STEVE ROSENBERG Photo by Jonathan Boncek. Courtesy of Charleston City Paper.
The 2nd Monday Series at the College of Charleston School of the Arts will present a concert featuring retired faculty member and former department chair, Steve Rosenberg, for an evening of instrumental and vocal Early Music. The concert will also feature Julia Harlow, organ and harpsichord, David Hunt, viola da gamba and the College of Charleston Madrigal Singers, directed by Robert Taylor. The program will include repertoire spanning from the 13th – 18th centuries, featuring works by Paumann, Barsanti, Sermisy, Arbeau and Bach.
The concert will take place on Monday, February 10 at 7:30 p.m., at the Recital Hall of the Simons Center of the Arts, 54 Saint Philip St. General admission is $15 and $10 for all students with school I.D. Tickets can be purchased at the door or reserved by email.
Dr. Steve Rosenberg was born in N.Y., studied in Paris at the Schola Cantorum where he was awarded the Prix de Virtuosité, and has travelled throughout the world, both as a member of “Les Menestriers” and subsequently as a soloist. He is recognized as one of the world’s foremost recorder players and exponents of early music. His interest and involvement in music education is revitalizing the approach to teaching and playing of the recorder and early music in schools worldwide. He served on the College’s music faculty from 1985-2016. Rosenberg’s passion for early music led to him performing at Piccolo Spoleto for its first season in 1978. He subsequently became director of the festival’s Early Music Series which remains a vibrant part of the festival today.
Dr. Julia Harlow is the Director of Music and Organist at Second Presbyterian Church in downtown Charleston and teaches music (ear training, organ, and world music) at the College of Charleston. Originally from Iowa, her doctoral and master’s degrees in organ and harpsichord performance are from the University of Oregon. She served on the board of the American Guild of Organists for 11 years.
David Hunt is a native of Seneca, S.C. and an active performer and proponent of 16th and 17th century music. Beginning his career as a violinist and violist, he started studying the viola da gamba privately in 2007 with Gail Ann Schroeder of Asheville, N.C. and continued with Jane Hershey at Longy Conservatory in Cambridge, Mass., where he ultimately completed his Masters and a Graduate Performance Diploma, both in Early Music. A passionate advocate for the Historically Informed Performance movement, he has appeared on stage with the likes of The Boston Camerata, Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra, Helios Early Opera, Grand Harmonie, El Fuego, Greensboro Early Music Society, Tramontana, Long & Away Consort, and the Cavalier Consort. David moved to Charleston in 2016, where he is a Cantor at the Catholic Cathedral of St. John the Baptist and works in a French café when he isn’t busy practicing.
Dr. Robert Taylor is the Director of Choral Activities at the College of Charleston, the Founding Artistic Director and President of the Taylor Festival Choir (TFC) and Taylor Music Group (TMG), and the Director of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Chamber Singers. His ensembles have performed throughout the United States and Europe. They have been featured in numerous festivals, conventions and special concerts, including the 2005 and 2009 American Choral Directors (ACDA) National Conventions, the 2004, 2008 and 2018 ACDA Southern Division Conventions, the 2008 and 2011 National Collegiate Choral Organization National Conventions, and multiple appearances in regional and state ACDA and AGO conventions. Taylor and his combined choirs performed with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra in a feature concert in the 2013 National Collegiate Choral Organization National Convention. Taylor’s groups also appear annually in the prestigious Spoleto Festival U.S.A. and Piccolo Spoleto Festival. Taylor has conducted more than 30 major choral/orchestral works to critical acclaim, his interpretations of modern works and the works of Ralph Vaughan Williams being especially praised. His recording of Vaughan Williams’ Epithalamion and An Oxford Elegy was hailed as “a highly accomplished performance,” one in which “his forces capture [Vaughan Williams’ score’s] ebb and flow perfectly” (American Record Guide). With the CSO Chorus, he has prepared numerous choral/orchestral masterworks for performances with prestigious conductors such as the late David Stahl, Joseph Flummerfelt, Louis Solemno, Stuart Molina, Kenneth Fulton, Joe Miller and JoAnn Faletta. As Director of Choral Activities at the College, Taylor oversees all choral studies and endeavors, including leading the acclaimed Concert Choir, the Madrigal Singers, and directing the choral strand of the College’s Master of Arts in Teaching in the Performing Arts degree. He serves as editor of the Robert Taylor Choral Series with Colla Voce Publications. Along with his wife, violinist/Irish fiddler Mary Taylor, Taylor coordinates the Celtic Arts Series (formerly the Taylor Music Festival) in Piccolo Spoleto: a series of concerts and workshops emphasizing musical education and performance in both classical and Celtic/folk disciplines. Deeply involved in Piccolo Spoleto and with the Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs, Taylor was awarded the Piccolo Spoleto Lifetime Achievement Award.
Housed within the College of Charleston School of the Arts, CofC Concerts includes five extraordinary series: International Piano Series, Magnetic South, Charleston Music Fest, 2nd Monday Series, and CofC Ensembles (CofC Concert Choir, Opera and Orchestra), featuring international, national and regional artists, as well as the award-winning student ensembles in the College of Charleston’s Department of Music. Visit CofC Concerts at music.cofc.edu/concerts.