Richard Kolb, lutes

Richard Kolb has performed and recorded as a soloist and continuo player throughout North America and Europe. He plays a wide variety of lute family instruments from the Baroque period, the Renaissance, and the Middle Ages. For the Baroque period these include the archlute, theorbo, baroque guitar, and the solo baroque lute. He performs regularly as a continuo player in operas and dance concerts, with companies including New York City Opera, Chicago Opera Theatre, New York City Baroque Dance Company, Les Musiciens du Louvre, and Opera Atelier. He is principal lutenist at the Carmel Bach Festival, and has performed lute concerti with the Little Orchestra Society of New York and Philharmonia Virtuosi. As a chamber musician he has performed with many ensembles including the Waverley Consort, Concert Royal, Fanfare Consort, and Pegasus. Richard Kolb has held teaching positions at the University of Toronto, the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto), and Wesleyan University.

In the fall Richard began work towards a doctorate in musicology at Case Western University in Cleveland, with particular emphasis on Italian music of the mid-17th century. He has continued to perform solo recitals, chamber music with the Carmel Cach Festival, and for opera productions with New York City Opera (Rameau's Platée) and Chicago Opera Theater's production of Handel's La Resurrezione.