Rook, Ensemble

Biography

Rook is a mixed instrument ensemble dedicated to the music of the 16th and 17th centuries. Rook explores this music with a surprising combination of brass and string instruments that, while popular 400 years ago, creates colors that are missing from modern music making. The core of the ensemble is comprised of accomplished musicians from Chicago’s new generation of period style performers and collaborates regularly with vocalists and other instrumentalists to present this exciting music to modern audiences. In addition to performing at universities and other venues all over the Chicagoland area, Rook has presented concerts at Oberlin Conservatory’s Historical Performance Department Recital and fringe concerts at the Boston Early Music Festival and the Madison Early Music Festival. In March of 2012 Rook was selected as one of three ensembles to participate in the Carnegie Hall Professional Training Workshop to work with L’Arpeggiata. This year, Rook is excited to release its premier album, eleven.

Paul Von Hoff is a trombonist who performs extensively on both historic and modern instruments. A founding member of the Gaudete Brass Quintet, he also is the trombone instructor at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Northwestern University School of Music and a Master’s from the Chicago College of Performing Arts, and has studied historic trombone with Greg Ingles, as well as modern trombone with Frank Crisafulli, Lawrence Borden, and Jay Friedman.

Jeremy David Ward, cellist, has been featured, as a performer of early bass instruments, on concerts for Newberry Consort, Ars Musica, the Dunbar Early Music Festival, and the Chicago Early Music Festival. His contemporary music work includes performances with Chicago new music groups Dal Niente and Eighth Blackbird with members of the Pacifica Quartet. Jeremy is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University.

Mark Shuldiner, historical keyboards, is a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory's Historical Performance program. He has enjoyed additional instruction from such keyboard luminaries as Emanuel Ax and Davitt Moroney. Mark led a performance of Charpentier’s Les Arts Florissants to great acclaim on a fringe concert at the 2009 Boston Early Music Festival. He has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Newberry Consort, Music of the Baroque, Grant Park Symphony, Baroque Band, and Rook.

Jakob Hansen, violin, earned his bachelor’s degree in violin performance from Northern Illinois University. His principal teachers include Mark Zinger, Mathias Tacke, and David Douglass. Pursuing a career as a specialist in early music, he performs with Newberry Consort, Northwestern University’s Dunbar Festival Orchestra, Madison Bach Musicians, and the Bach and Beethoven Ensemble. In 2011, he performed a program of early 17th century repertoire at the Boston Early Music Festival.