Joanna Marsden, artistic director, is a flautist from Lincoln, Massachusetts. She has performed recently in Belgium, Canada, France, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States “beautifully” (Luis Gago, Madrid) and “with notable rhetorical clarity” (Boston Musical Intelligencer). She is a founding member of Poiesis and Symphonie Atlantique, a conductorless chamber orchestra led from the violin by Rebecca Huber dedicated to the Classical and Romantic repertoire based in the Hague, the Netherlands. She has a doctorate in historical performance from McGill University’s Schulich School of Music and holds degrees from the Royal Conservatory of the Hague and Vassar College. Her first CD, Devienne Sonatas with Mark Edwards (Centaur Records) was reviewed warmly by Early Music America and the American Record Guide. She was a prize winner of the 2012 National Flute Association’s Baroque Artist Competition in Las Vegas. She lives in Montréal, Québec.
A talented chamber musician, Christophe Gauthier has founded many ensembles such as Les Rendez-vous baroque français (Montréal), La Frontera (Mexico) and Le Consort laurentien (Basel). He also plays organ with Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, Arion orchestre baroque, Ensemble Clavecin en concert and Orchestre Métropolitain with maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He was featured in a recital with soprano Suzie LeBlanc at the Orford Festival.
Founding Member
Mark Edwards is the former artistic director of Poiesis. First prize winner in the 2012 Musica Antiqua Bruges International Harpsichord Competition, Canadian harpsichordist and organist Mark Edwards is recognized for his captivating performances, bringing the listener “to new and unpredictable regions, using all of the resources of his instrument, […] of his virtuosity, and of his imagination” (La Libre Belgique).
He has given solo recitals at a number of prominent festival and concert series, including the Utrecht Early Music Festival, Bozar (Brussels), the Montreal Baroque Festival, and Clavecin en concert (Montreal). He has had concerto performances with a number of award-winning ensembles, including Il Gardellino (Belgium), Neobarock (Germany), and Ensemble Caprice (Canada). Also an active chamber musician, he plays with Les Boréades de Montréal and has played with Il Pomo d’Oro, Pallade Musica, and Flûtes Alors! Since 2016, he is Assistant Professor of Harpsichord at Oberlin Conservatory.