The Washington Post has described mezzo-soprano Barbara Hollinshead as singing with "an artful simplicity that illuminated the text and beguiled the ear." She studied with Max van Egmond in the Netherlands, and has since appeared with many of the finest early music groups in eastern North America. Barbara is a popular soloist in the Washington area and with groups such as the Bethlehem Bach Choir. On recordings you can find her featured in music from Monteverdi to Mrs. H.H.A. Beach. Barbara is a professor of voice at American University and acts in the Washington Bach Consort’s much-celebrated program "Bach to School," When she is not singing, you can find her sewing and listening to her sons sing as often as she can. Howard Bass has performed throughout the United States as a soloist and has been a guest accompanist with vocal and instrumental ensembles throughout the Washington area and beyond. A founding member of La Rondinella, with whom he made three recordings for the Dorian label, he has also performed and recorded with HESPERUS, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, the Folger Consort, the Baltimore Consort, and the Choral Arts Society of Washington, among others. In recent years he has worked extensively as an accompanist with Sephardic singer/composer Flory Jagoda and early music singer Barbara Hollinshead. He is a member of Trio Sefardi, with Tina Chancey and Susan Gaeta. Barbara and Howard have worked together for more than two decades. They have appeared on numerous concert series and have developed several thematic programs for voice and lute. Barbara likens the lutenist/singer relationship to that of a figure skating pair. You practice and work together for a long time, learn each other's timing, master your routines and flourishes--and then you trust your partner enough to take those flying leaps with full confidence that you'll be caught before crashing into the ice. Their previous recordings are “Loves Lost…and Found: Lute Songs and Solos from Elizabethan England” and “Airs de Cour.”