Biographies of Ensemble Members

Daniel Ryan, co-Artistic Director, cellist, has played with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Il Complesso Barocco (Venice and Innsbruck), the Camerata Academica of Salzburg, and many ensembles in the Greater Boston area, such as Boston Cecilia, Handel & Haydn Society, and Favella Lyrica, with whom he was featured on the Bank of Boston Emerging Artists Celebrity Series in 1997. As a member of the Boston-based group Renaissonics, he was featured on NPR’s Sound and Spirit program in 2005 and has released a CD for WGBH radio. While attending Boston University, he studied cello with George Neikrug and pursued his interest in historical performance through course work at the Longy School of Music and masterclasses with Anner Bijlsma, the Kuijkens, and Hopkinson Smith. He later studied with Christophe Coin at the Sommerakadamie in Innsbruck. Also an accomplished player of keyboard instruments, Mr. Ryan has been awarded the Associate certificate of the American Guild of Organists and is Organist-Choir Director at Church of the Holy Spirit in Wayland. He has recorded for Titanic, Meridian, and Koch.

Suzanne Stumpf, co-Artistic Director, flutist, has performed in the United States with numerous chamber and orchestral ensembles including the New York Bach Ensemble, Boston Cecilia, Handel & Haydn Society, and Boston Baroque, with whom she has appeared as soloist. She has toured in Germany and Austria with I Vari Flauti and Musicians of the Old Post Road, and has served as guest principal flutist for the Montreal Baroque Orchestra. She has also performed at the Yellow Barn Music Festival, where she worked closely with John Cage. An honors graduate of Wellesley College, where she was awarded several prizes, Ms. Stumpf studied historical performance in Vienna with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and in Zurich with Johann Sonnleitner, and has done graduate work at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. She is a full-time Assistant Director of Chamber Music and Flute Instructor at Wellesley College and has presented masterclasses and workshops in historical performance for the Greater Boston Flute Association, the Amherst Early Music Festival, Clark University, and New England Conservatory. She may be heard on Titanic, Telarc, and Meridian.

Sarah Darling, violinist and violist, enjoys a diverse musical career performing repertoire that spans many centuries and styles. Sarah studied at Harvard, Juilliard, Amsterdam, and Freiburg (as a recipient of the Beebe, Paine, and DAAD grants) and is currently in the doctoral program at New England Conservatory with Kim Kashkashian. She is the director of the Arcturus Chamber Ensemble, concertmaster and assistant director of the Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra (winner of last year's Bodky prize), and a member of the Rosetta Trio, the Sanssouci Quartet, and A Far Cry. She also performs regularly with the BSO, Boston Baroque, Cambridge Concentus, La Donna Musicale, Les Bostonades, the Callithumpian Consort, Sarasa, Radius, and the Portland and Rhode Island Symphonies. Sarah has participated in the Carmel, Ravinia, Lucerne, Norfolk, Sarasota, and Yellow Barn festivals, and has collaborated with members of the Juilliard, Takacs, Borromeo, Ying, Orion, and Cleveland quartets. She is the winner of the NEC, Harvard Bach Society, Arlington, Marlboro, and Freiburg concerto competitions. A passionate advocate of new music, she has been involved in the premiere of more than 100 works, and just released a critically acclaimed solo recording featuring American composer Leland Smith on the Naxos label.

Marcia Cassidy, violist, has performed extensively in the United States, Europe, Canada, and Japan to critical acclaim as a member of the Franciscan String Quartet, first-prize winner of the Banff International String Quartet competition. Ms. Cassidy pursued her musical training at the University of Texas, University of New Mexico, New England Conservatory, San Francisco Conservatory, and with the Tokyo String Quartet at the Yale School of Music. She has participated in numerous summer music festivals including Tanglewood, Blossom, Norfolk, Banff, and Aspen. She is an active chamber music performer, principal violist for Opera North (NH), a member of the newly-formed Burlington Chamber Orchestra (VT), and serves on the faculty of Dartmouth College, where she teaches violin and viola and coaches chamber music.

Michael Bahmann, harpsichordist, fortepianist, has performed extensively in the U.S. and in Europe. He holds degrees from the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover, the San Francisco Conservatory, and the New England Conservatory. One of the founding members of Musicians of the Old Post Road, he has appeared at early music festivals in Indianapolis, Regensburg, and Mexico City, and has recorded several CDs for the Meridian label. As a soloist and recitalist, he also performed at the festivals of Radio France, Königslutter, Aix-en Musique, Chicago Symphony Chamber Concerts, Bay Chamber Concerts, Museum Concerts of Rhode Island, among others. He has toured with the Baroque orchestra Musica Aetema of Bratislava, and in 2005, he was invited to direct Handel’s Orlando for the Festival of Antibes. While a member of Music of the Baroque of Chicago, he recorded several concerti for harpsichord for the Fine Arts Radio Network. Mr. Bahmann is artistic director of Musica Maris, a period instrument concert series based in Rhode Island. He is music director and organist at the United Congregational Church of Little Compton. In his spare time, he works as an organ voicer for Fratelli Ruffatti of Padova.