Biography
A specialist in standard classical guitar as well as various early guitars and lutes, Elizabeth C. D. Brown is a very active performer throughout the Pacific Northwest, giving an average of 50 concerts a year. Known for her musically passionate performances, she has given solo recitals and performed concertos throughout the United States and in Canada. In addition, she has been a featured soloist for the Seattle Bach Choir, Fresno Pacific University’s Musica Pacifica Baroque, the Northwest Chamber Chorus, Pacific Lutheran University’s Choral Union and St. Mark’s Cathedral Associates. Ms. Brown has also been featured on Channel 9’s “KCTS Connects” program, and has given numerous radio interviews and performances.
Also active as an ensemble musician, Ms. Brown is a member of Baroque Northwest and the Puget Sound Consort, and has appeared with ArtsWest, Seattle ProMusica, Contrafacta, and the City Cantábile Choir. As a member of Baroque Northwest she has performed throughout the Pacific Northwest as well as at the Indianapolis Early Music Festival, Seattle’s Bumbershoot Festival and the La Conner Summer Water Music Festival (Washington). She is also a founding member of the early music trio La Lira (formerly Le Nuove Musiche) with soprano Kathy Hanson and string player Ronnee Fullerton, which has released the recording Dolce Desio: The Birth of the Baroque in Italy, France and England. In addition to performing around the Puget Sound, La Lira has been featured at the Cascadia Sounds of Summer Festival in 2005, and the Berkeley Early Music on the Fringe Festival in 2004. Ms. Brown and duet partner Gus Denhard have performed in Seattle and Wenatchee, WA, at the Berkeley Early Music on the Fringe Festival, the Lute Society of America’s Festival in Vancouver (Canada), and the La Conner Summer Water Music Festival. In addition, she has performed with Stephen Stubbs, Maxine Eilander, Margriet Tindemans, Eric Mentzel, Matthies Maute, Annalisa Pappano, Kim Pineda, and Laurie Monahan. She has also performed in several opera productions, as a lutenist/early guitarist in works by Monteverdi, Purcell, and Blow, and as the guitar soloist in Verdi’s Falstaff.
An enthusiastic advocate for the guitar and lute, Ms. Brown has given numerous outreach performances at schools, senior centers, and community centers for the Seattle Classic Guitar Society and the Early Music Guild, as well as in Iowa and Illinois. She is head of the Guitar and Lute program at Pacific Lutheran University, runs a private studio for children and adults, and has taught at Seattle Pacific University, the Accademia d’Amore (baroque opera workshop), the Baroque Boot Camp (Seattle), Music Center of the Northwest, and at the Lute Society of America’s annual workshop.
Ms. Brown’s first solo recording, La Folia de España: Dances for Guitar, features works for baroque, 19th century, and modern guitars. Produced by Kevin Callahan and engineered by Paul Brown of Morrison Sound, it was released in 2005 on the Rosewood Recordings label.
Ms. Brown graduated cum laude from the University of Washington with Bachelor of Arts and Music degrees in Guitar and Lute Performance under the direction of Steven Novacek. She has also had additional studies with early music specialists Paul O’Dette, Pat O’Brien, Steven Stubbs, Margriet Tindemans, and Ronn McFarlane, as well as guitarists Kevin Callahan, David Russell, Paul Galbraith, Ricardo Cobo, and Eliot Fisk.
