Established in 2014, sound|counterpoint is charming audiences throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond with its performances of music of the late Renaissance, the Baroque, and 21st century on period instruments. Based in Seattle, this new ensemble has quickly gained a reputation for performances of expressive generosity, spontaneity, vivacity, and virtuosity. sound|counterpoint's members - Miyo Aoki, recorder; Curtis Foster, oboe; Linda Melsted, violin; and Jonathan Oddie, harpsichord - are recognized as leaders in the early music community, and regularly appear with many of North America's top ensembles, including Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Portland Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, Pacific Music Works, and Pacific Baroque Orchestra. The common house cat is the spirit animal of sound|counterpoint.
sound|counterpoint is a Professional Affiliate of the Early Music Guild.
Tax deductible donations gladly accepted.
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The passionate artistry of violinist LINDA MELSTED has won the hearts of audiences across North America, Europe, and Japan. Currently concertmaster of Seattle Baroque Orchestra, she has appeared as soloist, member, and leader of many outstanding ensembles, including Tafelmusik, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Pacific MusicWorks, Philharmonia Baroque, and Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. Linda is the featured soloist in Tafelmusik’s documentary “Le Mozart Noir”, and has recorded for Sony, ATMA, Classique, CBC, and Harmonia Mundi.
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Linda’s true love is chamber music. She has performed with many ensembles in chamber music series from Toronto to Seattle including Early Music Vancouver, Gallery Concerts, Northwest Showcase, Camerata Musica, Folia, Discovery Island Music Festival, La Primavera, and Toronto Music Garden. She is a founding member of the chamber ensembles sound|counterpoint, the Cosi Quartet - a classical oboe quartet, La Modestine - a Baroque quartet based in Vancouver B.C., and Salish Sea Players - a group dedicated to bringing early music to retirement and nursing facilities in the greater Seattle area.
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Working with adult amateurs is one of Linda's favorite activities and she happily coaches students at her home and at various chamber music festivals. She has worked with community baroque orchestras in Toronto and Calgary in workshop settings and was the director of the New Baroque Orchestra in Seattle 2011-2015. Linda is a cat lover and shares her home with three cute, but crazy kitties ~ Gus, Gerome, and Kalli. Linda performs on a Nicolo Amati violin.
CHRISTINE WILKINSON BECKMAN, violin, enjoys performing throughout the Northwest with early music ensembles large and small. She appears regularly with the Pacific Baroque Orchestra and the Seattle Baroque Orchestra and plays frequently with Early Music Undergound and the Portland Baroque Orchestra. Other ensembles include Apollo’s Fire, Bach Collegium of San Diego, New York State Baroque, Pacific MusicWorks, Queen City Musicians, and the Salish Sea Early Music Festival. Beckman is a 2013 graduate of the Historical Performance Practice program at Case Western Reserve University where she studied with Julie Andrijeski. She has also studied with Ingrid Matthews and Marc Destrubé.
CURTIS FOSTER, Baroque oboe and recorder, whose playing has been praised for its "brilliantly introverted charm" (Seattle Times), has appeared with some of North America's most respected early music ensembles, including Pacific MusicWorks, the Seattle and Pacific Baroque Orchestras, American Bach Soloists, Musica Angelica, Mercury Baroque, Les Boréades, and many others. In the summers, he can often be found at music festivals around the US and Canada, including the Oregon Bach Festival, Vancouver, Chicago, and Bloomington Early Music Festivals, Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, and the Phoenix Bach Festival.
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A ravenous chamber musician, Curtis has performed with small ensembles in concert from San Francisco to Dubai, including regular appearances with his Seattle-based chamber groups, sound|counterpoint and the Cosi Quartet. Mr. Foster is also a staunch advocate for music of our own time, and regularly commissions and premieres new works by contemporary composers for old instruments. Curtis also enjoys connecting with students of all levels and backgrounds, and has taught at masterclasses and workshops around the US and Canada, in addition to being the oboe instructor for the Early Music Vancouver's Baroque Orchestra Mentorship Programme at the University of British Columbia. He has recorded for ATMA Classique, Cedille Records, and IU Press.
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A native of Wichita, KS, Curtis now makes his home in Seattle. He is a graduate of Indiana University's Early Music Institute and Wichita State University.
MIYO AOKI is a dedicated recorder player and teacher, performing music ranging from medieval to modern and teaching students of all ages and levels. She has performed in the US, Germany, and Poland with groups including Fortunata, Utopia, Affetti Amorosi, and Gamut Bach Ensemble, and is a founding member of the new, Seattle-based group sound|counterpoint. She has also premiered works by contemporary composers Natalie Williams, David Schneider and Agnes Dorwarth.
Recently, Miyo completed a KAZ Diplom (Artist Diploma) at the University of the Arts in Bremen, Germany, where she studied with Professor Han Tol. While living in Bremen, she also maintained a private studio and worked in the musical outreach program "Musik-im-Ohr", based in the Bremen concert hall, Die Glocke. She holds degrees in both early music performance and mathematics from Indiana University, where she studied with Professor Eva Legêne and received the Austin B. Caswell award for her paper on Ars Subtilior music.
Miyo is a strong proponent of music education and strives to make music accessible to people from varied backgrounds. She has collaborated in planning and peforming several outreach programs for children, including "Shakespeare's Ear" and "Oskar und die Blockflötendiebe". She teaches privately, and has previously taught as an associate instructor in the Indiana University Pre-College Recorder Program and at workshops in Salt Lake City, Cincinnati, and Bremen, Germany.
A versatile performer on both early and modern keyboard instruments, JONATHAN ODDIE has performed as a soloist and continuo player in the United States, England, and Germany. Jonathan holds degrees in piano and harpsichord from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he studied harpsichord with Elisabeth Wright and piano with Jean-Louis Haguenauer and Edmund Battersby. During his studies he was awarded the Jacobs School's Performer's Certificate and the Early Music Institute's Best Student Recital award for his harpsichord performance of the Goldberg Variations. Jonathan has been a member of the orchestras of Pacific MusicWorks, the Bloomington Early Music Festival, the Aston Magna Festival, and Oxford Baroque. He is currently finishing a doctorate in musicology on the instrumental music of Orlando Gibbons at the University of Oxford.
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