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 its smallest configuration of four players, Les Écuries performs the great Baroque solo and trio sonata literature. When augmented with additional double reed players, the group becomes a 17th Century harmonie such as Louis XIV, the Sun King, might have known. We are excited to bring this largely unknown repertoire, by such composers as Lully, Philidor, Hotteterre, Pez, Paisible and Croft, to the Southeast Michigan area
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 technically were stablehands!
LINDA MUNCH, soprano, winner of the Soprano Solo Competition of the 1992 Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in Wales, received a BA in Music from Wayne State University. She studied voice with Marjorie Gordon, Thomas Kuras, and Elizabeth Humes, and was for many years a soprano soloist at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Detroit, as well as with several professional choral groups throughout SE Michigan.
Linda specializes in performing early music, sacred music, art songs, and music by women composers. In recent years she and her accompanist and sister Diana Munch, have presented a number of programs in a wide range of musical periods and styles that include harpsichord, fortepiano, and other period instruments. She has been a soprano soloist with the Ann Arbor Grail Singers and is currently a soloist with Tuesday Musicale of Detroit.
ROB BURNS, baroque flute and recorder, began his musical journey at the age of 20 when he discovered his passion for the flute. He pursued flute studies at Wayne State University under the guidance of DSO Principal Ervin Monroe, and later studied recorder with Lyle Nordstrom at Oakland University’s Early Music Program. The latter program allowed him to learn a diverse range of instruments, including the viola da gamba, recorder, hammered dulcimer, Renaissance flute, and percussion, ultimately earning a BA in Music in 1977.
Throughout his four-decade career, Rob has become a stalwart figure in the Michigan music scene. He is an active member of the North Oakland Concert Band and the Detroit Flute Guild. Together with his wife, Anne, they form the longtime Renaissance music duo, A Reasonable Facsimile. Rob is also active as a composer and arranger, and his compositions and arrangements have been embraced by various small ensembles, concert bands, and flute choirs.
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.
DAVID SCHREINER, baroque bassoon, has performed in recital throughout the United States and Canada on both modern and historical bassoons. He has commissioned new works for bassoon and has been heard on Michigan Public Radio and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He has performed seven solo recitals at the annual conference of the International Double Reed Society.
David’s orchestral career includes serving as principal bassoon with the Flint Symphony, Michigan Opera Orchestra, Michigan Chamber Orchestra, Ann Arbor Symphony, Hillsdale Symphony, Lake George Opera Festival, and the Birmingham Theater Orchestra. He has appeared with the American Ballet Theater, the Boston Ballet, and Toledo Symphony on modern bassoon, and with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra in Toronto on baroque bassoon.
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 looks for ways of fostering the creativity and musicality of her students. She has served as the music director of the Ann Arbor Recorder Society since 2014, and with support from the Viola da Gamba Society of America, enjoys introducing young people to the viol.
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.
A poster from our most recent concert:
Les Écuries du Roy performing at St. James Episcopal Church, Birmingham, MI, on May 27, 2018
Johann Joachim Quantz – Trio Sonata in G major – Allegro
Tom Moore, traverso
Christopher Brodersen, baroque oboe d'amore
David Schreiner, baroque bassoon
Diana Munch, harpsichord
Click here to play the sound
From the same May 27th concert
Johann Sebastian Bach, Aria "Seufzer, Thränen, Kummer, Noth" from Cantata no. 21
Linda Munch, soprano
Christopher Brodersen, baroque oboe
David Schreiner, baroque bassoon
Diana Munch, harpsichord
Click here to play the sound
Joseph Bodin de Boismortier - Trio Sonata Op.37 no. 1 - Allegro
Christopher Brodersen, baroque oboe
David Schreiner, baroque bassoon
Diana Munch, harpsichord
Click here to play the video
Jan Ladislav Dussek - Parthia No. 3 - I Allegretto
Christopher Brodersen, classical oboe
David Schreiner, classical bassoon
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A bit of the Renaissance, played on shawms and dulcian - Sermisy's "Vous perdez temps."
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The Ouverture from Johann Krieger's "Lustige Feldmusik", for two oboes, taille, and bassoon:
Click here to play the video
Here's a video clip from our Fall 2021 concert, an aria from the Montéclair cantata Pan et Sirinx
Linda Munch, soprano
Christopher Brodersen, baroque oboe
David Schreiner, baroque bassoon
Janet Cannon, viola da gamba
Diana Munch, harpsichord
Click here to play the video
Here's an audio clip from our 2022 concert at the First Presbyterian Church of Northville, an aria from Bach's Cantata 53 Schlage doch gewünschte Stunde
Linda Munch, soprano
Christopher Brodersen, oboe d'amore
Janet Cannon, viola da gamba
Diana Munch, harpsichord
Click here to play the audio
Another clip from that concert, the Telemann Sonata in D minor TWV 41:d4
David Schreiner, baroque bassoon (solo)
Christopher Brodersen, baroque bassoon (continuo)
Diana Munch, harpsichord
Click here to play the audio
Here are five excerpts from our latest concert on August 11, 2023, beginning with the Domine Deus from Vivaldi's Gloria RV 589
Linda Munch, soprano
Christopher Brodersen, baroque oboe
Janet Cannon, bass viola da gamba
Diana Munch, harpsichord
Click here to play the video
Next, the concluding Allegro from Johann Friedrich Fasch's Sonata in F for Recorder, Oboe, Bassoon, & BC
Rob Burns, recorder
Christopher Brodersen, baroque oboe
David Schreiner, baroque bassoon
Janet Cannon, bass viola da gamba
Diana Munch, harpsichord
Click here to play the video
The Sonata in E minor Op. 2 no.2 by Jacques-Christophe Naudot
Rob Burns, traverso
David Schreiner, voice flute
Janet Cannon, bass viola da gamba
Diana Munch, harpsichord
Click here to play the video
The Toccata and Ruggiero by Giovanni Battista Vitali
Janet Cannon, bass viola da gamba
Diana Munch, harpsichord
Click here to play the video
Finally, the Air Gay from Montéclair's Pan et Sirinx, which concluded the concert
Linda Munch, soprano
Rob Burns, traverso
Christopher Brodersen, baroque oboe
David Schreiner, baroque bassoon
Janet Cannon, bass viola da gamba
Diana Munch, harpsichord
Click here to play the video
For further information or bookings please contact Christopher Brodersen at 248-880-6536 (voice and text), or
