Please join us at the Church of the Messiah in Woods Hole on Wednesday, July 22nd at 12:15pm, for the third concert of our 2015 Noontunes Summer Concert Series. This concert will feature the local Woods Hole Recorder Consort. The program will last about 45 minutes, and we will be offering box lunches following the program for anyone who is interested. Please feel free to visit our website www.churchofthemessiahwoodshole.org or call (508) 548-2145 for more information.

The Woods Hole Recorder Consort is an amateur music group based in and around Woods Hole. The term “consort” designates an ensemble of instruments of varying ranges from the same family, much like a choir. WHRC's members play soprano, alto, tenor and bass recorders, with occasional appearances by the tiny sopranino and the super-sized great bass. The Noontunes program will feature Early Music (renaissance and baroque) for recorders by Dowland, Holborne, Corelli and others, plus modern pieces and transcriptions of music for other instruments — international folk songs, viol consort music, keyboard pieces, and even a pastiche (“Tango für Elise”).

The ensemble was founded in the 1980s by Patricia C. Brown, who led several Falmouth-based early music groups while teaching in the public schools and serving as music director and organist for St. Barnabas Church. Pat taught choirs and recorder groups for both adults and children, and was very active in bringing early music to the community. After her death in 1994 the group's leadership was passed to Deborah MacKintyre Skeath, and then to present coach Jan Elliott.

This brought the ensemble full circle, as Ms. Elliott had studied music with Pat Brown as a child and was inspired by her to take up the recorder as a solo and ensemble instrument. She continued her studies with Ruth Guillard, Britt Wheeler and others, received advanced degrees in music, dance and education from Wesleyan University and UCLA, and taught music at Boston University. She currently teaches privately and performs with the Cape-based early music group Ensemble Passacaglia.

Noontunes performers are Wendell Bishop, Jan Elliott, Dorene Sykes, Gisela Tillier and Helen Trainor. Other  members are Barbara Blair, Becky Lash and Alison Leschen. Past members have included much-beloved residents of Woods Hole and environs: Barbara Little, Mary Mavor, Polly Montgomery, Ruth Pearce, Holly Pedlosky, Pucky Roslansky, Lil Sanders, Ruth Schleicher and others. The Woods Hole Recorder Consort plays for enjoyment, to share music with others, and to honor those who have gone before.