Musicians

Violinist Alice Culin-Ellison (she/her) is a versatile historical performer whose artistry, scholarship, and leadership span more than four centuries of repertoire. As Co-Founder and Co-Director of Incantare, an innovative ensemble featuring the distinctive combination of violins and sackbuts, she explores underrepresented Renaissance and early Baroque works. Incantare’s acclaimed programs include EXILE: Music of the Early Modern Jewish Diaspora, Il Furioso (with The Newberry Consort), and explorations of music from the Thirty Years’ War.

As a concertmaster and soloist, Alice recently served as concertmaster for Kentucky Opera’s production of Rameau’s Pygmalion under Stephen Stubbs, and has performed with leading period ensembles including Apollo’s Fire, The Newberry Consort, Chatham Baroque, and the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra. Her international performance career spans Canada, France, England, China, and Japan, with festival appearances under renowned directors such as Christophe Rousset, Philippe Herreweghe, and the late Jeanne Lamon.

Previously the Artistic Director and Concertmaster of Bourbon Baroque, Alice holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Historical Performance from Case Western Reserve University, alongside degrees from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and the University of Michigan. Her recordings include releases on the Naxos and Centaur labels. Now based in Oregon, she enjoys hiking and backpacking when not performing.

Gregory Ewer (he/him) is well known to Portland audiences for his regular appearances with the Oregon Symphony, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Third Angle New Music Ensemble and Pink Martini. He is also the founder and artistic director of 45th Parallel, a highly acclaimed chamber music series featuring musicians of the Pacific Northwest.

Gregory began his musical career at the age of seventeen with the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra. While in Houston, he studied with Fredell Lack at the Moores School of Music, and worked as a graduate assistant to Sergiu Luca at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. He was also the fiddler in the Houston-based bluegrass band, Classical Grass. In 2001, he joined the Oregon Symphony, appearing as a soloist in 2006, and contributing regularly to the Symphony’s educational and outreach activities.

Gregory has appeared recently as a guest recitalist at Yale University and at the National Library in Mexico City. He has performed at numerous summer festivals including the Tanglewood Music Center, San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, Moab Music Festival and the Montana Baroque Festival. Recent recordings include the six string quintets of Giuseppe Antonio Capuzzi for Cinnabar Records, and a compilation of pieces by contemporary Chinese composer Chen Yi with Third Angle New Music Ensemble.

Breana Halimé McCullough (she/they) is a Karuk violist whose artistry bridges Baroque and Modern Classical music with a profound commitment to cultural advocacy and Indigenous empowerment. Originally from Bozeman, Montana, they have performed with prominent ensembles such as Sound Salon, the Carpe Diem String Quartet, Sinfonia Spirituosa, the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, and the I-90 Collective.

Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Musicology at McGill University, McCullough’s academic research focuses on Indigenous representation in Early Music and the reMatriation of Karuk ancestors, cultural materials, and songs from archives across the United States. Their scholarly work centers on developing protocols that uphold Tribal, family, and data sovereignty. They have taught and guest lectured at institutions including UCLA, Bucknell University, UNLV, and USC, and contributed to the digital archival platform Mukurtu, which is grounded in Indigenous knowledge systems.

A dedicated advocate for diversity and inclusion, McCullough’s recent publications include a chapter in Teaching Difficult Topics: Reflections from the Undergraduate Music Classroom, exploring the integration of Indigenous perspectives and the ethical implications of historically informed performance. They have previously served as co-chair of the IDEA Taskforce for Early Music America.

Deeply committed to community engagement, McCullough is a teaching artist with the Heartbeat Music Project, bringing music education and mentorship to youth on the Diné (Navajo) Reservation to empower Indigenous youth through cultural and musical expression. McCullough currently splits their time between Tiohtià:ke-Mooniyang-Montréal, Québec, and Bozeman, Montana.

Hailed as “a bright new gamba star” by The Strad, Canadian cellist and viol player Caroline Nicolas (she/her) enjoys an international career spanning repertoire from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. Equally at home in early and modern contexts, she performs with leading ensembles across North America and Europe, including The English Concert, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Kammerorchester Basel, and Pacific MusicWorks. She serves as Artistic Director of Ars Poetica and has collaborated with renowned artists such as Jordi Savall, William Christie, Rachel Podger, and Harry Bicket.

Her performances have graced major venues like Carnegie Hall, the Berliner Philharmonie, and Benaroya Hall, as well as festivals such as the Boston Early Music Festival and Bach Festival Leipzig. Locally, The Seattle Times named her appearance with Emerald City Music a “Top Pick” of the classical season. Her debut solo album, Pièces en solitude, was praised by Gramophone for its “understated beauty” and featured in The Strad and Strings Magazine.

A Fellow of The English Concert in America and winner of The Juilliard School’s Historical Performance Concerto Competition, Caroline is also a dedicated educator. She has taught at Yale University, the Peabody Conservatory, and the University of Washington, and has led workshops for the Viola da Gamba Society of America and the Port Townsend Early Music Workshop.

A native of Winnipeg, Caroline studied with Phoebe Carrai at Juilliard and with Christophe Coin and Paolo Pandolfo at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland. She now lives in New York City with her husband, lutenist Kevin Payne.

Lutenist Kevin Payne (he/him) is active as a recitalist, accompanist, and continuo player. Recent ensemble work includes performances with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Twelfth Night, Blue Heron, Handel and Haydn Society, and Bach Collegium San Diego. Festival appearances include Caramoor, Tanglewood, Spoleto, and Newport Classical. Performance venues include Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, Germany. His playing has been broadcast on a number of nationally syndicated radio programs including Sunday Baroque and Performance Today. 

 When not performing, Kevin enjoys cooking, reading, watching Star Trek (P’Tach!) and attempting to delay the inevitable (and often imminent) demise of the houseplants he shares with his wife, cellist Caroline Nicolas.

Cellist Sarah Rommel (she/her) is a sought-after collaborator, educator, and curator whose rare sincerity, rich sound, and passion for unconventional programming have established her as a unique rising force in classical music.

Following her win of Third Prize at the 2014 George Enescu International Cello Competition, Sarah has performed across the United States and internationally. As a dedicated chamber musician, she performs regularly with the Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston and has toured with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO), and Musicians from Marlboro. Her career has taken her to renowned stages such as Carnegie Hall, Disney Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, as well as international tours in New Zealand and India. She has collaborated with major artists including John Adams, Sofia Gubaidulina, Jonathan Biss, and Kim Kashkashian, and appeared at festivals such as Marlboro, Ravinia, Yellow Barn, and Caramoor.

An innovative curator, Sarah is the founder and Artistic Director of Seattle’s Jigsaw Chamber Ensemble. Her recent projects include the Arioso Project, featuring the first commercial recording of a 1929 work paired with five newly commissioned companion pieces exploring themes of adversity and creativity.

Sarah began playing the cello at age twelve through her public school before earning her Bachelor’s degree at the Curtis Institute of Music with Peter Wiley and her Master’s degree at USC with Ralph Kirshbaum. She recently completed a three-year tenure as Artist-in-Residence and cello faculty at the University of Washington. Based in Seattle, Sarah enjoys the mountain views with her partner Jonathan, their dog Rhubarb, and cat Laptop.

Boston-based pianist April Sun, Staff Pianist at Boston University School of Music, enjoys a multi-faceted musical life as a performer, educator, and arts organizer who values curiosity, sincerity, and fun in her work/play. An avid chamber musician, she co-founded the Meadowlark Piano Trio, frequently collaborates with Phoenix and the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra, and has performed with various small ensembles at such diverse venues as Calderwood Hall (Boston), Bing Concert Hall (Stanford), Spectrum (NYC), Pepsico Hall (Fort Worth), and the American Exchange Center at Jiaotong University (China).

Committed to helping communities forge meaningful relationships with music, April co-directs Music for Food, a nonprofit that uses music to generate funds for food pantries, and works with Asian Musical Voices of America to build community among self-identified AAPI musicians. She also teaches piano and chamber music at Brookline Music School and serves as a collaborative pianist at New England Conservatory and Boston University. From 2016-2018, April was an Artist-in-Residence at Judson Park where she played monthly concerts for seniors as part of an internationally recognized intergenerational living initiative.

April holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in collaborative piano, an M.M. in piano performance, a certificate in pedagogy, and the Bennett Levine Chamber Music Award, from the Cleveland Institute of Music. She completed her B.A. in music, with minors in English and Art History, at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Her many wonderful mentors have included Daniel Shapiro, Anita Pontremoli, Paul Barnes, Kim Kashkashian, Peter Salaff, Hyeyung Yoon, Francesca Brittan, and Susan McClary.

April was born and raised in Bozeman, MT and lived in GA, SD, NE, and OH before moving to MA, where she is surrounded by people and other animals she adores. Away from the piano, she fills time with stories, bikes, strong beverages, and hikes.

A New Yorker based in Madrid, Jon Wasserman (he/him) is a multi-instrumentalist specializing in plucked string instruments and a singer focused on historical music. He earned degrees in classical guitar and ethnomusicology and completed a Master’s in Historical Plucked String Instruments at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. He later pursued further training at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya and completed a Master’s in Spanish Music at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid, studying with renowned lutenists such as Nigel North and Xavier Díaz Latorre.

In April 2025, he completed his first North American tour, performing in eight cities across the United States and Canada, strengthening his international presence. He is active as both a soloist and continuo player in Europe and the Americas, and has performed with ensembles such as Meridionales, Ensemble Lipzodes, Colorado Baroque Orchestra, Las Aves, Opera Omnia, Delirivm Música, Capella Ministrers, Al Tayr, The Spanish Consort, Eduardo Paniagua, and Sound Salon Seattle.

In 2024, he participated in the recording Corelli After Schickhart (IBS) with Serendipia Ensemble, and in 2022 he released Tonos Humanos with the duo Isanta & Wasserman, exploring Spanish music from the 17th and 18th centuries. In 2026, he recorded a new album with Al Tayr Ensemble titled El Viaje de Abendino.

Recently, his work has focused on the fusion of different musical cultures, combining Renaissance, Baroque, contemporary, and world music traditions to explore new sounds and perspectives within historical music.

His career brings together performance, research, and the promotion of lesser-known historical repertoire, with a focus on the expressive richness of early music and the interplay between voice and lute.