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The Italian Lute, c. 1500

The Terzetti Lute Duo has been performing as an ensemble since 2002.  Comprised of Twin Cities lutenists Phillip Rukavina and Thomas Walker Jr., Terzetti brings modern audiences the expressive and sonorous sound of music for lute duo.  The ensemble performs Renaissance and early Baroque master works, specializing in the large extant repertoire of duets for lute composed in Italy and England during the 16th and 17th centuries.  This at a time when the lute, like the piano today, was considered the instrument par excellence by composers of the age.

Philip Rukavina and Thomas Walker, Jr. Renaissance lutes

Terzetti members Philip Rukavina and Thomas Walker, Jr, play music from some of the first printings of lute music by Ottavio Petrucci, whose innovations helped to disseminate and preserve fabulous music of the Renaissance. Music by Spinacino, Galilei, Josquin, and others.

Thursday, August 17 | 9:00 pm
St. Mary's Episcopal Church
Terzetti Lute Duo

Thomas Walker Jr., started classical guitar lessons at age 10 with Thomas York.  He acquired an interest in the 12-string guitar stylings of Leo Kottke a couple years later and devoted several years to performing music in that style.  Some of his ongoing music studies were directed by John McNally at the MacPhail Center for Music, Minneapolis, MN.  Thomas decided to return to classical music study in college where he studied classical guitar with Glen Larson at Northwestern College in Roseville, MN, and music theory under Ona Pinsonneault at Normandale Community College.  Other than revitalizing his interest in classical music generally, it introduced him to the earlier musical vocabulary of counterpoint. After college, he studied jazz guitar independently, and became increasingly fascinated with early music.  He bought his first lute in 1992, which mostly languished until Thomas heard Phillip Rukavina in concerts with countertenor Brian Link.  Thomas began studies with Phil Rukavina shortly thereafter, and graduated to colleague some years later. Additionally, Thomas has taken master classes and lessons with lutenists Nigel North, Paul Berget, Edward Martin, Ronn McFarlane, and Lucas Harris. In addition to working with Phillip, Thomas has performed with Ensemble Polaris, Consortium Carissimi (stateside), the Rose Ensemble, and various members of the Lyra Baroque.  Thomas also served a term as treasurer for Lyra from 2003-2006.  In regular hours he works as a consulting economist to privately-held businesses.

Phillip Rukavina has performed widely as a lute and vihuela soloist, ensemble performer, and as a continuo lutenist. He studied lute with Hopkinson Smith at the Academie Musical in Villecroze, France and in Basel, Switzerland. He was the Director of the Lute Society of America's summer program in association with the Amherst Early Music Festival in 2005 and 2007. He regularly teaches on the faculty of the Lute Society of America's Seminars at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and directed the event in the summer of 2008. He has released three solo recordings on the Studio395 label, including Fiori Italiani, Ala Spagnola and Music from the Castiliono Lute Book (1536). Phillip plays the bass lute with the Venere Lute Quartet, of which he is a founding member. He appears on Sweet Division (2003), Palestrina's Lute (2007) and Airy Entertainments (2011), three critically acclaimed compact discs featuring the Venere Lute Quartet released by the Lute Society of America. Phillip has been a guest instrumentalist with the Newberry Consort, Camarata Nova and the Rose Ensemble and appears on their CD release, Celebremos el Niño and Glory Shone Around. Phillip has performed with numerous orchestral ensembles including the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, the Billings Symphony and the New World Symphony. Phillip teaches lute privately at his home in St. Paul, Minnesota.

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