amalia BANDY / gamba & violone
native of Los Angeles, 21 year old Amalia Bandy has already begun to establish herself as somewhat of a renaissance person, with degrees in both modern double bass and music history from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music underway, and an ever-growing professional performance record on some nineteen instruments spanning over 800 years of music history. Over the last few years she has appeared locally with both Ars Lyrica Houston and Mercury Baroque on violone and viola da gamba, but also recently on sackbut in Mercury Baroque’s performance of the Mozart Requiem in May 2011. At Rice, Amalia maintains a busy schedule as an enthusiastic participant and organizer of independent student projects, and as coordinator of JUMP!, the school’s very active outreach program. Amalia is also founder and director of both Rice’s full time viol consort The Night Watch and the renaissance wind band The Shepherd School Crumhorn Collective, which performs up to seven full-length concerts annually and last year was awarded a Sviatoslav Richter Grant for Music Outreach. As a member of official Shepherd School ensembles, Amalia’s most notable projects have included playing archlute continuo in the Shepherd School Opera’s production of Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, a quintupler part (accordion, mandolin, banjo, guitar, and cello) in Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera, and solo xylophone with the percussion ensemble in their 1920s ragtime concert. Her research projects, too, have been quite diverse, and range from the history of fifteenth century town piping guilds to Harry Partch’s microtonal tuning systems and instrument design. When she was just a freshman at Rice, Amalia’s extensive investigation of Alonso Mudarra’s vihuela songs and intabulations earned her high honors and a first prize Fondren Library Research Award.
As an early musician, Amalia has studied during recent summers at European early music festivals in the Czech Republic, Austria, and Italy, and has been lucky enough to perform in summer concerts as a continuo artist alongside Rachel Podger, Gary Cooper, Petr Zejfart, Marek Štryncl, Michael Brüssing, and Catherine Mackintosh. She was one of five viol players invited to play at Boston Early Music Festival 2011 as a member of Early Music America’s select ensemble of young performers across the U.S. and Canada. Later in the summer of 2011 Amalia was delighted to make her very first professional recording with Ciaramella, the highly acclaimed renaissance ensemble based in Los Angeles and directed by Adam Gilbert.
In her free time, Amalia enjoys novelty music, playing the ukulele, juggling, and puzzles of all kinds. She hopes to continue her viol and renaissance wind studies, expand her community outreach work, and eventually pursue advanced degrees in musicology when she graduates from Rice.