The Flanders Recorder Quartet

The Flanders Recorder Quartet ( Bart Spanhove, Paul Van Loey, Joris Van Goethem, Han Tol ) was founded in 1987. It has won several international chamber music competitions, including first prize in the Musica Antiqua Competition organized annually by the Flanders Festival in Bruges, Belgium.

That award turned out to be the start of an international career. Since they won it, the quartet has performed at prestigious music festivals and on tour in Europe, North America, and South America. In the spring of 1996, they toured Europe with Musica Antiqua Koln and Reinhard Goebel. In addition, they have recorded for several radio networks and record companies; in 1997 they started a long-term collaboration with the label Opus 111.

The quartet has a keen interest in contemporary music and has commissioned more than twenty works by composers including Piet Swerts, Frans Gysen, Peter Pieters, Jan Van Landeghem, Jeroen D'Hoe, Luc Brewaeys, and Frédéric Devresse. In 1995, the quartet and the Ascolta music publishing company launched the Flanders Recorder Quartet Series, consisting of compositions written by or for them.

The quartet performs on more than 100 recorders, built especially for them by some of the world's best-known recorder makers, including Bob Marvin (Canada), Adri Breukink (the Netherlands), Fred Morgan (Australia), Friedrich Von Huene (U.S.), and Coolsma (the Netherlands).

The Cultural Department of the Ministry of the Flemish Community (Belgium) supports the quartet, which has been awarded the title of Cultural Ambassadors of Flanders in 1997 and 1998.

Ann Marie Morgan

Ann Marie Morgan has been viola da gamba soloist with the Minnesota, Cleveland, and Philadelphia Orchestras, the Bethlehem Choir, and numerous Bach festivals. As a chamber musician, she has participated in the Oberlin Baroque Ensemble, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, the Baltimore Consort, and Bimbetta. She is a founding member of Olde Friends, Les Cordes du Roy, the Early Music Trio of Interlochen, and La Tempesta di Mare, and is a member of the Oberlin Consort of Viols. She has served on the faculties of the Interlochen Center for the Arts, the Peabody Conservatory, Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute, and the Amherst Festival.

David Barton

David was workshop director for the Texas Toot for about 16 years. He played in and directed the Dallas early music group Earthly Pleasures for 20 years and continues to play recorder and baroque bassoon with various Texas ensembles including the Texas Bach Choir. He serves as music director for the Dallas Recorder Society and is organist and choir director at Casa View United Methodist Church in Dallas.

Susan V. Barton

Susan leads the Dallas Consort of Viols and is south central regional coordinator for the Viola da Gamba Society of America. A Dallas area player for more than 20 years, she has taught viols (especially beginners) at the Toot since 1986. In real life, she is an editor and writer on the national pages of the United Methodist Reporter, and is a member of the Toot Board of Directors.

Becky Baxter

Ms. Baxter's resume as a professional in the field of early harp includes performances of harp literature from the 12th through 18th centuries on a wide variety of historical harps. Becky has performed at events such as: the National Harp Society Convention, Houston Grand Opera's productions of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo and L'Incoronazione di Poppea (including subsequent broadcasts on NPR), the Boston Early Music Festival, the Round Top Early Music Festival, the Texas Early Music Festival, the Amherst Early Music Festival, and the Historical Harp Society Conference/Workshops.

In addition to her full-time career in church music as Associate Director of music and organist at Clear Lake Presbyterian Church in Houston, Texas and as a pedal harp performer and teacher, Ms. Baxter currently serves on the faculty of the Amherst Early Music Festival and the Texas Early Music Festival. Her first recording on the Dorian label is titled O Lux Beata, Renaissance Harp Music (DOR 93193.) She also appears as a guest artist with Chatham Baroque on another Dorian CD, Españoleta (DOR 90284.) Both recordings went up in the shuttle with astronaut Bill McArthur in Fall of 2000.

Bruce Brogdon

Bruce Brogdon studied classical guitar at the University of St. Thomas. His interest in early music led him to take up the lute, and he has studied privately and in masterclasses with Paul O'Dette and Pat O'Brien. Bruce has performed with the Texas Baroque Ensemble, the Green Mountain Consort, the Houston Baroque Ensemble, the Texas Early Music Project, La Follia Austin Baroque, Ars Lyrica Houston (based at University of Houston), and Aquinas, the resident ensemble of the University of St. Thomas.

Bruce leads his own group, Canzonetta, which specializes in plucked string continuo (lutes, guitars, and harp), and features music of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Dr. Sara Funkhouser

Dr. Sara Funkhouser attended the Juilliard and Manhattan Schools of Music, where she studied oboe with Harold Gomberg, and Baroque oboe with Ku Ebbinge at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague and recorder with Saskia Coolen in Amsterdam. She resides in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where she performs on Baroque oboe and recorder with a number of early music ensembles: Dallas Bach Society, Fort Worth Early Music, Texas Baroque Ensemble, Texas Bach Choir (San Antonio), Dayton Bach Society (Ohio), Sarabande (Washington, D.C). She now teaches recorder at the University of North Texas.

Jan Jackson

Jan Jackson, director of Passing Measures, has been directing and performing with professional and educational Early Music ensembles in Central Texas for over 20 years. She has participated in various Early Music festivals and Renaissance faires around the country and in numerous workshops, including those at Amherst College and the Professional Recorder Program at Indiana University.

Ms. Jackson performs with the Texas Early Music Project, in addition to directing and performing with Passing Measures (medieval, renaissance, and baroque repertoire) and Timely Treasures (harp/recorder duo with early music and celtic repertoire).

She has served on the National Board of Directors for the American Recorder Society and on the Educational Committee for that organization. A registered Suzuki recorder instructor, she is a charter member of the American Recorder Teachers Association, a member of its board of directors and the chair person for ARTA's Scholarship Committee. She is a faculty member for the Armstrong Community Music School (South Austin), and the Texas TOOT (formerly Texas Early Music Festival). She teaches in students' homes, at workshops, at the the First Baptist Church in Blanco, Texas, and privately at her studio, the Academie of Musick (North Central Austin).

Danny Johnson

Award-winning director, international performer, and recording artist Daniel Johnson has been the artistic director of the Texas Early Music Project since its inception in 1987. Johnson has performed and toured both as a soloist and ensemble member in such groups as the New York Ensemble for Early Music, Sotto Voce (San Francisco), and Musa Iberica. He can be heard on various recordings for Koch International, Foné Records (Rome), Amherst Festival Productions, and the Texas Early Music Project label.

Johnson was the director of the UT Early Music Ensemble, one of the largest and most active in the U.S., from 1986-2003. In 1998, he was awarded Early Music America's Thomas Binkley Award for university ensemble directors. He is also the recipient of the 1997 Quattelbaum Award at the College of Charleston. Johnson teaches master classes in performance practice and also serves on the faculty, staff, and the Executive Advisory Board of the Amherst Early Music Festival. He has been on the faculty of the Texas Toot since 1994.

Dr. Lyle Nordstrom

Dr. Nordstrom is director of early music activities (Collegium) at the University of North Texas. He recently was honored by Early Music America with the Thomas Binkley award for early music ensembles at the collegiate level. Founder and co-director of The Musicians of Swanne Alley, he has performed at the Boston Early Music Festival and in many other venues. His arrangements of music for Swanne Alley were used in the MGM movie Rob Roy. Dr. Nordstrom has published several articles on lute-related subject and written a book on the 16th century wire-strung Bandora. He is current editor of the Lute Society of America Scholarly Editions project.

Peggy Sexton

Peggy Sexton has played percussion with the Austin and San Antonio Symphony Orchestras, Austin Symphonic Band and University of Texas Early Music Ensemble. Currently she performs with the Texas Bach Choir, Heralds & Minstrels, and the Balcones Community Orchestra in addition to regular freelance performing in the central Texas area. She is the author of five books on historic and ethnic percussion and writes a regular column on early percussion for the Early Music Colorado Quarterly.

Frank Shirley

Dr. Frank Shirley holds a Master of Music degree in musicology from the University of Texas, where as a Ph.D. in mathematics he teaches courses in math for non-math majors. He has performed in early music ensembles in Ithaca NY, Dallas, and Austin, and has taught for several years at the Fall and Summer Toots. He has studied recorder in workshops with Saskia Coolen, Reine-Marie Verhagen, and Aldo Abreu. In addition, Dr. Shirley has performed as a bass chorister in the UT Early Music Ensemble, the Austin Civic Chorus, the Victoria Bach Festival, and the Dallas area Renaissance Polyphony Weekend.