Ensemble Vermillian was founded by sisters Barbara Blaker Krumdieck and Frances Blaker to explore the potential for color and texture possible in the virtuosic compositions for cello and recorder written in the seventeenth and eighteenth century.

Based in Davidson, North Carolina and Berkeley, California, the members of EV have traveled to meet, research, rehearse, and perform together since 2000. Having studied at conservatories in Denmark, the Netherlands, Ohio, and Indiana respectively, they use a blended approach to rearrange and reinterpret Baroque music to create a sound that's both resonant and relevant.

On Stolen Jewels, Ensemble Vermillian present richly vibrant reinterpretations of several Baroque master composers: Dietrich Buxtehude, Johann Rosenmuller, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, Johann Krieger, Phillipp Friedrich Boddecker, and Johann Michael Bach—the distant cousin and father-in-law of Johann Sebastian Bach.

In keeping with the Baroque ethic of reusing and recycling, this recording presents performances of 17th-century German music adapted for Ensemble Vermillian by recorder virtuoso Frances Blaker. "I love violin music but cannot play the violin," she writes, "so I steal the music and rearrange it for my own instrument." This attitude and creative process is very much at home in the world of Baroque music, and creates an opportunity to appreciate previously undervalued aspects of these composers' works.

Ensemble Vermillian is comprised of members (left to right) Elisabeth Reed, Katherine Heater, Frances Blaker, and Barbara Blaker Krumdieck.

Stolen Jewels