Ensemble Mirable (Mirable - old French, meaning astonishing, strong, powerful) originated in 1996 at Indiana University's Early Music Institute while Ms. Blendulf and Ms. Kim were working toward graduate degrees. Since its inception, the group's focus has been on exploring the many variations in continuo performance across different baroque styles. Ensemble Mirable is a flexible performing entity, maintaining the ability to change and grow to meet the needs of different scale continuo demands. The members feel that in order to provide an exciting and yet elegant rendition of this repertoire, it is necessary to work within the composer's stylistic framework.

In 1998, Ensemble Mirable relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area where it continues to maintain an active concert schedule. In the summer of 2000, Ensemble Mirable won honorable mention in the second Dorian Group/Early Music America International Recording Competition for their performance of sonatas by Jean Zewalt Triemer. Goals in the near-term include the performance of cello and continuo works by Triemer, Geminiani, and works by various lesser-known baroque composers. Ultimately, Ensemble Mirable would like to stage larger scale works involving a continuo band, in collaboration with additional continuo instruments.

On Ensemble Mirable's latest work, Conversations Galantes, the core ensemble of JungHae Kim on harpsichord and Joanna Blendulf on viola de gamba was joined by several performers of note including Elizabeth Blumenstock on baroque violin; Greer Ellison on baroque flute, and William Skeen on baroque cello.

JungHae Kim arrived in the United States as winner of the 100th Anniversary Korean-American Musical Competition in Seoul, South Korea. She shifted her study from piano to harpsichord at the Peabody Conservatory of Music where she earned a Bachelors in Harpsichord Performance. She completed a Masters Degree in Historical performance in Harpsichord at the Oberlin Conservatory, and later awarded the Haskell Scholarship for post-doctoral study in Amsterdam with Gustav Leonhardt. While in the Netherlands, she earned an Advanced Degree in Harpsichord Performance at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam. Ms. Kim has performed with the Southern California Chamber Orchestra, Pierce Baroque Dance Company, the Oberlin Baroque Orchestra, the Indiana Baroque Orchestra, the Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra, San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival Period Ensemble, Brandywine Baroque, Musica Angelica, and Music's ReCreation. At present she is actively engaged in a solo and chamber music career, recently performing with American Baroque at the Library of Congress and with her principal group Mirable on the 2002 Bloomington Early Music Festival. Mirable was awarded a Professional Development Grant from Early Music America in June, and was recently selected to perform in San Francisco Early Music Society concert series and San Jose Chamber Music Series during their 2003-2004 seasons, as well as in Los Angeles with Musica Angelica.

She was also very honored recently to have inaugurated the Brisbane Concert Series with a sold-out solo performance. In summer 2004, Ms. Kim performed at the 2004 Berkeley Early Music Festival, and the 2004 Assisi Summer Festival in Italy. A series of quality CD recordings of Mirable and solo harpsichord is forthcoming.

Joanna Blendulf, baroque cellist, has performed as soloist and continuo player in leading period-instrument ensembles throughout the United States. Ms Blendulf holds performance degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Indiana University, where she studied with Stanley Ritchie, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and Alan Harris. In 1998, she was awarded the prestigious Performer's Certificate for her accomplishments on baroque cello from Indiana University. Ms. Blendulf was a principal cellist of The New World Symphony under Michael Tilson-Thomas and has also performed with the Atlanta Symphony. She is currently performing with the Portland and Indianapolis Baroque Orchestras and American Bach Soloists and has also been a member of Apollo's Fire Baroque Orchestra, the New York Collegium and Musica Angelica. Ms.Blendulf is also an active chamber musician, touring with American Baroque, Mirable, Musica Pacifica, Reconstruction, and the Streicher Trio. She was named runner-up in the 2000 Early Music America/Dorian Competition for her recording of the complete cello sonatas of Jean Zewalt Triemer. Ms.Blendulf's summer engagements have included performances at the Bloomington, Boston, Berkeley Early Music Festivals, the Aspen Music Festival as well as the Carmel Bach Festival.

Joanna Blendulf also performs with Music of the Spheres.

ABOUT THE CD:

The Composer

Virtuoso cellist and composer Jean Zewalt Triemer was born in Weimar around the turn of the eighteenth century, at a time when the cello had been steadily gaining popularity as both an orchestral and solo instrument. Around 1680, Viennese orchestras were utilizing this bass instrument and by 1720 it had spread into northern Germany. At the same time Johann Sebastian Bach had written his solo cello suites between 1717 and 1724, Triemer was becoming prominent as a cello soloist in Weimar where he studied with Gregor Christoph Eylenstein, cellist and chamber musician to the Duke of Weimar. Triemer's education in both performance and theory was sponsored by the Duke and he eventually became a member of the court orchestra. Considered one of the first virtuoso cellists in Germany, Triemer was added to Gerber's Dictionary of Music for his noteworthy performance accomplishments. From Weimar, he began his extensive travel, first taking him on a concert tour to Hamburg in 1725 where he was a member of the theater orchestra. After two years in Hamburg, Triemer left for Paris where he pursued the study of composition with Boismortier. His travels later took him to Amsterdam where he composed his set of six cello sonatas in 1745 as well as a cello method which was published in 1739.Triemer spent the rest of his years in Amsterdam, where he died in 1762.

His Music

The VI Sonatas for Violoncello are indicative of the increasingly challenging technique seen in the writings of other composers for the cello in the mid eighteenth century. This is seen in the extensive use of string crossings, chords, barriolage (as in Sonata III, second movement) and quick left-hand passage work. Also challenging is working with the thin texture created by the close proximity of the solo and continuo voices, being careful not to interrupt the cello line while at the same time providing support and creativity. Perhaps Triemer conceived the cello line first and subsequently added the continuo line, resulting in this challenging texture?

The spirited (and sometimes raucous) allegro movements, graceful minuets and poignant lento movements take both the performer and listener through a myriad of rhythmic figuration, colors, textures and resulting affects. Triemer's slow movement melodies have both charming and passionate vocal qualities, whereas the fast movements are often reminiscent of folk dance accompaniment, complete with fiddlers and bagpipes. Unlike these playful allegro movements, the final sonata (Sonata VI) ends with a fugue which unites the two individual lines yet creates a dialogue between them