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2025 Featured Performers
Tekla Cunningham, baroque violinist
Baroque violinist Tekla Cunningham specializes in bringing the music of the baroque, classical and romantic eras to life with vivid and expressive historically informed performances. Praised as “a consummate musician whose flowing solos and musical gestures are a joy to watch”, her performances have been described as “ravishingly beautiful” and “stellar”. In 2024/5 she is launching a new musical project, the Seattle Bach Festival. She is Artist-in-Residence and director of the Baroque Ensemble at the University of Washington and founder and director of the Whidbey Island Music Festival (founded in 2006) and enjoyed a long association with Pacific MusicWorks as violinist and co-artistic director. Her new release “Stylus Phantasticus” with Pacific MusicWorks is delighting critics. “Tekla is a marvel…an endlessly songful bird”. Early Music America describes the recording as “played with verve, the music presented here reaffirms the old notion that instrumental music can have the flair of any theatrical spectacle. … a stellar vessel for the boldest showmanship.” Tekla studied at Johns Hopkins University, Peabody Conservatory, the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna and the San Francisco Conservatory. Tekla plays on a violin made by Sanctus Seraphin in Venice in 1746.
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Henry Lebedinsky, historical keyboards
Hailed by The Miami Herald for his “superb continuo… brilliantly improvised and ornamented,” Henry Lebedinsky performs on historical keyboards across the United States and the United Kingdom, both as a soloist and with Pacific MusicWorks, The Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and the Live Oak Baroque Orchestra. He has also played with Seattle Opera, The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, The Charlotte Symphony, Seraphic Fire, and Boston Revels. He is the co-director of San Francisco-based Agave Baroque, with which he has released two albums featuring countertenor Reginald L. Mobley on the VGo Recordings label. With Mr. Mobley, he has brought a unique program of 200 years of music by Black composers to audiences across the USA, in Europe, and in Morocco. As an organist, has been featured on American Public Media’s Performance Today, and has performed live on APM’s Pipedreams. Mr. Lebedinsky is the co-Artistic Director of Seattle's Pacific MusicWorks and the founder and director of PMW's Underground concert series, dedicated to bringing Baroque and Classical music to places where people gather - from brewpubs to wineries and other fun, informal venues - creating experiences that appeal to both seasoned concertgoers and first-timers alike.
Wyatt Smith, organist
Originally from Rapid City, South Dakota, Wyatt Smith is an American concert organist, appearing in both solo and collaborative performances throughout the United States and Europe. Hailed as a performer with “nuance, polish, and personality” (Michael Barone, APM Pipedreams), Dr. Smith has concertized all over the United States and Europe. Notable performances include the Grace Cathedral (San Francisco), USAFA Protestant Cadet Chapel (Colorado Springs), St. Mark’s Cathedral (Seattle), St. Thomas Church (New York City), Marktkirche (Wiesbaden), The Queen’s College (Oxford), and Coventry Cathedral (Coventry). He has been a featured performer at regional and national conventions of the American Guild of Organists. Wyatt can also be heard on American Public Media’s Pipedreams, performing works from J. S. Bach to Margaret Sandresky. An advocate of new music, Smith has commissioned and premiered works by Emma Lou Diemer, Margaret Sandresky, Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra, Carson Cooman, Craig Phillips, Kurt Knecht, and more. As a collaborative musician, Wyatt performs with various choral ensembles in the Pacific Northwest including The Esoterics and the Tacoma Bach Festival Chorus and Orchestra. In addition to choral collaborations, Wyatt performs in a variety chamber settings. Since 2015, he has performed with Dr. Tracelyn Gesteland, mezzo-soprano, as the Gesteland-Smith Duo. Wyatt has served as the Affiliate Artist in Organ & Harpsichord at the University of Puget Sound since 2018. He is also on the faculty of the Epiphany Music Academy, which he founded in 2019.
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