Featured Artist Biographies
Pierre Chartrand, dancer & percussion
Born and living in Montreal, Canada, Pierre Chartrand is a dance
historian-ethnologist, choreographer, master step-dancer and accomplished
dance caller. Dancing for more than 35 years, he regularly performs
and teaches in Quebec, Canada, the United States, and Europe. After
achieving his Master in Dance at the Sorbonne (Paris) in 1991, he
founded the Centre Mnémo (see, http://www.mnemo.qc.ca/), an extensive resource center for
traditional Québec dance and music. Pierre has published
numerous books on folk music and dance as well as many articles
for magazines, and has lectured and spoken both on radio and at
conferences. He has won international awards for both dance and
choreography. He taught dance at the Université du Québec
à Montréal and recently teaches in the folk music
program at Cégep de Joliette (Junior College) in Joliette,
Québec. In 2000, he started his company, Danse Cadence, and
began producing his own shows based on Québec music and dance (for more information on Danse Cadence, see http://www.danse.qc.ca/).
Current productions include, among others, Rapetipetam, Chasse-Galerie, and Le Bal des Ménestriers.
Éric Favreau, fiddle
Éric Favreau comes from a family of traditional musicians
and has spent much time playing with other fiddlers, learning their
repertoire and studying their varied styles. He has explored many
sources, including archives and field recordings he has personally
made, and has accumulated a rich and fascinating repertoire. Both
individually and as a member of various groups, Éric has
vast experience in the Canadian, United States, and European music
scenes. He has recorded two solo albums. One of them, made with
fiddler and friend Mario Landry (Reel à Deux), has
become a reference for traditional fiddle music in Quebec. He has
recorded three albums (La st-Berdondaine, Les choux pis des
melons, Épilogue) with Entourloupe,
and has appeared on at least twenty others. He is currently performing and touring with Tidal Wave, or Raz de Marée -- a cross-border group from Québec and New England -- inviting cultures to meet and share the love of traditional music and dance (for more information on Tidal Wave, see http://www.tidalwavemusic.com/index_eng.html). Éric is a consummate
entertainer/educator in traditional music workshops presented in
the public school system under the auspices of the Minister of Education.
He also teaches traditional fiddle and the history of traditional
music at the Cégep de Joliette (Junior College) in Joliette,
Québec. Éric’s playing is marked by delicacy,
nuance and liveliness that will leave no foot untapped!
Stéphane Landry, accordion
One of the most gifted accordionists in Québec, Stéphane
Landry was introduced to the accordion at age ten. As soon as his
talent became apparent, his parents entrusted him to Gérard
Lajoie, a dominant figure in traditional circles in the 1950s. A
renowned virtuoso, his style is upbeat and lively with a powerful,
driving rhythm. He has gained a distinguished reputation outside
Québec through extensive touring with the group Entourloupe.
Not only in demand for dances, Stéphane has been invited
to perform at such prestigious venues as the Smithsonian Festival
in Washington, D.C. and the Ris Orangis Festival in France. In 1996,
he was the Québec representative at the Montmagny International
Accordion Festival. This exceptional musician exhibits remarkable
technique and a dynamic style.
Riki Schneyer, singer
Riki Schneyer has been singing traditional music all her life.
Raised in a musical, artistic, social activist family, she has performed
throughout the country, promoting the folk music of the Americas,
Britain, France, and anything else that strikes her fancy. She has
sung everything in American folk music from African-American spirituals
to the ballads of southern Appalachia, from broadsides to sea chanties
to blues. She can be heard on numerous recordings, and several film
soundtracks, including “The Wobblies.” In moments between songs, she has had a 27 year career as a psychotherapist, from which she has now retired, in order to pursue a second career as a visual artist (for more information on Riki's art, see http://rikischneyer.com/). She is utterly
delighted to be performing with the Washington Revels, singing some of her
favorite music, the traditional songs of Québec.
John Devine, guitar
John Devine from Berkeley Springs, WV is in constant
demand as rhythm guitarist in a host of popular contra dance bands
around Washington, D.C., Maryland and Northern Virginia. He has been singing and playing guitar for dances, concerts, school programs and workshops for over thirty years – it is his profession and what he loves to do. Noted as an exceptional singer graced with talented guitar playing, and a delightful sense of humor, he has traveled and played extensively independently and with numerous folk artists and groups, including Steve Hickman, Ralph Gordon, Fiddlestyx and Blue Bamboo. John has
been a staff member at Buffalo Gap, and plays at dance workshops,
festivals and camps around the country. Music is also merged into his daily farm life where he and his wife have been developing Wind Dance Farm & Earth Education Center for nine years (for more information, see http://winddancefarm.org/). John’s musical talents and traditional dance instruction are shared regularly during their programs and community gatherings. His last appearance with
Washington Revels was in the Early American-themed Christmas Revels
in 2006.
Stephen Winick, singer
Stephen D. Winick has been singing traditional songs—French,
Canadian, Irish, and English—for over twenty years. He currently sings with the local sea chantey group the Ship’s Company Chanteymen and with Celtic rock ensemble Jennifer Cutting’s Ocean Orchestra. As a child, Steve attended
the United Nations International School in New York, where he began
learning French at the age of six. One of the first songs he can
remember learning was “V’la l’bon vent,”
which appears in this year’s Washington Revels production.
He went on to earn both an MA and a PhD in Folklore and Folklife
from the University of Pennsylvania. He now works as the writer and editor for the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. He has taught university folklore courses at the University of Pennsylvania and George Mason University, has published widely on folklore and folk music in both academic and popular publications, and for twenty years was a contributing editor to Dirty Linen, the Magazine of Folk and World Music. The 2008 Christmas Revels was Winick’s first appearance with Washington Revels.
He was originally an expert consultant to the directors, passing
along many songs for them to consider; pieces such as “Les
parties de Gregoire” and “Les plaisirs de la table”
were included in the show at his suggestion. When the directors
discovered he also sang, they encouraged him to audition for the
role of Gaston, the lovable but reckless rogue who leads the voyageurs
astray.
Katrina Van Duyn, storyteller
Katrina Van Duyn performed with Revels in 2007's Elizabethan show (as Good Queen Bess) and in 1989's Victorian Storybook production (as the Queen of Hearts and sundry other storybook characters). Ms Van Duyn has appeared at Arena Stage (Ann Stanton, in All the King's Men; Angelique, in Vivisections from the Blown Mind), Clark Street Playhouse (The Vagina Monologues), Gallaudet (voicing for Pooh, Ice Wolf, Can Do), Georgetown (Z, in Village Wooing; Anna, in Old Times), the Goodman at the Kennedy Center (She Always Said, Pablo), Horizons (Mabel Dodge, in Losing Lawrence; Dot, in Mrs. California), Maryland Shakespeare (Rosalind, in As You Like It), Rehoboth Summer Theatre (Oriana, in The Winter Man), Scena (the Beckett Festival, European Play Festival), Shakespeare Theatre (Octavia, in Anthony and Cleopatra; Portia, in Merchant of Venice; Viola, in Twelfth Night), Smithsonian (St. Joan; Gwendolyn Fairfax, in The Importance of Being Earnest), Source (Olivia, in Twelfth Night; Lady MacBeth; Mrs. Martin, in The Bald Soprano; Terry, in Extremities; Oriana), Studio (Marguerite Gautier, in Camino Real), Washington Stage Guild (Yelena, in Uncle Vanya), and Woolly Mammoth (Dr. Dupont-Seche, in The Cockburn Rituals). When not acting onstage, Ms Van Duyn does so on audio recordings (Wonder Woman, Serrano Legacy, Survivalist, etc.). Outside her life as a performer, she is a free-lance manuscript editor, a cyclist and cycling advocate, and an aspiring Master Gardener.
Elizabeth Fulford Miller, music director
Elizabeth Fulford Miller has performed with Washington Revels since 1993 and served as its Music Director since 2004. In addition to providing music direction for the annual Christmas Revels, she also directs or oversees the direction of all other Revels productions, including outreach performances, and personally directs the Gallery Voices (formerly, the Washington Revels Singers), a small ensemble that has performed at numerous venues.
She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music (BM '80 and MM '82), where she performed roles in many operas, oratorios and chamber works. She was awarded three separate fellowships to attend the Aspen Music Festival and School in the areas of choral music, vocal chamber music and opera theater. An active professional singer in the D.C. area, Elizabeth performs as soloist in local concerts and events, sings as a professional chorister with the National Master Chorale, and serves as section leader and cantor at Augustana Lutheran Church in Washington, DC. She has also sung with many local groups, including the Wolftap Chamber Singers, Washington Bach Consort, Master Chorale of Washington, Washington National Opera Chorus, and the Choral Arts Society of Washington.
By day, a librarian and Webmaster at the Library of Congress, Elizabeth also designs and maintains many Web sites for local artists and musicians, including the Washington Revels (www.revelsdc.org).
Charlie Pilzer, producer
Musician. Producer. Sound engineer. Event organizer. Charlie Pilzer is a busy man, always devoting himself to creating award-winning Scandinavian, Celtic, folk, and acoustic music and sharing his love of the traditions with audiences, listeners, and other musicians around the world. Well known as a dance musician (piano and bass) for New England folk dances, Charlie began his involvement with Scandinavian music in 1978, when he met the Faroe Islands-based band Spælimenninir ("the folk musicians") during their first U.S. tour. Reflecting the international group's membership (Faroese, Danish, Swedish, and American), Spælimenninir's repertoire is pan-Scandinavian, with a good helping of American contra dance music. In addition to being a performer, Charlie is a strong supporter of promoting folk music and dance as part of everday life. He has been on the staff at camps run by the Country Dance & Song Society and the Christmas Country Dance School at Berea College, and has served as program director for the CDSS Family Week program at Pinewoods Camp. Involved with the Washington Revels for years, Charlie is currently an Artistic Associate for Music. When not performing, Charlie is chief engineer at Airshow Mastering in Springfield, VA. His success with mastering all the genres of music made in the mid-Atlantic region - from gospel to folk, world music to alternative -- can be attributed to his broad base of experience and musical knowledge. Charlie's attention to detail is well known and is best exemplified in the audio restoration of vintage recordings. In addition to mastering a dozen GRAMMY-nominated projects, Charlie received a GRAMMY for mastering and restoration on the Anthology of American Folk Music (1997).