Soile Stratkauskas, Elyssa Lefurgey-Smith & Christina Hutten: April 16th

Baroque Banquet – Sunday, April 16th at 2pm

A delicious and varied selection of baroque delights, including solos and chamber sonatas by JS Bach, CPE Bach, Telemann, and Boismortier. Playing on instruments of the Baroque period, Victoria Baroque brings listeners closer to the sound world of the era, highlighting the conversational aspect of baroque music with the mellow tones of the harpsichord, wooden flute and gut strings.

Programme

Biographies

Soile Stratkauskas
Finnish-born Soile Stratkauskas completed her undergraduate studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, and gained her Master’s degree at the Royal Academy of Music in London, UK. Soile has performed with many prominent period instrument orchestras in the UK, including the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Gabrieli Consort and Players, and has toured in Europe and recorded with these groups. Soile is the founder and artistic director of the Victoria Baroque, and is passionate about creating opportunities for music making in the community. With Victoria Baroque, she has performed ten successful concert seasons in Victoria, as well as guest performances for Early Music Vancouver, the Early Music Society of the Islands, the Cowichan Symphony Society, and Artspring. Soile is the principal flutist of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra and teaches at the University of British Columbia as part of Early Music Vancouver’s Baroque Orchestra Mentorship Programme.

Elyssa Lefurgey-Smith
Versatile Canadian violinist Elyssa Lefurgey-Smith began her early music career in Toronto and has performed regularly with ensembles such as Tafelmusik, Aradia Baroque Ensemble, IFURIOSI, Talisker Players, and Opera Atelier. Since moving to Victoria, BC in 2016 to be closer to family, she has become a member of both Victoria Baroque and Pacific Baroque Orchestra and has been invited as a regular guest director of Per Sonatori baroque ensemble in Regina. She has toured internationally for performances in Russia, Australia, France, Ireland and Italy.  In addition to performing, Elyssa is an enthusiastic and passionate educator and has been involved in teaching, coaching and program development for over 15 years. 

Christina Hutten
Organist and harpsichordist Christina Hutten has presented recitals in Canada, the United States, and Europe, including performances in concert series hosted by the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam, the Hooglandsekerk in Leiden, Early Music Vancouver, the Universities of British Columbia and Calgary, and others.

She performs regularly with Pacific Baroque Orchestra and has appeared as concerto soloist with the Okanagan Symphony, the Vancouver Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, and the Arizona State University Chamber Orchestra. 

Christina is also an enthusiastic teacher. She coaches and coordinates the early music ensembles at the University of British Columbia and has given masterclasses and workshops at institutions including Brandon University, the University of Manitoba, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada’s National Music Centre in Calgary, and the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute.

Funded by a generous grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, she pursued historical keyboard studies in Europe with Francesco Cera, François Espinasse, and Bernard Winsemius. She participated in the Britten-Pears Programme, led by Andreas Scholl and Tamar Halperin, for which she was awarded the Loewen Prize.

Christina obtained a Master’s Degree in Organ Performance from Arizona State University under the direction of Kimberly Marshall and an Advanced Certificate in Harpsichord Performance from the University of Toronto, where she studied with Charlotte Nediger.