons, and he performs regularly on Renaissance and Baroque recorders and a variety of historical and modern pipes. Based in Doylestown, Ben has played with many groups along the East Coast including New York Baroque Incorporated, the Clarion Society, the Sebastians, Early Music New York, Trinity Wall Street, St. Thomas Fifth Avenue, Alkemie, Opera Lafayette, Washington Bach Consort, the Dryden Ensemble, and the Handel and Haydn Society. Ben holds degrees in music and historical performance from the Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard School.
Paul Holmes Morton experienced his first music lessons using his father’s banjo and cello. Sowing the seeds for a lifetime of music exploration, he pursued both classical and folk traditional music through his primary instrument, the guitar. He studied at the Juilliard School, finding a synchronicity of musical skills with Baroque performance practice and traditional folk music, including improvisation, harmonization, and counterpoint.
He plays with the ensembles Ruckus, The Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, ACRONYM, Makaris, Opera Lafayette, The Staunton Festival, La Jolla Music Festival, and he has performed the Beth Morrison Project Pulitzer Prize-winning opera “Angel’s Bone” in Hong Kong, Beijing, and with the LA Opera. An active recording artist, he has appeared on an eclectic playlist of albums, including Fly the Coup with Emi Ferguson and Ruckus, Arcangelo’s Circle by the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, Orphea by Majel Connery, Oracle Hysterical’s Passionate Pilgrim, and The Gallant David Rizzio and Tam Lin by Makaris. His theorbo playing can be heard on Paul Simon’s newest album, Seven Psalms.