Les Agréments de Musique: “La Vie Musicale en Nouvelle-France”

LES AGRÉMENTS DE MUSIQUE was founded by Minju Lee and John Burkhalter to survey the grandeur and intimacy of the musical riches associated with the courts of Louis XIII, his son and heir Louis XIV and, in turn, his great-grandson Louis XV.  The ensemble specializes exclusively in the field of French Baroque music and performs repertory on period-instrument-copies of recorders and harpsichord at the Paris-Versailles pitch of a’=392.

MINJU LEE earned her bachelor’s degree in Music Composition at Hanyang University in Korea, her master’s degree and Doctor of Musical Arts in Harpsichord Performance under Arthur Haas at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and her Artist Diploma at Oberlin Conservatory of Music under Lisa Crawford.  She has many years of experience teaching harpsichord music, theory and basso continuo in the Korea National University of Art, Hanyang University and elsewhere.  Ms. Lee has performed widely in Korea and the United States.

JOHN BURKHALTER studied the performance of early music at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston under Daniel Pinkham and the performance of Baroque music at Harvard University under the noted Dutch recorder virtuoso, scholar and conductor, Frans Bruggen.  In addition, he received valuable instruction from the distinguished Swiss Baroque oboist and recorder player Michel Piguet.

ABIGAIL CHAPMAN, a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York and the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, is a soprano known for her opera and oratorio style and has appeared as a soloist throughout the United States. For many years, she was active in the Denver, Colorado early music scene.  Currently, she is a professional member of the choir at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Philadelphia.  Ms. Chapman has recorded for Toccata Classics music of Henri Hardouin.