Courante was founded in 2017, when Cape Cod musicians David Gable (violin), Jan Elliott (recorder) and Molly Johnston (viola da gamba) discovered a mutual affinity for beautiful and challenging chamber music from the baroque era. Brittany Lord (harpsichord) soon joined the group, completing the “basso continuo” portion of the ensemble.
Courante performs music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries on period instruments pitched at A = 415 hz, using a tuning system developed by Francesco Vallotti in the early 1700s. Their name is taken from the popular baroque dance, the courante or corrente, which is characterized by sprightly rhythms and triple meter.
Courante performs regularly at Church of the Messiah in Woods Hole, Massachusetts and at other venues in Eastern Massachusetts. They have performed twice at the Boston Early Music Festival.
Jan Elliott, recorder, began her musical training in Falmouth with Patricia C. Brown and Ruth Guillard. She holds a BA in Music from Wesleyan University and an MA in Dance Ethnology from UCLA, and studied Ethnomusicology at the University of London. Formerly on the Music Education faculty at Boston University, she currently maintains a private teaching studio in Woods Hole. In addition to Courante, she performs with Ensemble Passacaglia and the Woods Hole Recorder Consort.
Violinist David Gable holds degrees in violin performance from the University of Michigan and Boston University, where he studied with Paul Makanowitzky and Joseph Silverstein. Well known to Cape Cod audiences, he is a Cape Symphony teaching artist, and he has performed with many instrumental ensembles across Cape Cod. With Courante he plays a violin dating from eighteenth century Germany, using a replica of a mid-eighteenth century Italian-style bow made by Donald MacKenzie of Brewster, MA.
Molly Johnston, viola da gamba, holds degrees in Music History from Wellesley College and Yale University, and has studied instrumental performance with Adrienne Hartzell, Grace Feldman and Laura Jeppeson. She taught Music History at Duke University, where she also directed the Collegium Musicum, performing medieval, renaissance and baroque music. She was the director of the Utah Shakespearean Festival Consort and has taught at the Viola da Gamba Society of America conclave. She also performs with Ensemble Passacaglia and Canto Armonico of Boston.
Harpsichordist Brittany Lord has been Music Director at the Church of the Messiah in Woods Hole since 2008. She also maintains a studio of private piano students on the Upper Cape. Mrs. Lord earned a Master’s degree in organ performance from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ, where she studied organ with Alan Morrison. She received Bachelor’s degrees in both Organ Performance and Music Education from the University of Southern Maine, studying organ with Ray Cornils.