In the stillness of a recent Sunday afternoon, Kingsbury Place, as every other block in Skinker-DeBaliviere, dozes, hypnotized by the first gossamer rays of the spring. Indeed, yellow-green buds along the jumbled slabs of sidewalk seem to be the only sign of awakening until the sprightly play of notes dance through an open window midway up the block.
That flutter gives way to flourish, then pauses like a child in a game of tag to see if anyone is following as she skips along. Another flourish of notes dances out into the empty street. These are not the scales of a naïve beginner. No indeed, they signal what the stone facades obstruct—that within our swath of St. Louis, there exists the core members of one of the finest early music ensembles in the Midwest, if not United States and arguably the world.
The Kingsbury Ensemble, which was formed in 1999, performs the music commission and enjoyed by European counts and kings music of Franz Schubert, Georg Phillipp Telemann, George Frideric Handel, Henry Purcell, J.S. Bach, and others. In the forms of cantatas and sonatas and more, the Ensemble musically transports their audiences through time and space to France, Germany, Belgium, Italy and all of Europe.
The Carlins, who met while training in Paris, moved from Boston to their home on Kingsbury Street in the 1990s. Initially, they chose to form a trio and named it for the street on which they live.
“We wanted something that would reference Europe where the music we play originated,” Maryse Carlin said. “We chose Kingsbury Ensemble because the street sounded a little bit vintage, a little bit English—it sounded a bit like early music.”
When the trio dissolved and reformed as an ensemble, they decided to keep the name. At present, along with the Carlins, the Ensemble also includes Elizabeth Ramos (viola), Marc Thayer (violin), Ken Kulosa (cello), Leonora Anop (violin), Margaret Humphrey (baroque violin), Clea Galhano (recorder), Brandon Christensen (violin) and Douglas Worthen (traversa flute).
The Ensemble will wrap up its season with its next concert, which will begin at 7:30 p.m. April 11 at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 6800 Washington Avenue. The Ensemble will perform the Cantatas and Sonatas of Handel and Telemann and will feature Galhano, Margaret Humphrey, Ken Kulosa, and Maryse Carlin.
In addition, the Ensemble’s annual fundraiser concert/reception will be from 7 to 9 p.m. May 15 at the LINK Auction Gallery, located at 5000 Washington Place. The event will offer a special opportunity to experience a performance and enjoy an assortment of refreshments as well.
Each concert the Kingsbury Ensemble performs varies from the next and features various member musicians. The performances vary from solo concerts to productions that feature dancers and singers, as well.
Along with its own local concerts, the Ensemble has participated in a number of music series around the city, including the Missouri Botanical Garden’s “From the Garden Live,” the St. Louis Art Museum’s series that connected with art exhibitions of the Baroque period, as well as Ovations! presented by Washington University.
In the summer, the Kingsbury Ensemble jumps the pond to perform in a festival created and lead by Maryse Carlin in France. Since 2008, Maryse has served as the festival director for The Early Music Festival of Saint-Savin, which offers the opportunity to hear chamber music in the shadowy beauty of the Pyrenees Mountains each summer.
The Kingsbury’s intention is as ambitious as it is enchanting: “To stage authentic performances of music from the renaissance to the early romantic period so that listeners may experience this timeless music as its original audiences did.”
With each note, the Kingsbury Ensemble brings back Bach and Schubert, Beethoven and Boccherini, in such rich and vibrant terms that one almost expects the composers themselves to enter the room, or linger in the back, or as Doerr would say, “rise again in the grass. In the flowers. In songs.” In this case, in chamber music.
