motomi@motogamba.com

My journey with the viola da gamba began in 1992 in France during a European tour with the Juilliard School. The moment I heard its sound, I was captivated. Determined to learn, I returned to France to study seriously with Marianne Muller and attended masterclasses with Paolo Pandolfo, Wieland Kuijken, and others. Their guidance shaped my technique and deeply influenced my teaching philosophy, which centers on musical curiosity, historical understanding, and supportive, student-focused learning. I also play the Lirone, which I studied with Erin Headley—truly a living encyclopedia of the instrument.

My involvement with the Viola da Gamba Society began in 2011, when I attended my first Conclave. That same year, I became a custodian for the rental viol program. Supporting new players quickly became a meaningful part of my musical life. For more than a decade, I have maintained, packed, and shipped rental instruments to help beginners and developing students access quality viols. Ensuring that players start with a dependable instrument has become an extension of my teaching: when barriers are removed, learning becomes joyful and confident. To better support learners, I have strengthened my skills in instrument maintenance and woodworking through workshops and private study with Sarah Peck, supported by grants from the Viola da Gamba Society. These skills allow me to keep student instruments reliable and to guide players in understanding their own care and setup.

Alongside teaching and my gamba work, I perform on violone, Lirone, and double bass. Since 2017, I have served as principal double bass with Boston Baroque. The Viola da Gamba Society has enriched my musical life, and I am committed to nurturing the next generation of viol players.

Originally from Long Island, New York, Nicholas Kleinman has spent the past six years studying and performing in Europe.  After studying violone, double bass, and viola da gamba at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, he completed a second master’s degree at the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg.

Nicholas is a co-founding member of the Salzburg-based ensemble The Van Swietens.  He has performed at venues such as the Salzburger Festspiele and the Festival de musique de la Chaise-Dieu.  He was a co-recipient of the Mozarteum Ensemble Scholarship with the ensemble ,,Il Gioismo’’ for his musicological research on Salzburg-associated composers Michael Haydn, Johann Ernst Eberlin, and Sigismund Neukomm.

Nicholas frequently plays with ensembles such as the Smithsonian Academy Orchestra and the Academy of Sacred Drama.  Nicholas also currently serves as President of the New York Chapter of the Viola da Gamba Society. In this role he teaches, organizes local events, and helps cultivate a vibrant early-music community in New York.

nkleinman22@gmail.com
(934) 255-9764

llipnik@gmail.com
(917) 533-2920

Technique, consort and solo repertoire.
All ages and experience levels including beginners.
Specialize in late medieval through early baroque styles.
Studio in Western Queens, minutes from Manhattan. Will travel within metropolitan and surrounding areas.

Small ensembles may be arranged including viol and mixed consorts, and trio sonatas with recorders.

marthamcg@aol.com
(917) 566-4456

Martha McGaughey has been teaching viola da gamba for almost 50 years. She formerly taught at the École Nationale de Musique in Angoulême (France), and at Stanford University. Since 1986 she has been on the faculty at The Mannes College of Music. She has twice been a Regents’ Lecturer at the University of California, and teaches regularly at the VDGSA Conclave, The Virginia Baroque Academy (in Harrisonburg), and at other summer workshops. Martha teaches viol privately in New York at her apartment in Upper Manhattan. Her goal as a teacher is to help people play better.

Martha studied in Basel with Jordi Savall and in Brussels with Wieland Kuijken. She was for many years a member of the Paris-based Five Centuries Ensemble, known for its performances of both early and contemporary music. A founding member of Musical Assembly, whose recording of the chamber music of François Couperin received critical acclaim, Ms. McGaughey is also a founding member of Empire Viols, which was until recently in residence at New York’s Second Presbyterian Church since 1997, and of Gold and Glitter. She has performed with many of the New York Baroque groups, and collaborated with the British viol consort Phantasm in several concerts and a CD of the consort music of William Byrd. She has recorded for the Fonit Cetra and Erato labels, as well as for EMI. She has toured in Peru, China, and Korea. For more information, or for the names of current and former students who could provide references, contact Martha directly.

morley.ros@gmail.com
(917) 501-7779

I have a downtown Brooklyn-based studio providing individual and group lessons on viola da gamba and medieval vielle. I teach children and adults at all levels, including total beginners, in technique, solo and ensemble music from the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque eras. I am willing to travel throughout the Tri-State area to teach you or coach your ensemble in your home.

Patricia Ann Neely (viola da gamba, violone, vielle, baroque bass) is a member of Abendmusik, New York’s Early String Band. She has appeared with many early music ensembles including, the Folger Consort, Smithsonian Chamber Players and viol consort, the Washington Bach Consort, North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, Alchymy Viols, TENET, Baroquelyn, Amor Artis, Glimmerglass Opera, New York City Opera, the Boston Camerata, Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, The Newberry Consort, Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity, The New York Consort of Viols, The Waverly Consort, and Early Music New York, among others, and was a founding member of the viol consort Parthenia.

She spent three years as the vielle player for the medieval ensemble Sequentia, performing throughout Europe and North America at festivals including, Oude Muziek - Utrecht, Bach Tage – Berlin, Alte Musik – Herne, Wratislavia Cantans - Poland, Music Before 1800, and The Vancouver Early Music Festival. 

Ms. Neely began playing the viol at Vassar College and continued her studies, earning an MFA in Historical Performance at Sarah Lawrence College, with additional studies in Belgium with Wieland Kuijken. She has recorded for Arabesque, Allegro, Musical Heritage, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Ex Cathedra, Classic Masters, MSR Classics, Erato, Lyrichord, and Music Masters labels.

Ms. Neely is on the faculty at the Amherst Early Music Summer Festival, the Viola da Gamba Society of America Conclaves, and has been a faculty member at Wagner College, and The Brearley School. She is currently coaching the viol consort at Vassar College.

neelyp@alum.vassar.edu
(917) 657-7907

Noted for her “eloquent artistry and rich, vibrant sound” (Gainesville Times), she has been praised as “one of the finest gambists working today” (Gotham Early Music Scene). A passionate educator, Caroline is often invited by early music organizations to lecture on various topics in historical performance practice. She has been a guest teacher at Yale University, the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Victoria, and at the University of Washington School of Music. As a lecturer, Caroline has led workshops for Pacific Northwest Viols, Cascadia Viols, the Port Townsend Early Music Workshop, Viols West, and Seattle Historical Arts for Kids. Caroline’s private students have been accepted as music majors to the Royal Academy of Music, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the Indiana Conservatory Jacobs School of Music, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the University of Washington, and have attended such summer festivals as the American Bach Soloists Academy and Oberlin’s Baroque Performance Institute. She was also featured in an Early Music America magazine article, discussing historical bowing techniques.

A native of Winnipeg, Canada, Caroline was first introduced to the cello as a young child. Too restless to stick with a single steel strung instrument, she pursued early music studies with Phoebe Carrai at The Juilliard School, and with Christophe Coin and Paolo Pandolfo at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland. She lives in New York City, where she is Artistic Director of Ars Poetica, and maintains an active teaching studio.

Teaching statement:

Learning to play a musical instrument is an endlessly rewarding process. As a teacher, it is my responsibility to guide my students to realize their fullest potential by giving them the necessary tools to develop their unique musical voices. Each student’s path to acquiring those tools will be a completely individual process. The most important skills a student can learn to develop are those of practicing thoughtfully and listening with an inquisitive ear. This means that one accurately hears their playing and possesses the required physical understanding of the instrument in order to figure out how to improve. I help my students achieve this by combining challenging repertoire with exercises, technical etudes, and ear training exercises. My goal as a teacher is the same for all of my students, regardless of level: to get my pupil to a point where they can confidently say that they are good practicers!

More information is available at www.carolinenicolas.com.

Gold medalist and first-ever American laureate of the International Bach-Abel Competition (2018), Arnie Tanimoto is among the leading viola da gamba players in the United States. He has performed and recorded throughout North America and Europe with artists and ensembles including Barthold Kuijken, Enrico Gatti, and the Smithsonian Consort of Viols. A core member of Mountainside Baroque and founding member of the Academy of Sacred Drama, he also co-directs A Golden Wire with harpist Parker Ramsay. He also serves on faculty at The Juilliard School and Princeton University.

www.arnietanimoto.com

I teach privately at my home or at the home of students. I teach high school to adult, and all levels: beginner to professional. I especially love to analyze and solve specific technical problems or physical difficulties, in order to make playing music feel good and sound good. Areas of expertise: lyra viol, baroque solo repertoire, chamber and consort repertoire, ensemble coaching (with insights on how to work well as a consort musician). I am a full time member of Parthenia, and also perform with the Dryden Ensemble, the Lyra Way Duo, and BALAM Dance Theatre. I am principal cellist and viol soloist with Tempesta di Mare, Philadelphia's Baroque Orchestra, and I am a past-president of the Viola da Gamba Society of America.

lisa.naef.terry@gmail.com
(718) 219-6166