Meet the Guest Salmon Runners 2016/17
A native of Eugene, Oregon, NATE HELGESON is in demand in the United States and abroad as a modern and historical bassoonist. He is a founding member of period instrument ensembles on both coasts, including SacroProfano (Seattle), Grand Harmonie (Boston), and New Vintage Baroque (New York). Helgeson also appears regularly with many of North America’s premier period instrument ensembles, such as the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Pacific Music Works, American Bach Soloists, and the Trinity Baroque Orchestra.
​
In 2012, Helgeson was chosen to perform at the summer music festival, Dans les Jardins de William Christie, an outdoor festival of 18th-century music in the west of France hosted and directed by the eminent French music specialist, William Christie. On the modern bassoon, he has performed throughout the country with a diverse range of ensembles, including the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, the Boston Philharmonic, and the Callithumpian Consort. He is a graduate of the Historical Performance program at the Juilliard School, and holds degrees in modern bassoon performance from the University of Oregon and the New England Conservatory of Music.
ADAM HAWS (b. 1980) holds degrees in composition from Western Washington University (BM) and Indiana University (MM and DMA). He has participated in the Aspen Music Festival, Bang on a Can Music Festival, and received performances at Bowling Green State University’s New Music Festival, and the Prishtina DAM Festival in Kosovo. Performing groups include the Indiana University New Music Ensemble, Kuttner String Quartet, Color Field Ensemble, Quince Vocal Ensemble, and readings by members of the Cleveland Orchestra. He enjoyed a long association interning with Seattle Opera’s education department and lecturing high school students on the minutia of Wagner’s Ring cycle. In his spare time, Adam enjoys films, hiking, and playing with his rambunctious cats. Adam currently lives in Seattle, where he is on the faculty of the Academy of Music Northwest.
Courtney Kuroda (baroque violin) is an active performer of early music in the Seattle area and has performed throughout the U.S. and Canada with period chamber ensembles and orchestras, including Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Ars Antigua in Chicago, Ensemble Mirable, and Opera Lafayette in Washington D.C. Ms. Kuroda has played in the Bloomington and Boston Early Music Festivals. Her violin playing has been described as “plangent of tone and right on the mark technically” (Herald-Times). Ms. Kuroda received her Master’s degree in performance from the Early Music Institute at Indiana University where she studied Baroque violin with Stanley Ritchie. She has recorded for the Naxos and ATMA labels, and resides in the Seattle area.
John Lenti (theorbo, lute, archlute, and guitar) has been praised for playing with “nuanced beauty and character” (Gramophone), described as “a joy to behold” (Seattle Times), and regularly deploys his “uncommonly big sound” (Third Coast Digest) in concert, over the air, and on record to considerable acclaim as a soloist and accompanist with groups like Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Portland Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, Apollo’s Fire, Haymarket Opera Company, Magnificat, the Newberry Consort, and Seraphic Fire, among many others. As a founding member of Wayward Sisters and Plaine & Easie, Lenti twice took top prizes in Early Music America competitions, and is now, predictably, rich and famous. Other ongoing, far-flung, ensemble projects include Ostraka (Florida), Sacro Profano (Seattle), the I-90 Collective (Montana), and Mr. Jones and the Engines of Destruction (NYC). Lenti studied lute with Nigel North, Jacob Heringman, and Elizabeth Kenny. Additional musical help and inspiration have come from Ricardo Cobo, Ronn McFarlane, Pat O’Brien, and Walter Gray.