2026 Festival Artists

Siberian flutist Taya König-Tarasevich is a Juilliard alumna and an expert in historically informed performance. She regularly appears with leading ensembles such as Les Arts Florissants, Utopia Orchestra at the Salzburg Festival, and the Opéra de Paris.

As Artistic Director of Verità Baroque and Director of the Madison Early Music Festival, Taya brings together world-class artists to reimagine Baroque performance through immersive projects that unite historical authenticity with modern innovation.

Deeply committed to education and outreach, she teaches at the UW–Madison and supports music initiatives in East Africa through the Global Impact Musician Program. Educated in Russia, Germany, Switzerland, and the United States, she is fluent in four languages and believes that music is “the most universal and truthful language of all.”

Milan-born cellist Bartolomeo Dandolo Marchesi is an eclectic artist devoted to early music and its contemporary reinterpretation. He is Co-Founder and Musical Director of VERITÀ BAROQUE and UnderStories Ensemble, Artistic Co-Director of the Gualtiero Marchesi Foundation, cellist of the ALINDE Quartett, and a member of the Orchestra of the 18th Century in Amsterdam.

Winner of multiple international prizes, including the 2024 Bach Wettbewerb Leipzig, Bartolomeo has performed across Europe and Asia and appeared on major broadcasters such as BBC, WDR, and Ö1. His debut solo album, featuring Bernhard Romberg’s Grand Sonatas Op. 5, was released on Challenge Classics in 2024.

He performs on a 1727 Carlo Antonio Testore cello, generously on loan from the Jumpstart Jr. Foundation.

Daniel Swenberg specializes in historical plucked strings—Baroque, Renaissance, Classical, Romantic, small, medium, and large. Chief among them is the theorbo, that long lute you’re either wondering about or overhearing your neighbor discuss. He performs throughout North America with ensembles such as ARTEK, REBEL, Apollo’s Fire, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and at the Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall, where he has accompanied Renée Fleming and Kathleen Battle.

His eclectic projects range from 18th-century economics (Mr. Jones & the Engines of Destruction) to the burlesque world of Bellman (Skid Rococo). In 2024 he made his Broadway debut with Mark Rylance in Farinelli and the King.

A Fulbright and Belgian American Educational Foundation scholar, Daniel is the Artistic Director of The Dryden Ensemble and teaches plucked instruments at The Juilliard School.

Condensed matter theorist Elio König was appointed Assistant Professor of Physics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in fall 2024. He earned his PhD from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and has held research positions at Rutgers University and the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart.

Elio studies the collective behavior of quantum particles in materials, focusing on 2D systems, quantum spin liquids, and the interface between quantum materials and quantum information. His research advances understanding of topological quantum states and their potential applications in robust quantum computation.

Dr. Zeynep Alpan is a Turkish-American violinist, educator, and nonprofit leader who began her musical journey through music therapy, overcoming speech and auditory challenges. She made her solo debut performing Vivaldi’s A Minor Violin Concerto after winning the Peabody Concerto Competition.

Dr. Alpan teaches at the New York Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Lincoln Center, and Point CounterPoint, and serves as the Karen and William Watt Youth Orchestra of St. Luke’s Symphony Conductor Chair. She has contributed to programs including Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra U.S.A., Juilliard Preparatory Programs, and the Kenan Fellowship.

A champion of accessible music, Dr. Alpan designs interactive family concerts in the U.S. and Turkey and leads the Global Impact Musician program, a year-long professional development initiative for emerging East African musicians. Her students have achieved top honors at Juilliard Pre-College, Manhattan School of Music Pre-College, NYO-USA, and other leading institutions.

Originally from Atlanta, American violist and singer Erin Kirby, based in Germany, is active in classical, folk, and pop music. She performs internationally, enriching each genre by blending diverse musical traditions with curiosity and artistry.

A member of the Folkwang Kammerorchester Essen and Podium Esslingen, Erin also performs with the Mikis Takeover! Ensemble, a crossover project uniting classical and pop artists, appearing at major venues including the Berliner Philharmonie, Konzerthaus Berlin, and Alte Oper Frankfurt.

Her principal mentors include Carol Rodland, Roland Glassl, and Marilyn Seelman.

Violinist Eugenia Ottaviano is a founding member of the Alinde Quartett and performs as a historical violinist with VERITÀ Baroque. Since 2025, she has served as Professor of Violin at both the Landeskonservatorium Innsbruckand the Mozarteum University Salzburg.

A dedicated educator, she co-founded the Ida Bieler Music Academy and has given masterclasses and served on juries at conservatories across Europe. She has appeared at major festivals including Verbier, Aix-en-Provence, Mozartfest Würzburg, and Festival Quatuors à Bordeaux, collaborating with artists such as András Schiff, Ferenc Rados, and Gábor Takács-Nagy.

Her principal teachers include Salvatore Accardo, Ida Bieler, and Eberhard Feltz. She performs on a 1790 François-Louis Piqué violin.

Italian violinist Guglielmo Dandolo Marchesi is active in both modern and Baroque performance, appearing with ensembles such as the Alinde Quartett, VERITÀ Baroque, and the Gürzenich Orchester Köln. A prizewinner at several international competitions, he received the “Alfonso Rossi” Prize at the Postacchini International Competition in Fermo and in 2012 was awarded the Scholarship for Young Violinists of the La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra in Milan.

He earned his diploma with highest honors under Caterina Carlini and continued advanced studies with Michaela Martin, Richard Gwilt (Baroque violin), and Alessandro Moccia. Dedicated to both historical performance and contemporary expression, Guglielmo brings stylistic fluency and refined artistry to his work across chamber, orchestral, and early music settings throughout Europe.

Swedish dancer and choreographer Julia Bengtsson, based in New York, works across classical ballet, experimental theater, and opera. Her choreography has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the UN Headquarters, and Opera Lafayette.

The first dance artist appointed to Early Music America’s Emerging Professional Leadership Council, she also serves as Board Member and Choreographer of the Higher Ground Festival and Bach Cello Suites Festival.

A graduate of the Royal Swedish Ballet School and Joffrey Ballet School, Julia has performed with the New York Baroque Dance Company, Connecticut Ballet, and at Sweden’s Royal Swedish Opera House.

Dr. Angie Zhang is a sought-after pianist and pedagogue on modern piano and fortepiano, known as a leading period-instrument specialist. She is the first—and only—American to win a top prize at the Chopin International Piano Competition on Period Instruments in Warsaw, and a grand prize winner of Music Academy of the West’s Innovation Institute Award and the Yamaha Young Performing Artists Competition.

With 45+ orchestral appearances worldwide, she has debuted as pianist/conductor at Alice Tully Hall (Lincoln Center) and appears widely as a soloist, chamber musician, and master teacher. She holds degrees from The Juilliard School and the University of Michigan (DMA).

A native of Wisconsin, GRAMMY Award–winning soprano Sarah Brailey enjoys a versatile career that spans concert, opera, chamber, and contemporary music. Praised by The New York Times for her “radiant, liquid tone,” she has performed with the Boston, Chicago, Nashville, National, and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras, and appeared as a soloist at the Hollywood Bowl, Elbphilharmonie, and Barbican Centre.

Her recording of Dame Ethel Smyth’s The Prison received the 2021 GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album, and she appears on numerous other GRAMMY-nominated recordings.

She is Artistic Director of the Handel Aria Competition and co-founder of Just Bach, a monthly concert series in Madison and serves on the voice faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Composer and performer Tim Russell works at the intersection of sound and movement. Described as “the premier composer for Modern Dance in Milwaukee” (Shepherd Express) and “a thrilling show within the show” (DanceTabs), he has created over eighty works for choreography, most in live collaboration with dancers.

He co-founded Hyperlocal MKE, an ongoing Milwaukee series for music and dance improvisation, and his music has been featured internationally with companies including Gerald Casel Dance, Li Chiao-Ping Dance, and Wild Space Dance, from Dock 11 in Berlin to YBCA in San Francisco.

Tim holds an MFA in Music Improvisation from Mills College and serves as Music Director for the UW–Madison Dance Department. He was the 2019–20 Cowles Visiting Artist at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities.

MEMF has enjoyed a 20-year friendship with Dr. J. Michael Allsen, who has written the impeccable program notes for every one of our performances since the very beginning. An Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, Allsen has also written program notes for the Madison Symphony Orchestra since 1984, authoring notes on more than 2,000 works by over 600 composers for organizations around the world. A distinguished scholar of medieval music and an award-winning teacher, he is also a longtime professional trombonist, former member of the MSO, and a prolific arranger and composer.