Founder, harpsichordist, organist, and baroque dancer
Lauded by Cleveland Classical as "an excellent soloist, a compelling performer who is equally comfortable handling long strings of notes... and singing through emotive melodies with her instrument,” Dr. Qin Ying Tan currently serves as harpsichord faculty at Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music. Dr. Tan has appeared in concerts in Singapore, Shanghai, Germany, France, and has performed extensively across the United States of America. This season sees engagements with Hudson Historical Society and Library, City Music, the Historically-Informed Performance Practice Department at Case Western Reserve University, and the Baldwin-Wallace Bach Festival. In addition to her commitment to early repertoire, Tan regularly presents new music to her audiences and has premiered several pieces, most notably Cenk Ergun's sound installation piece, "Fomare" at the Cleveland Museum of Art and “Are You You” by Michi Wiancko with City Music. As a pedagogue, Dr. Tan’s students have successfully gained admission into graduate programs in Michigan and Boston. Dr. Tan continues to cultivate an interest of historically-informed performance at the pre-college and college level in her role as a board member of the Northeast Ohio MTNA and harpsichord faculty at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory. Her passion for sharing historical music has also led her to lead dynamic workshops on baroque dance and historical keyboards in Southeast Asia where accessibility to period music is rare. When not at work, Ying loves exploring and hiking around beautiful Cleveland with her family. She welcomes conversations about culture, history or how music can be a vehicle for social change and a tool to bring communities together.
Baroque violinist
Singaporean violinist Alan Choo has established himself on the global stage as a leading soloist, chamber musician and historical specialist. He is Concertmaster and Assistant Artistic Director of Apollo’s Fire, the Grammy Award-winning baroque orchestra in the United States, and made his solo debut with them at the Tanglewood and Ravinia Music Festivals in 2017. He is also Founder and Artistic Director of Red Dot Baroque, Singapore’s first professional period ensemble and Ensemble-in-Residence at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. His solo album of the complete Mystery Sonatas by Heinrich Biber with Apollo’s Fire was released on AVIE Records in March 2024 and debuted at #2 on the Billboard Classical chart, earning a double 5-star review from BBC Music Magazine, and receiving rave reviews from multiple publications such as The Strad. Alan has appeared as a soloist with Apollo’s Fire at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall (NY), the Tanglewood Music Festival (MA), Ravinia Music Festival (IL) and St. Martin in the Fields (London, UK), and also with the FVG Orchestra (Italy), the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra (Russia), Tafelmusik Winter Institute Orchestra (Canada), Shanghai Camerata, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Orchestra of the Music Makers (Singapore), and more.
Soprano
Mexican-American soprano Andréa Walker is a passionate interpreter of Baroque music and vocal chamber music. She can be heard performing across the country with groups like GRAMMY® Award-winning orchestra Apollo’s Fire, Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Seraphic Fire, and Les Délices. Other recent solo performance highlights include her Lincoln Center debut in Telemann's Der Tag des Gerichts with Masaaki Suzuki and Juilliard415, Haydn's Schöpfungsmesse with Yale Schola Cantorum (German tour), the role of Venus in Daniel Purcell's The Judgment of Paris at Amherst Early Music Festival, and being a guest artist at the Norfolk Chamber Choir Festival under the direction of Simon Carrington. Ms. Walker is pursuing a Doctorate in historical performance practice at Case Western Reserve University. Prior to her time in Cleveland, she graduated with a Master’s in vocal performance from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music where she specialized in early music, oratorio, and art song. She is thrilled to be making her debut with Pegasus Early Music and NYS Baroque in the 2024-2025 season.
Baroque cellist, gamba player
René Schiffer was born in the northern part of the Dukedom of Brabant, in Bach’s era part of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. He studied in Amsterdam with Anner Bijlsma, then specialized in historical performance with Jaap ter Linden. In Oberlin, he studied the viola da gamba with Catherina Meints, to whom he dedicated his Concerto for Two Viols (under the name Katharina von Mainz). Master Schiffer performed with groups like La Petite Bande, Ensemble Gare de Lyon, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Les Musiciens du Louvre, the Netherlands Bach Society, occasionally with Concerto Armonico, the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. He has been principal cellist for Apollo’s Fire since its foundation in 1992. He has played recitals and solo performances with orchestras in Budapest, Paris, Versailles, Utrecht, Brôme (there’s nothing wrong with playing Uccellini in Brome), Chautauqua, Tanglewood, Ravinia, and Grandchamp. On two occasions he asked the way to Carnegie Hall, but did not have the good fortune to get the answer Practice! Schiffer has taught at Case Western, Cleveland Institute of Music, at Oberlin, and as guest at several colleges over the United States, including Duke, Dartmouth, and Penn State. He has given talks about music in Toledo and in Cleveland for Apollo’s Fire’s subscription series. So far, Schiffer has mastered the cello, the historical cello, the bass viol, the (French) bass violin, the violoncello piccolo in at least three different tunings, and the G-violone, that’s a violone while wearing a thong with a G string. I think he shares a Grammy Award with Apollo’s Fire’s musicians and the incomparable Karim Hunt, correction, Sulayman. He is also very good at declaiming and driving really long distances. As composer Schiffer, sometimes under names like René Antoine Duchiffre, Renato Marini, Captain Hummus and Johann Sebastian Offenschiffer, can be heard on Apollo’s Fire’s Vivaldi & Friends CD, where his Tango Concerto is featured. A video of the tango of that concerto can also be enjoyed on Youtube. His Clorinda Sonata and his Jewish Rhapsodies (Ovos, Kaddish and Olenu) also feature on that channel. Among works that are awaiting recording are his Variations on themes from Ortiz’ Tratado, two Abel arrangements for 5-string cello and his Christmas Medley. He wrote two “Bach suites”: the 7th suite in D, BMW 1013 (in the 1990s) and the more recent Kronstadter Partita, BMW 17465, a fairly late work. Schiffer just purchased a historical bow from Stephen Marvin. With his angel Marie Rowley, he resides in Chagrin Falls.
Baroque violinist
Costa Rican Baroque violinist and scholar Guillermo Salas-Suárez has served as guest concertmaster for Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, American Baroque Opera, Lumedia Musicworks and Bourbon Baroque, among others. Guillermo holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Historical Performance from Case Western Reserve University, where he studied with Dr. Julie Andrijeski. He has also performed with the Lyra, Atlanta, North Carolina, and Austin Baroque Orchestras, Apollo’s Fire, The Newberry Consort, Bach Collegium Fort Wayne, The Early Interval, and Wit’s Folly, a clarinet and strings chamber ensemble he co-founded. Guillermo has collaborated and trained with Barthold Kuijken, Malcolm Bilson, Paolo Pandolfo, Jaap ten Linden, Enrico Gatti, Monica Huggett, Shunske Sato, Bruce Dickey, Peter Sellers, and the late Jeanne Lamon at the early music festivals in Boston, Amherst, Bloomington, Urbino (Italy), Daroca (Spain), Saintes (France), Stuttgart Bachwoche (Germany), etc. He has also appeared at the Aspen Music Festival, Severance Hall, Sala São Paulo (Brazil), and the National Theatres of Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, and Honduras. As a scholar of 18th-century music in Spain and Mexico, he has presented his research at Boston, Indiana, and Oregon Universities, and is currently writing an academic book for IU Press. As an educator, Guillermo is committed to the advancement of historical performance in Latin America, having served on the faculty at the Festival de Musica de Santa Catarina (Brazil) and conducted workshops at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Academia de Música Antigua de Medellín (Colombia), as well as the premier universities of his home country. He is a member of Early Music America’s IDEA Task Force, a cohort dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusion in early music throughout the continent. For the 24-25 season, Guillermo is excited to embark on a Latin American tour of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and recitals with harpsichordists QinYing Tan and Byron Schenkman.
African Drummer, dancer, singer
Papa Assane M’Baye was born and raised in Dakar, Senegal. He came from a family with a strong tradition of singing and dancing, and learned his musical skills from his extended family. At a young age, he began performing with his family at celebrations and events, and eventually at Le Ballet National du Senegal. His family also performed in Europe. He came to the US in 2000 as part of a group performing Mandinke epics called the Ballet Afrique Noire, which included dancers and musicians from Senegal, Mali and Guinea. During his stay, he was offered a contract in Baltimore, and then was offered a position at The KanKouran West African Dance Company, a well established company based in Washington, DC where his former teacher was Musical Director. Assane performed with the troupe, and later became its Musical Director. He continues to participate in their annual drum and dance conference during the Labor Day weekend. Assane is now based in Cleveland, where he teaches at Karamu School in Cleveland and Shore Cultural Center in Euclid. In addition to his teaching, he performs on evenings and weekends in Cleveland and cities across the Midwest and East Coast. He came to Cleveland from the East coast because of the opportunity to teach in schools. He has also put together an ensemble called TamTam Magic, which features West African artists working with African American performers. This ensemble, made up of five dancers and four drummers, has performed at festivals, holiday celebrations, weddings, parties, and parades. In 2011, it entered into a contract (along with other local artists) with the Cleveland Zoo to perform at its Africa exhibit throughout the summer. Assane continues to return annually to Senegal in the winter months to develop his skills in traditional food, culture and dance.
Violone
Tracy Rowell is Associate Professor of Bass at Oberlin Conservatory. Formerly the Assistant Principal Bass of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, a major Canadian ensemble, she remains an active performer on modern and historic bass. Currently the principal bassist of Citymusic Cleveland Chamber Orchestra, she also performs with Apollo’s Fire, Cleveland’s Baroque Orchestra. A founding member of the Pantheon Ensemble, Tracy has also performed with groups such as the Cavani, St. Lawrence, Pacifica, Jasper, Jupiter and Parker Quartets. Ms. Rowell performs and teaches at programs such as the Sarasota Music Festival (2024), the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Bass Workshop, Bassworks Maryland, Kansas City Bass Workshop, and Bass Club UK. Ms. Rowell regularly presents classes at institutions such as The Colburn School, USC, Northwestern University, Peabody Conservatory, and Rice University. While serving on the Board of Directors for the International Society of Bassists as Education Chair, Ms. Rowell co-directed the Young Bassists Program at ISB Conventions in 2019, 2021,and 2023. She led the fundraising effort in 2019 to create the George Wellington and George Vance Scholarship Fund for young bassists. Tracy is a founding member of the Project for All Gender Equality (PAGE) and League of Women Bassists (LOW-B). Tracy received her BMus from Rice University, as a student of Paul Ellison. She received her MMus from Boston University, where she studied with Edwin Barker. In 2022, she received the Performance Diploma and Teaching Certificate from the Institut International Rabbath, after having received study and travel grants from The Cleveland Institute of Music and Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music.
Ann Yu
Baroque violin
Cleveland-based violinist Ann Yu is an accomplished solo and chamber musician, having soloed with the Cleveland Orchestra, CIM Orchestra, and the National Repertory Orchestra and collaborated with Janine Jansen, Franklin Cohen, and Máté Szücs in chamber performances. Festival engagements include the Caroga Arts Collective, Thy Festival in Denmark, Kneisel Hall, Perlman Music Program Workshop, and the Credo Chamber Music Festival, where she also serves as faculty. Ms. Yu earned her master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music studying with Jaime Laredo, Jan Sloman, and William Preucil. Her variety of hobbies include krav maga, swing dancing, dabbling in other musical genres, and volunteering for the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.