Baroque On Fire

Moises Carrasco is a bassist who “provides propulsion and support…with his keen attention and vivid playing”. The son of a Tubist, Moises was involved with youth orchestras at a young age. He cycled through percussion and trumpet before finally discovering the bass. After many years of ensembles in the New England area, Moises was accepted to the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan where he studied with Derek Weller. He pursued his collegiate studies at the New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) studying with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s Donald Palma and the Boston Symphony’s Thomas Van Dyck. He credits all of his teachers and his father for shaping him into the musician he is today. Moises holds a Bachelor’s Degree and a Graduate Diploma from NEC.

Specializing in orchestral music, Moises has played with ensembles across North America and Europe. He has been fortunate enough to have performed in such prestigious venues as: Dvorak Hall in Prague, Royal Albert Hall in London, Musikverein in Vienna, Symphony Hall in Boston and many more. Moises can be heard performing with orchestras including Symphony By The Sea, Cape Symphony, New Bedford Symphony, Boston Pops and the Pittsburgh Symphony.

Moises is appreciative of all genres of music with a special love for outlaw country, jazz and rap. When not playing bass, Moises is often watching the Boston Celtics or listening to MF DOOM.

John McKean is a harpsichordist and musicologist based in Boston, where he serves on the faculty and is chair of the Historical Performance Department at the Longy School of Music of Bard College. Frequently in demand as both a soloist and continuo player, he has performed extensively throughout Europe and North America, with concert engagements bringing him to venues as far afield as the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Fondazione Cini (Venice), Museu da Música (Lisbon), St. Martin-in-the-Fields (London), Norðurljós Hall (Reykjavík, Iceland), and the Philips Collection (Washington, DC). Critically acclaimed for his “intelligent” and “precise” playing (The Washington Post) as well as his “sonorous brilliance and thrilling, dance-like energy” (Allgäuer Zeitung), John performs with leading American and European ensembles, including Apollo’s Fire, Emmanuel Music, the Catacoustic Consort, Camerata Vocale Freiburg, Habsburger Camerata, and has appeared with the Jacksonville, Naples, Portland (Maine), and Pittsburg symphony orchestras (among others). He counts among his live radio broadcasts performances on NPR, BBC Radio 3, and Deutschlandradio Berlin.

John holds degrees in German Studies and Harpsichord Performance from Oberlin College/Conservatory and an advanced performance diploma from the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg (Germany), where he studied with Lisa Crawford/Webb Wiggins and Robert Hill respectively. He received additional instruction over the years from some of the greatest modern masters of historical keyboards, including Arthur Haas, Jacques Ogg, Skip Sempé, Jesper Christensen, Ketil Haugsand, Mitzi Meyerson, Richard Egarr, and Gustav Leonhardt. He also holds an M.Phil. and a Ph.D. in historical musicology from the University of Cambridge (U.K). His master’s thesis unearthed new details concerning the life and works of French harpsichord composer Gaspard Le Roux, while his doctoral dissertation examined the development of keyboard technique during the German Baroque. For several years he served as an assistant editor of the Oxford University Press journal Early Music. Beyond his musicological work and performing career, he also maintains an active interest in instrument building (he regularly performs on a 17th-century style Flemish harpsichord of his own making), music publishing, typography, and exploring the remote corners of his home state of Maine.