Musicians
photo: Antonia Nelson
ELIZABETH WEINFIELD is a viol player, the artistic director of Sonnambula, and a musicologist who teaches in the music history department at The Juilliard School. As an independent performance curator, she uses her deep understanding of the technique and history of old music to deconstruct and reimagine its artistic possibilities in the present, including the recent site-specific series at The Met Cloisters, reviewed by Alex Ross in the New Yorker as "remarkable." As the guest curator of the Hispanic Society of America’s 2017–2018 concert season, “Hispanic Women Composers,” she designed concerts of work by unknown female composers with ties to the Spanish diaspora including many New York premieres. Recipient of the Oxford University Press OBO award in music, she also designs SpectrumHP, a historical performance solo series at NYC’s contemporary music space, Spectrum, concerts of which often include new commissions for old instruments. Current and recent projects with Sonnambula include the first complete recording of Leonora Duarte (1610–1678), a Portuguese converso living in Antwerp, a collaboration with the New York Times photography critic Teju Cole; premières of 18th-century works from Cuba at The Hispanic Society of America in New York; and the commission and recording of new works for viol consort by Princeton University composers. Notable collaborations include Anonymous 4, Bacheler Consort, Brothers Balliett, Davóne Tines, Lionhart, ModernMedieval, New York Consort of Viols, Parthenia, PERFORMA, Trio Coprario, The Sebastians, choreographer Christopher Williams, and director R.B. Schlather. Weinfield has appeared as viola da gamba soloist with the American Baroque Orchestra and the Yale Schola Cantorum under Masaaki Suzuki.
Weinfield holds a PhD in historical musicology from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (2019), where she wrote a dissertation on Leonora Duarte, the first of its kind. A dedicated educator, she joined the faculty of music history at Juilliard in 2019 and previously taught music at The City College of New York, Yeshiva University, and Fordham University, and art history at Oxbridge Academic Programs (Paris/Barnard). She holds a Master’s degree in music from Oxford University where she studied baroque viola with Judy Tarling and members of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and viols with the British viol consort Phantasm. Weinfield was the digital project leader for the redesign of the Musical Instruments galleries at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which recently reopened in March 2018; she has curated a baroque plucked strings exhibition for the Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments and was the managing editor of The Met's digital project, The Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. As a writer and critic, she has published on old instruments and historical performance in The Galpin Society Journal, The Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, The Huffington Post, Fortnight Journal, and others. She lives in New York with her husband, Sonnambula violinist Jude Ziliak, and their young son.
Weinfield holds a PhD in historical musicology from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (2019), where she wrote a dissertation on Leonora Duarte, the first of its kind. A dedicated educator, she joined the faculty of music history at Juilliard in 2019 and previously taught music at The City College of New York, Yeshiva University, and Fordham University, and art history at Oxbridge Academic Programs (Paris/Barnard). She holds a Master’s degree in music from Oxford University where she studied baroque viola with Judy Tarling and members of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and viols with the British viol consort Phantasm. Weinfield was the digital project leader for the redesign of the Musical Instruments galleries at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which recently reopened in March 2018; she has curated a baroque plucked strings exhibition for the Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments and was the managing editor of The Met's digital project, The Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. As a writer and critic, she has published on old instruments and historical performance in The Galpin Society Journal, The Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, The Huffington Post, Fortnight Journal, and others. She lives in New York with her husband, Sonnambula violinist Jude Ziliak, and their young son.
AMY DOMINGUES has a passion for performing music new and old on the cello and viola da gamba. When orchestral playing fell short of captivating her creative senses, she honed her ensemble skills as a session cellist, recording and touring with rock and experimental bands in the United States, Europe, and Japan. Later, armed with an avid interest in Renaissance and Baroque history, Amy turned her focus to the viola da gamba. Following several years of study, including masterclasses with Wieland Kuijken, Paolo Pandolfo, and Philippe Pierlot, she earned a master’s degree in Early Music from Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. Since then, Amy has enjoyed an ambitious career as a historically informed musician, performing on baroque cello and viola da gamba with groups as varied as The Folger Consort, Hesperus, and The Washington Bach Consort. Amy is a founding member of Sonnambula (Ensemble in Residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art 2018-2019), and co-founder of Corda Nova Baroque. She performs and records with guitarist Dennis Kane in the experimental/neo-classical duo Domingues & Kane. Amy has received the Peabody Career Development Grant and is a multiple recipient of the Artist’s Grant in Aid from the Viola da Gamba Society of America. She is an avid educator and maintains a private studio of cello and gamba students of all levels and ages. Ms. Domingues has served as faculty at the Madison Early Music Festival, the Conclave of the Viola da Gamba Society of America, and appears on over 70 albums, most recently Sonnambula’s world premiere recording of Leonora Duarte’s complete Sinfonias on Centaur Records (2019). She resides in Washington, DC with her husband and two cats. www.amydomingues.com
TOMA ILIEV is a well-rounded musician focused on Historical Performance Practice, and a member of Sonnambula and the Portland Baroque Orchestra. He has performed at prominent concert venues in New York including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Peter J. Sharp Theater, Merkin Hall, The Kosciuszko Foundation, as well as venues across North America and Europe. Recent appearances include performances at the Valley of the Moon Music Festival, Oregon Bach Festival 2016 and Berkeley Festival and Exhibition 2016 as well as broadcasts on MediciTV, BBC3 radio, KLCC and the CBC “Rush Hour” series. Iliev is a recent graduate from The Juilliard School's highly prestigious and selective Historical Performance Program; he holds the Christa Bach-Marschall Foundation Prize from the International Bach Competition in Leipzig 2014, and Competition Winner at the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra Concerto Competition 2013. A native of Sofia, Bulgaria, Iliev discovered his passion for music at an early age. Beginning his violin studies at the National Music School in Sofia, he later on received his post-secondary music education at Indiana University and The Juilliard School. Iliev’s early music career began in 2013 when he soloed with the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, after winning the Concerto Competition given by the same institution. The next year, 2014, marked his first major international competition award: the “Christa Bach-Marschall Foundation Prize” at the “International Bach Competition” in Leipzig, Germany. Between 2014 and 2016 Iliev appeared regularly with Juilliard’s period ensemble, Juilliard 415, at venues in North America and Europe including Alice Tully Hall, Jordan Hall, St. John Smith Square and others. In 2016 Iliev performed at Valley of the Moon Music Festival, Berkeley Festival & Exhibition, Oregon Bach Festival, ABS Festival and Academy 2016, Dans les Jardins de William Christie. His 2016-2017 season appearances include regular performances with the Portland Baroque Orchestra, Mercury, and New York Baroque Incorporated. Iliev holds a Master of Music degree from Indiana University and a Graduate Diploma from the Juilliard School. His knowledge and experience in Historically Informed Performance grows wider parallel to his continuous involvement with the HIP movement. In addition to performing on baroque and classical violin, he often solos or performs in a chamber setting on the baroque and classical viola, viola d'amore as well as the tenor viol. Having learnt from inspirational figures such as Stanley Ritchie, Monica Huggett, Rachel Podger, Nigel North, Jordi Savall, Robert Levin, Richard Egarr and others, Iliev has been developing his own vision of the specifics of historically informed performance and is determined to continue the legacy of the HIP movement beyond the baroque and classical repertoire.
Hailed as “a great organist” displaying “phenomenal technique and sheer musicality” (Bloomberg News), JAMES KENNERLEY is a multi-faceted musician who works as a conductor, keyboardist, singer, and educator. Prizewinner at the 2008 Albert Schweitzer International Organ Competition, and a finalist at the inaugural (2013) Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition, he has given concerts at Carnegie Hall, The Metropolitan Museum, Washington National Cathedral, Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, the Royal Albert Hall, Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, London, and many other major organ venues in the USA and Europe. As Organ Scholar of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London, he had the honor of performing in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen on several occasions. Mr. Kennerley is the director of music at St. Paul’s Choir School and Parish in Cambridge, MA. He was Organist and Choirmaster at Saint Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church, New York City from 2013–2019. Lauded as an “excellent, true-toned tenor” by The New Yorker critic Alex Ross, he has performed as a soloist with many ensembles, including New York Polyphony, the Choir of Trinity Church, Wall Street; Saint Thomas, Fifth Avenue; the American Classical Orchestra; TENET; and the Clarion Music Society. He has been a featured soloist with the Mark Morris Dance Company at BAM, and in Handel’s Messiah at Alice Tully Hall. Other notable collaborators include William Christie, Richard Egarr, Nicholas McGegan, Christopher Hogwood, Monica Huggett, Julian Wachner, and many others. As a conductor Mr. Kennerley made his New York conducting debut at Lincoln Center in 2009 and regularly conducts Sonnambula’s larger ensemble projects, including a concert of 18th-century world premières from Cuba at New York's Hispanic Society, works by Spanish-Venetian composer, Marianna Martines, and a program of contemporary commissions at Princeton University. A composer, as well, he has taken home the first-prize in the Association of Anglican Musicians Composition Competition; his 2012 piece Lauda novella was featured as part of the Twelfth Night Festival at Trinity Church, Wall Street. Mr. Kennerley is frequently in demand as a performer and educator in improvisation, having studied the technique with Robert Levin, McNeil Robinson, and Noam Sivan at The Juilliard School.
A native of the United Kingdom, Mr. Kennerley is the director of music at St. Paul’s Choir School and Parish in Cambridge, MA. He was Organist and Choirmaster at Saint Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church, New York City from 2013-2019. Mr. Kennerley was appointed the Municipal Organist of Portland, Maine, by the Mayor in September 2017, following a unanimous vote from the Search Committee and the City Council. Mr. Kennerley is a graduate of Harrow and Jesus College, Cambridge University, where he was Organ Scholar. He holds a graduate degree in harpsichord from the Historical Performance program at The Juilliard School. For more information, please visit www.jameskennerley.com
A native of the United Kingdom, Mr. Kennerley is the director of music at St. Paul’s Choir School and Parish in Cambridge, MA. He was Organist and Choirmaster at Saint Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church, New York City from 2013-2019. Mr. Kennerley was appointed the Municipal Organist of Portland, Maine, by the Mayor in September 2017, following a unanimous vote from the Search Committee and the City Council. Mr. Kennerley is a graduate of Harrow and Jesus College, Cambridge University, where he was Organ Scholar. He holds a graduate degree in harpsichord from the Historical Performance program at The Juilliard School. For more information, please visit www.jameskennerley.com
JUDE ZILIAK is a violinist who specializes in historical performance, writ large. His activities embrace a wide repertoire from the fifteenth century to the present. In addition to Sonnambula, he is a principal player with the American Bach Soloists. He teaches violin and directs string ensembles at the Special Music School (P.S. 859), New York’s K–12 public school for musically gifted children. Ziliak frequently serves as concertmaster or principal second violin with the American Bach Soloists, appearing in both capacities in their recordings since 2014, and has performed several concerti with the ensemble. He has also performed with The English Concert under the direction of Harry Bicket, Les Arts Florissants under William Christie, and many of North America’s period instrument orchestras, including the Clarion Society, Blue Hill Bach, Teatro Nuovo, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, New York Baroque Incorporated, and Musica Angelica. As a chamber musician, he has been a guest of Cantata Profana and the Four Nations Ensemble and has collaborated with Elizabeth Blumenstock, Richard Egarr, Florence Malgoire, and Jaap Schroder. Ziliak studied Historical Performance at the Juilliard School as a pupil of Monica Huggett and Cynthia Roberts. While there, he encountered many leading figures in the field of early music, including Fabio Biondo, Ton Koopman, Jordi Savall, and Masaaki Suzuki. Studies with Joshua Rifkin and David Schulenberg ground his approach to the study of performance practice. Trained as a modern violinist at Rice University (Master of Music), Boston University (Bachelor of Music), and the Royal College of Music, London, his principal teachers were Bayla Keyes, Kenneth Goldsmith, and Dona Lee Croft. A former member of Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Festival Orchestra, he has been concertmaster at the National Orchestral Institute under Andrew Litton and led orchestras there as a New Lights Fellow. In 2018 Ziliak received the Jeffrey Thomas Award from the American Bach Soloists, awarded annually to recognize “exceptionally gifted emerging professionals in the field of early music who show extraordinary promise and accomplishment.” Raised in Sewanee, Tennessee, he now makes his home in New York with his wife, violist da gamba Elizabeth Weinfield, and their son.