The Novello Quartet was founded in the winter of 2002 to perform Joseph Haydn's rarely programmed quartet setting of the Seven Last Words of Christ. The quartet's passion for the music of Haydn and his contemporaries has led to an ongoing artistic partnership between four of America's leading early music artists. The Novello Quartet has been presented by the San Francisco Early Music Society, San Francisco Performances, Trinity Concerts, the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, and was the featured ensemble at the 2006 Mozart Conference at Claremont College. This summer, the Novello Quartet will play programs of Haydn and Mozart at the Whidbey Island Music Festival in Washington State. The members of the Novello Quartet, Tekla Cunningham and Cynthia Miller Freivogel, violins, Anthony Martin, viola, and Elisabeth Reed, cello, are active in the Bay Area and America's most prominent early music groups, including the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the American Bach Soloists, Apollo's Fire Orchestra in Cleveland, Musica Angelica in Los Angeles, Portland Baroque Orchestra, and Seattle Baroque Orchestra. The Novello Quartet's recording of Haydn's op. 50 string quartets will be released this fall.

The Novello Quartet was named for the members of the Novello family, Vincent, Mary and Clara. Vincent (1781-1861) was a church organist, composer and music publisher born of Italian parents in London, England. With the publication of two volumes of sacred music (1811) he founded the publishing house of Novello & Co, and was a founding member and later pianist and conductor of the Philharmonic Society. In 1829, Vincent Novello and his wife Mary undertook a journey to the continent, stopping in the musical capitals of Europe to hear the music of the day in churches and concert halls, and also to deliver to W.A. Mozart's impoverished sister Nannerl a small sum Vincent had raised by subscription in London. Among the musical luminaries the Novellos met on their journey were Mozart's widow Constanze, and Abbe Stadler, who told them the story of Joseph Haydn's commission from Spain by the Bishop of Cadiz for the Seven Last Words of Christ.

Tekla Cunningham, violinist, performs with the American Bach Soloists, Apollo's Fire in Cleveland, Musica Angelica in Los Angeles, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, San Francisco Bach Choir, Santa Fe Pro Musica, and also plays at the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival. Last season, Tekla was a guest artist with the Del Sol String Quartet in San Francisco, and has toured with the Artaria Quartet. Upcoming projects include concerts of 17th century chamber music with gli amici di buxtehude and an East Coast tour with La Monica. Ms. Cunningham studied history, German literature, and music at Johns Hopkins University and Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD. She continued her musical studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna, Austria with Josef Sivo, former concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic, and graduated with a master's degree from the Conservatory of Music in San Francisco, where she studied with Ian Swenson.

Cynthia Miller Freivogel, violinist, currently performs as an orchestral and chamber musician on both baroque and modern violin. She is a member of Apollo's Fire (Cleveland Baroque) and San Francisco Bach Choir chamber orchestras as well as the Novello Quartet. She has been a fellowship member of New World Symphony Orchestra and recently held a permanent substitute position with the Orchestra of the State of Sao Paulo in Brazil. As guest artist with Mirable, she performed at the Bloomington Early Music Festival for NPR broadcast and won recognition from Early Music America. Ms. Freivogel holds a BA from Yale University and a MM in violin performance from the San Francisco Conservatory where she studied with Camilla Wicks.

Anthony Martin has played viola since the late 70's, when he rashly appeared onstage in Sanders Theatre at Harvard for the Schubert Cello Quintet with a fingering written over every note. Since then he has shuttled between coasts and continents, and between modern, classical, baroque, and renaissance violins and violas, and the occasional viola d'amore.

Elisabeth Reed was born and raised in Chapel Hill, NC and now lives in Oakland, CA. This season she will perform with, among others, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, Magnificat, California Bach Society, and Jubilate Baroque Orchestra. A graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts, the Oberlin Conservatory, the Eastman School of Music, and Indiana University's Early Music Institute, she can be heard on the Virgin Classics and Focus recording labels. She is a Guild - Certified Practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method of Awareness Through Movement and Functional Integration with a particular interest in the issues facing musicians and performers. Director and founder of Seattle's Viols for Youth program, she now teaches viola da gamba at the University of California, Berkeley and cello, baroque cello, viola da gamba, and Feldenkrais privately.

Contact Us:
736 Wesley Way #2
Oakland CA 94610
(510) 452-8202
info@novelloquartet.org