Musician
Austin DeSimone studied violin at Duquesne University and Carnegie-Mellon University and performed with orchestras in the US and South America. He then pursued a career as a hospital systems analyst and raised two wonderful sons. He is now retired and loves playing violin with Trillium Baroque, the Orion String Quartet PDX, and with his many musical friends at every opportunity!
Nancy Downie plays violin, hammered dulcimer, mountain dulcimer, Native American flute, and a tiny bit of elementary school piano. She fell in love with Baroque music when she was a soloist in the Corelli Christmas Concerto in her high school orchestra. She is a retired estate planning attorney.
Marny Elicker began playing the cello as an adult and then discovered the special joy of Baroque cello about 5 years ago. She is thrilled to play with Trillium Baroque under the inspiring direction of Adam LaMotte. She now lives happily in the country with her sweet husband, 3 pet sheep, 2 cats and 3 dogs.
Aron Faegre senses a special magic in Baroque music. He plays on a reproduction of an Amati 1600's 5-string cello. Professionally he is a physicist, engineer, and architect who designs buildings ranging from Historically Informed Longhouses for Canadian First Nations to aviation facilities for the next generation of eVTOL Electric Aircraft.
Wanda Horwege is a retired Medical Physicist. She has played modern viola in numerous college and community orchestras and currently plays in the Oregon Sinfonietta. Wanda has always been a lover of "early" music, particularly of the Baroque period, and also plays recorders. She joined Trillium Baroque in 2020.
Brandon Labadie Brandon Labadie is a retired professional Baroque oboist and a new student of the viola da gamba. He works as a project manager for OHSU’s Knight Cancer Research Institute. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School of Music and the University of Colorado.
Sue McDowell grew up playing piano and violin and also has been active in choral music for most of her life. But, in her 50s, it occurred to her that she was grown up and could do what she wanted, so she started to learn cello. Currently, she plays in Tillikum Chamber Orchestra and sings with Portland's Bach Cantata Choir.
Anna Herman Trobaugh is a violinist, teacher, conductor, and director living in the Milwaukie area. She currently directs three orchestras at the Alliance Charter Academy in Oregon City, is the Associate Conductor for the Hillsboro Symphony Orchestra, performs as a violinist with the Oregon Sinfonietta, and maintains a healthy studio teaching violin, viola, cello, and bass.
Ann Sihler's happy task in retirement is to fill her life with music making. In addition to Trillium Baroque, she plays in the Oregon Sinfonietta and a string quintet, and she's learning classical guitar. That's a lot of practising!
David Solet was a member of a boys' choir that performed with pioneering early music group, The New York Pro Musica, and once, in a Carnegie Hall concert directed by Leonard Bernstein. So his love of Renaissance and Baroque music began in childhood. Life intervened, but after retirement he took up Renaissance double reeds (dulcian and shawm), recorder, and most recently, Baroque bassoon. Trillium is his first experience with an orchestra and he's sorry he waited so long!
Conor Stanton is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area where he started playing violin at age 7. Though he dual-majored in Astrophysics and Political Science, he now works in financial serves and asset management. He caught the Baroque "bug" in his undergrad years when he joined UC Berkely's "University Baroque Ensemble," which provided the opportunity to learn historically informed performance on original instruments.
Zoe Tokar is a life-long learner who studied French horn at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Now overly enthusiastic about historical performance, she usually plays viola da gamba and recorders, and is enjoying this recent adventure with Baroque viola. In her spare time, she works as a house call veterinarian in the Portland Area.
Bruce Van Buskirk Bruce Van Buskirk has played flute with Portland Baroque Orchestra and Papa Haydn & Friends, and has played renaissance winds and viol with Cantores in Ecclesia and Oregon Renaissance band, as well as on the soundtrack to My Own Private Idaho. He has worked as a classical music announcer at stations in Portland and elsewhere and retired from the Reed College library in 2021. He plays in the duo Heartsease with his wife, Gwyneth, and has been learning bluegrass and finger-style guitar since 2015. After a long hiatus from playing flute, he's glad to be playing in Trillium Baroque.
Barbara Walden is a lifelong musician and multi-instrumentalist who always loved Baroque, and string, music but only began playing viola after retiring from a long career as an academic librarian. Her other instruments include Baroque and modern flute, and Baroque oboe.
Nancy Downie plays violin, hammered dulcimer, mountain dulcimer, Native American flute, and a tiny bit of elementary school piano. She fell in love with Baroque music when she was a soloist in the Corelli Christmas Concerto in her high school orchestra. She is a retired estate planning attorney.
Marny Elicker began playing the cello as an adult and then discovered the special joy of Baroque cello about 5 years ago. She is thrilled to play with Trillium Baroque under the inspiring direction of Adam LaMotte. She now lives happily in the country with her sweet husband, 3 pet sheep, 2 cats and 3 dogs.
Aron Faegre senses a special magic in Baroque music. He plays on a reproduction of an Amati 1600's 5-string cello. Professionally he is a physicist, engineer, and architect who designs buildings ranging from Historically Informed Longhouses for Canadian First Nations to aviation facilities for the next generation of eVTOL Electric Aircraft.
Wanda Horwege is a retired Medical Physicist. She has played modern viola in numerous college and community orchestras and currently plays in the Oregon Sinfonietta. Wanda has always been a lover of "early" music, particularly of the Baroque period, and also plays recorders. She joined Trillium Baroque in 2020.
Brandon Labadie Brandon Labadie is a retired professional Baroque oboist and a new student of the viola da gamba. He works as a project manager for OHSU’s Knight Cancer Research Institute. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School of Music and the University of Colorado.
Sue McDowell grew up playing piano and violin and also has been active in choral music for most of her life. But, in her 50s, it occurred to her that she was grown up and could do what she wanted, so she started to learn cello. Currently, she plays in Tillikum Chamber Orchestra and sings with Portland's Bach Cantata Choir.
Anna Herman Trobaugh is a violinist, teacher, conductor, and director living in the Milwaukie area. She currently directs three orchestras at the Alliance Charter Academy in Oregon City, is the Associate Conductor for the Hillsboro Symphony Orchestra, performs as a violinist with the Oregon Sinfonietta, and maintains a healthy studio teaching violin, viola, cello, and bass.
Ann Sihler's happy task in retirement is to fill her life with music making. In addition to Trillium Baroque, she plays in the Oregon Sinfonietta and a string quintet, and she's learning classical guitar. That's a lot of practising!
David Solet was a member of a boys' choir that performed with pioneering early music group, The New York Pro Musica, and once, in a Carnegie Hall concert directed by Leonard Bernstein. So his love of Renaissance and Baroque music began in childhood. Life intervened, but after retirement he took up Renaissance double reeds (dulcian and shawm), recorder, and most recently, Baroque bassoon. Trillium is his first experience with an orchestra and he's sorry he waited so long!
Conor Stanton is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area where he started playing violin at age 7. Though he dual-majored in Astrophysics and Political Science, he now works in financial serves and asset management. He caught the Baroque "bug" in his undergrad years when he joined UC Berkely's "University Baroque Ensemble," which provided the opportunity to learn historically informed performance on original instruments.
Zoe Tokar is a life-long learner who studied French horn at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Now overly enthusiastic about historical performance, she usually plays viola da gamba and recorders, and is enjoying this recent adventure with Baroque viola. In her spare time, she works as a house call veterinarian in the Portland Area.
Bruce Van Buskirk Bruce Van Buskirk has played flute with Portland Baroque Orchestra and Papa Haydn & Friends, and has played renaissance winds and viol with Cantores in Ecclesia and Oregon Renaissance band, as well as on the soundtrack to My Own Private Idaho. He has worked as a classical music announcer at stations in Portland and elsewhere and retired from the Reed College library in 2021. He plays in the duo Heartsease with his wife, Gwyneth, and has been learning bluegrass and finger-style guitar since 2015. After a long hiatus from playing flute, he's glad to be playing in Trillium Baroque.
Barbara Walden is a lifelong musician and multi-instrumentalist who always loved Baroque, and string, music but only began playing viola after retiring from a long career as an academic librarian. Her other instruments include Baroque and modern flute, and Baroque oboe.
