Our Artists
Greg Ingles
Greg Ingles attended high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy and went on to graduate from the Oberlin Conservatory and SUNY Stony Brook. Before his career in early music, Greg was the Solo Trombone in the Hofer Symphoniker. He enjoys unearthing rarely heard gems as the music director of the early brass ensemble Dark Horse Consort. Greg is a member of Piffaro and and made his Carnegie Hall debut with Quicksilver last season. He has played with such ensembles as the American Bach Soloists, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Chatham Baroque, Concerto Palatino, The Handel & Haydn Society of Boston and Tafelmusik. He played with the Globe Theater in their Broadway debut of Twelfth Night and Richard III.
Alex Opsahl
Alex Opsahl studied recorder with Peter Holtslag and Daniel Bruggen at the Royal Academy of Music, and cornetto with Bruce Dickey at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. She received 1st Prize in the 2003 Moeck Solo Recorder competition, the 2001 and 2003 RAM Early Music Prize, and the 2003 Hilda Anderson Dean Award. Alex has performed with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, the Orchestra of
the Age of Enlightenmen, Boston Early Music Festival, I Fagiolini, Capella Barocca di Mexico, Carmel Bach Festival, Piffaro, Apollo's Fire, Portland Baroque Orchestra, and the Green Mountain Project. She recorded Vivaldi’s Concerto in C Minor, RV 441, with Barokkanerne, and the JD Berlin cornetto concerto with the Norwegian Baroque Orchestra. Alex is a founding member of both Tesserae and Dark Horse Consort.
Kiri Tollaksen
Kiri Tollaksen enjoys a varied career as a performer and teacher. Praised for her "stunning technique, and extreme musicality," (Journal of the International Trumpet Guild), and called an “excellent cornetto player” (New York Times), Kiri has performed throughout North America and Europe with such groups as Piffaro, Apollo’s Fire, Toronto Consort, Tenet, Pacific MusicWorks, Tesserae, Concerto Palatino, and La Fenice, and is a member of the highly regarded early brass ensemble Dark Horse Consort. With degrees from Eastman, Yale and University of Michigan, Kiri had served on the faculty of Indiana University (Bloomington), Brass Antiqua (VA), and the Amherst and Madison Early Music Festivals. She happily lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband and cat.
Erik Schmalz
Erik Schmalz received degrees in trombone performance from Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Shortly thereafter, he was introduced to early music and period instruments. He currently specializes in period trombones ranging from renaissance slide trumpet to the romantic era and performs internationally with prestigious ensembles, including Piffaro, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Handel and Haydn Society, Green Mountain Project, and Dark Horse Consort. Erik resides in Collinsville, Connecticut.
Mack Ramsey
Mack Ramsey is a specialist in performance of early repertoires on instruments of the periods, playing sackbut, recorder, Renaissance flute, lute, classical and Romantic era trombones. He enjoys a rich variety of performance experiences, ranging from fifteenth century alta band ensembles to Brahms symphonies. Besides his Dark Horse Consort schedule, he frequently appears with baroque orchestras across the nation, such as Philharmonia Baroque, Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society, Trinity Wall Street Baroque
Orchestra, Clarion Society, Apollo’s Fire, Portland Baroque Orchestra and Mercury Houston.