PLAINFIELD — An evening of chamber music featuring Heliand Consort will be presented on Sunday, Nov. 3, at 4 p.m., at the Plainfield Opera House.
Heliand Consort is dedicated to creating community through the shared experience of chamber music. The ensemble emphasizes accessibility and inclusivity, aiming to eliminate the formality often associated with classical music.
Heliand’s (from left) Katie Oprea, Cynthia Huard and Rachael Elliott perform November 3 at the Plainfield Opera House.
Members of Heliand include Cynthia Huard, piano. Huard is the featured soloist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Aston Magna Early Music Festival. She has appeared as a pianist and harpsichordist throughout the United States and in Europe. As artistic director of the Rochester Chamber Music Society, Huard has performed with Lark Quartet, Johannes Quartet, cellist Nathaniel Rosen, and with chamber players of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, National Symphony, and the Colorado, Utah, and Vermont Symphony Orchestras.
Rachael Elliot, bassoon, has performed with Heliand since its founding in 2007. Her other groups include “Clogs,” “Dark in the Song,” “Rushes Ensemble” and “Tuple.” Elliot teaches bassoon, contemporary chamber music, wind pedagogy, and is a member of the career coaching staff at Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Mass. Rachael is a certified life coach and Certified Start With Heart facilitator.
Katie Oprea, oboe, is a native of St. Albans. She studied oboe with her father and later joined the Vermont Youth Orchestra, where she performed as a youth soloist with the VYO and VSO. Her principal teachers include Neil Boyer at the University of Southern Maine, Mark Weiger at the University of Iowa and César Ognibene at the Conservatoire National de Région of Lyon, in France. While in Europe, she served as principal oboist with the Romanian State Opera of Timisoara and also appeared with the Timisoara Philharmonic, the Europa Symphony, and the Bolshoi Ballet. She performs frequently with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Burlington Ensemble and is principal oboist with Opera Company of Middlebury. She teaches oboe lessons in Bakersfield.
The Plainfield Opera House is located at 18 High Street. For more information and tickets, visit plainfieldartsvt.org or contact Karl Bissex (Plainfield Arts Event Coordinator) at [email protected].
