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Harpsichordist Holly Chatham and cellist Joanna Blendulf met at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music in the late 1990s. After playing professionally in a number of groups the two came together in 2002 to form their own group.
“Our ensemble, Reconstruction is a quintet of women dedicated to bringing the music of the early Baroque to early twenty-first century audiences,” said Chatham. “Especially in the early Baroque we found a wealthy of music for three sopranos and accompaniment and it’s our passion to present it.”
“Our program, Bedlam, Back and Beyond has a nice arch to it. We sing of love of affection and then of the madness that it can lead to. You know that some of the musicians from this period like Henry Purcell actually visited the madhouses. Long before romantic figures like “Lucia” there were mad songs.”
“But in addition to these treasures from the past we do look to the ‘beyond.’ We’ve commissioned a lovely work by Karen Hansen that fits very gracefully into our program and we’ve even got a bit of a surprise that always leaves the audience with a bit of a chuckle.”
