artistic & administrative staff

Stephen Stubbs, Artistic Director

Stephen Stubbs, who won the GRAMMY® Award as conductor for Best Opera Recording 2015, spent a 30-year career in Europe. He returned to his native Seattle in 2006 as one of the world's most respected lutenists, conductors, and baroque opera specialists. In 2007 Stephen established his new production company, Pacific MusicWorks, based in Seattle. He is the Boston Early Music Festival’s permanent artistic co-director, recordings of which were nominated for five GRAMMY awards. Also in 2015 BEMF recordings won two Echo Klassik awards and the Diapason d’Or de l’Année.

 In addition to his ongoing commitments to PMW and BEMF, other recent appearances have included Handel’s Amadigi for Opera UCLA, Mozart’s Magic Flute and Cosi fan Tutte in Hawaii, Handel’s Agrippina and Semele for Opera Omaha, Cavalli’s Calisto and Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie for Juilliard and Mozart’s Il re pastore for the Merola program in San Francisco. He has conducted Handel’s Messiah with the Seattle, Edmonton, Birmingham and Houston Symphony orchestras. His extensive discography as conductor and solo lutenist includes well over 100 CDs, which can be viewed at stephenstubbs.com, many of which have received international acclaim and awards.

Philip Tschopp, Interim Managing Director

Managing Director Philip Tschopp is known as a champion of new music, collaborator with Northwest composers, and leader of regional instrumental and choral ensembles. As Music Director for City Opera Ballet, Mr. Tschopp spearheaded the return of professional opera and ballet to Bellevue, conducting acclaimed productions of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, and Cosi Fan Tutte, as well as new stagings of Stravinsky’s Firebird, Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, Adam’s Giselle, and Delibes Coppélia. Regionally, Philip has commissioned and premiered over 30 new works by composers such as Donald Stewart, Karen P. Thomas, Bern Herbolsheimer, Troy Peters, David White, Jon Steinmeier, and William Hawley. An active choral musician, Mr. Tschopp has conducted performances of Requiem settings by Brahms, Mozart, Fauré, and Duruflé, as well as more diverse fare such as Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, Poulenc’s Gloria, and Arvo Pärt’s Te Deum. Mr. Tschopp has been a guest artist with notable regional ensembles including the Fisher Ensemble, the Affinity Composer’s Collective, soundX, and the Chelan Bach Festival.  In 2015, Mr. Tschopp led the premiere of The Withing Project, Hope Wechkin’s acclaimed Theatrical Oratorio based on the science of human connection. In addition to his work with Pacific MusicWorks, Mr. Tschopp serves on the board of directors for the avant-garde performer’s association SoundX, is Managing Director of Choral Arts Northwest, and is Music Director for Puget Brass, one of the premiere English brass bands in the Northwest.

Henry Lebedinsky, co-artistic Director and Director of Outreach

Hailed by The Miami Herald for his “superb continuo… brilliantly improvised and ornamented,” historical keyboardist, conductor, and arts advocate Henry Lebedinsky has performed with the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony, Seraphic Fire, and Sonoma Bach, among others. He is the founder of PMW’s Underground concert series, dedicated to bringing old music to new audiences in unconventional, fun, and boozy venues. Mr. Lebedinsky is also co-director of San Francisco’s Agave Baroque, with which he has recently released two albums with countertenor Reginald L. Mobley on the VGo Recordings label. He and Mr. Mobley have spent the past decade introducing listeners near and far to music by Black composers from the past 250 years, including recent appearances at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, Festival Printemps Musical des Alizés in Morocco, and across the USA. An active composer and poet, his sacred music for choir and organ is published by Paraclete Press, Carus-Verlag Stuttgart, and CanticaNOVA. He currently serves as Organist and Choirmaster at Seattle’s historic Christ Episcopal Church.

TEKLA CUNNINGHAM, ORCHESTRA DIRECTOR

Tekla Cunningham, baroque violin, viola and viola d'amore, leads an active and varied musical life. At home in Seattle, she is Orchestra Director and concertmaster of Pacific MusicWorks, and plays regularly as concertmaster and principal player with the American Bach Soloists in California. She directs the Whidbey Island Music Festival, a summer concert series now in its ninth season, producing and presenting vibrant period-instrument performances of repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to Beethoven. Her concert performances have earned glowing praise from reviewers and have been described as "ravishingly beautiful" and "stellar". From 2006-2013 she was principal second violin with Seattle Baroque Orchestra & Soloists. She has appeared as concertmaster/leader or soloist with the American Bach Soloists, Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, and Musica Angelica (Los Angeles) and has played with Apollo’s Fire, Los Angeles Opera, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and at the Carmel Bach, San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, Indianapolis, Savannah and Bloomington Festivals. Tekla received her musical training at Johns Hopkins University and Peabody Conservatory (where she studied History and German Literature in addition to violin), Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna, Austria, and at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where she completed a Master’s degree with Ian Swenson. She teaches Suzuki violin in both German and English and is on the early music faculty of Cornish College for the Arts.