ARTEK History 
Spring 1986 . . . ARTEK begins with four concerts featuring Gwendolyn Toth at St. John the Evangelist Church . . . Lisa Terry performing this first season . . .
John Rockwell writes a rave review of the final concert in The New York Times . . .
1986-1987 . . . Liddy Guiher offers her support to
continue concerts . . . ARTEK moves to St. Michael's Church with its von Beckerath organ and beautiful chapel . . . Drew Minter sings for the first time with ARTEK . . .
Dongsok Shin also plays for the first time in a thinly veiled ploy to gain a harpsichord mover/tuner/sound engineer for ARTEK . . . a concert of four concertos on four different
keyboards where the ARTEK name is born . . .
 1987-1988 . . . ARTEK's first big orchestral program
of Bach & Handel . . . more chamber music . . .
1988-1989 . . . ARTEK performs classical music at Merkin Hall with Pomerium . . . debut of Gwendolyn
Toth's lautenwerk . . .
1989-1990 . . . a busy year: Gwendolyn Toth's first child with husband Dongsok, a new position as Director of Music at St. Francis of Assisi Church and
five more concerts ranging from chamber music to orchestral masterpieces . . . ARTEK's first
collaboration with the Choir of St. Francis of Assisi in Bach's Magnificat . . . ARTEK discovers soprano Jessica Tranzillo at St. Francis . . .
 1990-1991 . . . a splendid program of Handel with
Drew Minter . . . collaborations with Zephyrus, Alan Tjaarda Jones, Hoboken Renaissance Singers, Talisman . . . Grant Herreid and Paul Shipper join
ARTEK . . . ARTEK's debut on the fringe at BEMF, with another rave from New York Times . . .
1991-1992 . . . another baby for Gwen, more Bach concerts: this time the
St. John Passion and another collaboration with Pomerium for the Bach-Schütz Festival . . .
1992-1993 . . . concerts at St. Mary the Virgin . . . Grant plays lute, recorder, theorbo, shawm, viol, and sings alto, tenor and bass in the first Christmas with ARTEK
(whew!) . . . a dramatic performance of Poppea excerpts, complete with tiara . . .
 1993-1994 . . . the year of Orfeo . . . recording sessions
until 4 am at St. Mary the Virgin . . . Paul claims Gwen is actually asleep during Possente Spirto . . . costumes, tights, and no dressing rooms . . . Michael Brown joins
ARTEK for the first time as Apollo . . . Karen Hansen bravely dodges dripping candles during Christmas with ARTEK . . . Gwen performs the Goldberg Variations for
the first time, in a snowstorm . . . ARTEK's debut on Music Before 1800 in their first collaboration with Enrico Gatti . . .
1994-1995 . . . Christmas with ARTEK in a spectacular staged performance of Stradella's Christmas Cantata at Kaye Playhouse . . . the first 458
Strings concert . . . Jessica and Gwen at festivals in Utrecht & Czech Republic . . . performances in the elegant but decrepit palace where Haydn lived . . .
1995-1996 . . . Dongsok finally finishes Orfeo CD . . . Barbara Hollinshead, baby in tow, joins
ARTEK for a mini-festival of Monteverdi and never looks back . . . Robert Mealy joins ARTEK as second viola player but fortunately has moved up since then . . . ARTEK records Love
Letters from Italy with Drew Minter . . .
 1996-1997 . . . Daniel Swenberg joins ARTEK in
a memorable program of German baroque music with Jean Tubery . . . ARTEK's Handelmania brings 24 students to study performance practice with Nancy Wilson,
Enrico Gatti and Robert Mealy . . . First Night at St. Bartholomew's Church, with four hours of Handel and an audience over a thousand strong . . . ARTEK performs
I Don't Want to Love with Mark Morris for the first time in Columbus, Ohio, followed by BAM and Jacob's Pillow . . .
1997-1998 . . . Gwen's baby #3 arrives, first concert of season 3 weeks later . . . 458 Strings at
St. Bartholomew's again for First Night . . . touring throughout the US with Mark Morris . . .
FedExing mom's milk back to baby . . . Philip Anderson joins ARTEK . . . beautiful sacred
music at St. James in Brooklyn in spring . . . ARTEK's first outing at Regensburg in June . . .
one child left behind at Düsseldorf airport for 20 minutes . . . Regensburg is amazing, the standing ovations, the enthusiastic crowds . . .
1998-1999 . . . concerts at Church of the Resurrection . . . first collaboration with the New York
Continuo Collective at Corpus Christi in spring . . . giggling nymphs and laurel wreaths . . .
 1999-2000 . . . ARTEK moves its sheet music and instruments into offices at Church of St. Francis of Assisi and begins
the popular Midtown Concerts series . . . Handel's spectacular Dixit Dominus with Robert's first concerto performance . . . Spanish music at Caramoor . . . ARTEK
back at Regensburg & Switzerland in June . . . making train connections with six adults, two kids, and 50 instruments . . .
2000-2001 . . . ARTEK plays Bach at Kaye
Playhouse . . . Gwen tackles all six Bach harpsichord partitas in one season . . . I Don't Want to Love CD is released . . .
2001-2002 . . . five weeks in the United
Kingdom with Mark Morris, a month after 9/11 . . . Gwen and Martin Platt create I'll Never See the Stars Again
complete with twinkle lights at St. Michael's . . . first concert at the House of the Redeemer's Italian Renaissance library . . . the Newell Jenkins Award . . . unforgettable
memorial concert for 9/11 with 22 early music ensembles in January . . .
2002-2003 . . . gala festivities at House of the Redeemer . . . more Stars in frigid January
weather . . . return to Regensburg in June for another fabulous experience . . . official debut at BEMF on main series . . . a year of fabulous reviews . . .
2003-2004 . . . Gwen finally releases those solo CDs in process since 1995 . . . English country dancing at the Mark Morris building . . . Michael Brown's moving performance of
Combattimento . . . Marcello oratorio turns out to be a surprise hit . . .
2004-2005 . . . New York City finally has its own early music festival . . . stunning program of Monteverdi opera excerpts at Music Before 1800 is the highlight of the season . . .
Extreme Harpsichords is fabulous music and a stunning photo . . . off to Scotland and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for Graveyard Music and
I'll Never See the Stars Again in summer 2005 . . .
|
