Ensemble Vermillian was founded to explore the potential for color and texture possible in transcribing the virtuosic repertoire of the seventeenth and eighteenth century for recorder, cello and continuo. Based in Davidson, North Carolina, and Berkeley, California the members of EV, sisters Frances Blaker (recorders) and Barbara Blaker Krumdieck (Baroque cello) joined by Katherine Heater (harpsichordist and organist) have traveled to meet, research, rehearse and perform together since 2000. The ensemble is expanded to include other musicians depending on the project at hand. Viola da gambist Elisabeth Reed joined Ensemble Vermillian for the two-CD Stolen Jewels project.
Having studied at conservatories in Denmark, the Netherlands, Ohio and Indiana, the performers blend their approach to the music to create a sound which inspired one audience member to write, “A beautiful performance. The chemistry between you is special.”
Mission Statement
EV explores less-familiar repertoire from the 17th and 18th centuries and makes it their own through transcription for their particular instruments. The very special group chemistry that these players create together makes for compelling performances, both for the audience and the performers. The combination of music research and vibrant performance are what make Ensemble Vermillian stand out from the crowd.
Frances Blaker received her Music Pedagogical and Performance degrees from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Copenhagen where she studied with Eva Legêne. She also studied with Marion Verbruggen in the Netherlands. Ms. Blaker has performed as a soloist and with various ensembles in the United States, Denmark, England and the Netherlands, including Ensemble Vermillian, the Farallon Recorder Quartet and the recorder duo Tibia. She teaches privately and at workshops throughout the United States, including the San Francisco Early Music Society Baroque workshop and Port Townsend; she is an assistant director of the Amherst Early Music Festival, Inc. Ms. Blaker is the author of The Recorder Player's Companion and the "Opening Measures" column in the American Recorder, and a collaborator and performer on the Disc Continuo series of recordings. She can be heard on Ensemble Vermillian’s “Stolen Jewels” and the Farallon Recorder Quartet’s Senfl CD.
Barbara Blaker Krumdieck grew up in the East Bay, studying cello with Mildred Rosner and Jeff Stauffer. She changed her focus to Baroque cello after attending the San Francisco Early Music Society’s Baroque Workshop, and went on to study with Viola de Hoog in the Netherlands, and Pheobe Carrai at the Conservatory of Music in Hilversum, NL. She has toured all over Europe and recorded with Concerto Köln, of Germany, and is currently a member of various early music groups including the Wild Rose Ensemble, Vita Nova and Ensemble Vermillian. She is a sought-after teacher of cello in Davidson, North Carolina, and can be heard on Ensemble Vermillian’s CD “Stolen Jewels”, as well as on the Disc Continuo series of recordings.
Since 1996, harpsichordist and organist Katherine Heater has made her home in the San Francisco bay area where she is a frequent performer with early music groups such as Magnificat and the California Bach Society. Ms. Heater
received her B.A. in music from UC Berkeley and her M.M. in historical performance from Oberlin Conservatory. Thanks to fellowships from her alma mater and Philanthropic Ventures Foundation, Ms. Heater studied early keyboards at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam. She has performed throughout the United States, as well as abroad in Iceland, Taiwan, France and the Netherlands.
Elisabeth Reed is the principal cellist or gambist for the California Bach Society, the Dayton Bach Society, the Jubilate Baroque Orchestra, the Novello String Quartet, Ensemble Vermillian, the Wildcat Viol Consort, and the improvisational group, MOTOR. She also performs frequently with other west coast early music ensembles including Seattle Baroque, Philharmonia Baroque, Musica Angelica , American Bach Soloists and Camarata Pacifica Baroque . She has played at the Boston, Berkeley, and Bloomington Early Music Festivals as well as at Seattle's Bumbershoot Festival, and can be heard on the Virgin Classics and Focus recording labels. A graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts, the Oberlin Conservatory, the Eastman School of Music, and Indiana University's Early Music Institute, she has taught at Mills College, the Music Center for the Northwest, the Northwest Center for Early Music, and the San Francisco Community Music School. She was the director and founder of the Viols for Youth program in conjunction with the Seattle Early Music Guild and the Viola da Gamba Society-Pacific Northwest and is currently the principal teacher for the Youth Viols program in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is a Guild-certified practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method of Awareness Through Movement and Functional Integration with a particular interest in the issues facing musicians and performers. Currently, she teaches viola da gamba at the University of California at Berkeley and teaches cello, baroque cello, viola da gamba, and Feldenkrais privately.