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TBF Orchestra 2024
The TBF Orchestra is comprised of some of the finest early-music players in the Pacific Northwest. Its members include players from the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Pacific MusicWorks, and the Portland Baroque Orchestra and they have played at some of the leading early-music festivals around the world.
Cecilia Acheluta, baroque violin
Cecilia Archuleta, violinist, enjoys a varied and colorful career as a chamber musician, orchestral player, and soloist. Her refined and expressive virtuosity have brought numerous engagements with some of our region's most esteemed ensembles, as well as internationally. Cecilia was concertmaster with Philharmonia Northwest and has played with Northwest Sinfonietta, the Seattle Symphony, Pacific NW Ballet Orchestra.She is currently a member of Seattle Baroque Orchestra and the Auburn Symphony Orchestra. In chamber music, Cecilia has performed with the Philadelphia String Quartet for twelve seasons at the Olympic Music Festival, and the renowned Onyx Trio Series at Town Hall. She is on faculty with the Icicle Creek Chamber Music Madness series and Midsummer Musical Retreat, where she coaches chamber ensembles. She has performed with Gallery Concerts, Intimate Baroque, Anacortes Arts series, Friday Harbor Chamber Music Festival, Oswego music Festival and the Mainely Mozart Festival.As a soloist, Cecilia has been a guest of the Toluca Symphony, Four Seasons Chamber Orchestra, Northwest Philarmonia, Octava Chamber Orchestra, Cantare Ensemble, and the Chaspen Chamber Orchestra.
Darlene Franz, baroque oboe
Dr. Darlene Franz enjoys an active freelance career, appearing as a soloist, chamber music collaborator, and orchestral musician throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond. She is a sought-after performer on both modern and historical oboes, and has played with Seattle Baroque, Seattle Pro Musica, the Northwest Sinfonietta, Pacific Baroque Orchestra (Vancouver, B. C.), California Bach Society, and the Seattle Bach Choir among many other groups. In 2018 she gave the West Coast premiere of Joseph Pollard White’s Concerto for oboe d’amore and orchestra with the Thalia Symphony. Recent engagements include oboe soloist for Musical Prayer and Taizé services at St. James Cathedral, and as English hornist for The Passion of St. Thomas More, a chamber opera by Garrett Fisher, at Texas A&M University. Dr. Franz studied oboe with Rebecca Henderson, Alex Klein, and Robert Hubbard. Additional studies with John Mack and Margriet Tindemans profoundly influenced her musical development.
Ross Gilliland, bass
Ross Gilliland performs regularly on modern and baroque bass and violone throughout the pacific northwest. He performs locally with period ensembled including the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Sound Salon (formerly Byron Schenkman & Friends), the Whidbey Island Music Festival, Epiphany Parish, Tacoma Bach Festival, and Seattle Bach Choir. He also performs regularly on modern bass with numerous ensembles including the North Corner Chamber Orchestra (NOCCO), Seattle Modern Orchestra, Emerald City Music, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Auburn Symphony, Seattle Chamber Orchestra, and the Seattle ‘Candlelight Concert’ series. He is also active freelancing in theater and studio sessions, recording soundtracks for feature films, pop, bluegrass, video games, and other ‘attractions’. A Madison, WI native, Ross has been a long-time and continuing performer with the Madison Bach Musicians, the Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, collaborating closely with famed composer and Bach interpreter John Harbison, the Madison Symphony Orchestra, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society. He has been a featured soloist with Seattle's Mostly Nordic concert series and live on Wisconsin Public Radio. Mr. Gilliland holds degrees in music performance, physics, and environmental policy.
Matthew Hudgens, baroque oboe
Matthew Hudgens specializes in historical oboes and recorders has collaborated with numerous period and modern ensembles throughout the United States. He has shared the stages with esteemed organizations such as Portland Baroque, American Bach Soloists, Philharmonie Austin, Oregon Bach Festival, and the Oregon Symphony, where he serves as a substitute oboist. Matthew's talent has also taken him abroad, performing with Juilliard415 in New Zealand, Scandinavia, Canada, and France. Notably, he has had the privilege of performing with the acclaimed French orchestra Les Arts Florissant. He is a founding member of the Newfound Chamber Winds, formerly the Maryland Chamber Winds. With this ensemble, he has recorded two albums, "Preludes and Recitations" (2020) and "Kyro" (to be released). Additionally, Matthew had the opportunity to collaborate once more, in the summer of 2021, with members of Les Arts Florissant in a music video production, performing bassist and composer Doug Balliett's Ovid Cantatas, produced by Quincy Jones.
Laura Kramer, baroque cello, cello
Laura Kramer has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician on baroque and modern cello. She has performed as continuo and solo cellist with the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, NYS Baroque, the Grande Bande and Glimmerglass Opera. Laura also performs with many choral groups in the Seattle area, including Seattle Bach Choir, Mirinesse Women's Choir, Bellvue Chamber Chorus and Vespertine Opera.
Mary Manning, baroque violin
Mary Manning performs as a chamber musician, orchestral player, and soloist throughout the Puget Sound region. For over 20 years she served as Principal Second Violin of Northwest Sinfonietta, Tacoma and Vashon Opera Orchestras. She has been a member of several baroque orchestras and festivals performing on period instruments. She has recorded for Wildboar, Centaur, Virgin Veritas, and Reference Recordings. Mary began playing the violin in the 4th grade while attending the Tacoma public schools and in high school studied with University of Puget Sound professor Ed Seferian and Pacific Lutheran University professor Ann Tremaine. Her degree is from Oberlin Conservatory where she studied both modern and baroque violin with Marilyn McDonald. In masterclasses and auditions she has played for Monica Huggett, Elizabeth Wallfisch, Jascha Heifetz, and Dorothy Delay. Mary has been a private instructor for thirty years and coached chamber music at many camps and festivals. She taught violin at Pacific Lutheran University and was a member of the faculty string quartet from 2008-2019. She lives in Gig Harbor with her partner, John, an inventor and sometimes accordion player.
Anna Marsh, baroque bassoon
Anna Marsh, baroque bassoon is a multi-instrumentalist fluent in Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Modern styles. Anna holds a doctorate of music in historical performance from Indiana University & has appeared worldwide with Opera Lafayette, Tempesta di Mare, Folger Consort, Musica Angelica, Tafelmusik, Washington Bach Consort and Atlanta Baroque among others. She has taught privately & at festivals at the Eastman School of Music, Los Angeles Music and Art School, Amherst Early Music, San Francisco Early Music Society, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival & Western Double Reed Workshops. She also has been heard on dozens of recordings & on Performance Today, Harmonia, CBC radio & recorded for Chandos, Analekta, Centaur, Naxos, the Super Bowl, Avie, and Musica Omnia's Grammy nominated album, Handel's Israel in Egypt.
Lindsey Strand-Polyak, baroque viola
Praised for her “rococo gracefulness”, Lindsey Strand-Polyak is active throughout the West Coast as a baroque violinist and violist. Nationally, she performs with ensembles such as the American Bach Soloists, Baroque Music Montana, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Pacific MusicWorks and Bach Collegium San Diego, and Austin Baroque Orchestra; and has appeared at the Oregon Bach Festival, Twin Cities Early Music Festival, and the Fringe Series of both Boston and Berkeley Early Music Festivals. In her home base of Southern California, she can be heard with her own group, Ensemble Bizarria, as well as Musica Angelica, Con Gioia Early Music Ensemble, Tesserae, and Concordia Clarimontis. Dr. Strand-Polyak was the assistant director for the UCLA Early Music Ensemble from 2011-2015, and is artistic director of Los Angeles Baroque—Southern California’s first community Baroque orchestra. Lecture-recitals include McGill University, University of Texas at Austin, Northern State University of Louisiana, and national meetings of the American Musicological Society. She has served on the faculty of the Colburn School and the Herb Alpert School of Music at UCLA, and currently serves as adjunct professor of baroque violin and viola at Claremont Graduate University.