Gwendolyn Toth

Gwendolyn Toth is the director of the New York City-based early music ensemble, ARTEK, and a soloist on early keyboards (organ, harpsichord, fortepiano). She is married to harpsichordist Dongsok Shin, and they have three children.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

A trip to Cincinnati

My husband Dongsok Shin and I attended Antiqua Nova, the 2012 Joint Meeting and Festival of the Midwestern and Southeastern Historical Keyboard Societies, on March 23-25, 2012.

We drove there in our van in order to transport our antique Benedict fortepiano. Travelling with us was my student Christina Kwon, a graduate student at Montclair State University. It's a long way from New York to Cincinnati, and we had fun getting to know Christina better. 

At the conference, I performed a solo organ recital, and together Dongsok and I performed four-hands Mozart on the Benedict piano. Dongsok also gave a wonderful talk, complete with Powerpoint visuals, about his research into the history of the piano, and why he feels the instrument was likely built by Karl Benedict.

We also met old friends, got tips on goose-quilling from Owen Daly, and renewed our acquaintance with Stephen Birkett, who has promised to supply us with sufficient amounts of his historically-produced iron wire to enable us to restring my Flemish harpsichord with his wire (after my daughter paints a beautiful 18th century design on the soundboard, of course!)

Here's a few photos from the event.

First, Owen Daly's Vaudry harpsichord, which we've always loved, and were happy to visit again.


The Juget-Sinclair organ in Roberta Gary's studio at the Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati. This is the organ I performed my recital upon.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Amanda Vail's interview with me on Early Music America

Here's an archived version of the interview with Amanda Vail. The article refers to ARTEK's Januray 1, 2011 performance of the Monteverdi Vespers with audience participation.

http://earlymusicamerica.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html