LES ÉCURIES DU ROY, a baroque ensemble, was founded in 2016 with the purpose of performing the great chamber music literature of the 17th and 18th centuries for winds. In our present configuration of six musicians, Les Écuries performs the great Baroque solo and trio sonata literature.
The name Écuries, literally “stables” in French, refers to the fact that the original players of the oboe, bassoon, flute and recorder at the court of Louis XIV were attached to the King’s cavalry, and thus were at the same pay grade as stablehands!
Christopher Brodersen, baroque oboe and baroque bassoon, pursued undergraduate and graduate degrees in music history, vocal performance and musicology at the University of Michigan and Wayne State University. He began playing the baroque oboe in 1976, after attending a lecture-recital given by Bruce Haynes, with whom he later studied. His other teachers on baroque oboe include Stephen Hammer and Marc Schachman.
In addition to his musical pursuits, Chris is a builder of historical keyboard instruments (harpsichord, clavichord and fortepiano) and is active in music journalism. He was the Review Editor of Continuo Magazine from 1995 to 1999, and in 2013 contributed 13 articles to the Second Edition of the Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Chris is on the staff of Fanfare Magazine, and is a regular contributor to The Double Reed, the journal of the International Double Reed Society.
Chris has been a presenter at the 2017, 2019, and 2022 IDRS conferences.
David Schreiner, baroque bassoon and recorder, has given recitals throughout the United States and Canada on both modern and baroque bassoon. He has commissioned new works for modern bassoon, and has been heard on Michigan Public Radio and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He has been a presenter on baroque and modern bassoon at several IDRS conferences, most recently in 2022.
David has held the post of principal bassoon with the Flint Symphony, Michigan Opera Orchestra, Michigan Chamber Orchestra, Ann Arbor Symphony, Hillsdale Symphony, and the Birmingham Theater Orchestra. He has appeared on modern bassoon with the American Ballet Theater, the Boston Ballet, the Toledo Symphony, the Windsor Symphony, and on baroque bassoon with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra in Toronto.
David’s primary baroque bassoon teacher was Michael McCraw; his primary modern bassoon teachers were L. Hugh Cooper, Charles Sirard, and Robert Barris.
Linda Munch, soprano, winner of the Soprano Solo Competition of the 1992 Llangollen International Eisteddfod in Wales, received a BA in Music from Wayne State University and has been a soloist with choral and instrumental groups throughout the Detroit and Ann Arbor areas.
Linda specializes in performing early music, sacred music, art songs, and music by women composers. She is currently a member of the Ann Arbor Grail Singers, and is on the board of the Academy of Early Music in Ann Arbor.
Janet Cannon, viola da gamba, began playing the double bass at age ten. After earning her Bachelor of Music at the Manhattan School of Music, she moved to Mexico where she was engaged by several orchestras, including the Sinfonica National de Bellas Artes. The spirit of adventure eventually took her to France, where she studied with François Rabbath and was engaged by a chamber orchestra near Toulouse. Her interest in early music led her to complete a diploma in historical performance at the Conservatoire National de Toulouse, and to enlarge her scope to include playing the bass and treble viol.
Janet completed her Master’s degree in 2011 at the University of Michigan. She is active as a performer and teacher in the Ann Arbor area, where she regularly coaches the bass section at Huron High School, and enjoys finding ways to stimulate the creativity and musicality of her students.
Diana Munch, harpsichord, received her undergraduate degree from Wayne State University, where she studied with Mischa Kottler. Her subsequent teachers include Flavio Varani, Thomas Kuras, and Penelope Crawford. With the latter she studied both harpsichord and fortepiano.
Diana has accompanied singers, instrumentalists, and choral groups in Michigan and abroad. For seven years she was a staff accompanist in the Music Department of Wayne State University. An MMTA-Certified Piano Teacher Emerita, Diana served on the committee to revise the MMTA Student Achievement Testing Handbook. For 25 years she has held the position of Director of Music of the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Farmington Hills, Michigan.