Debra received her Doctor of Musical Arts in Early Music from Case Western Reserve University, where she directs the singers and instrumentalists of the Collegium Musicum in programs spanning the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries. Her research projects at Case included an edition of unique pieces from the Chansonnier Nivelle de la Chaussée (c. 1465), an analysis of the synthesis of instrumental virtuosity and vocal aesthetics in the works and performing career of Ludwig August Lebrun (for which she received Case’s Adel Heinrich Musicology Prize), and a reevaluation of the late-seventeenth century airs and brunettes repertory as a source of solo music for woodwinds. Dedicated to developing her scholarly interests, Debra has presented lecture recitals for the Society for Seventeenth Century Music, and is currently preparing her edition of unica from the Nivelle Chansonnier for publication. In addition, Debra spent 2002-2003 researching Renaissance double reed instruments in Brussels on a Belgian American Educational Foundation Grant while studying baroque oboe at the Conservatory of Amsterdam as a student of Alfredo Bernardini. Debra received her undergraduate and master's degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory, where she studied with James Caldwell and Gonzalo Ruiz.
Debra’s wide ranging discography includes a disc of fifteenth-century German instrumental and vocal music with Ciaramella (Naxos), “Stolen Gold” for amplified baroque and tape – a work written for Debra by composer Anna Rubin (Capstone Records), collaborations with vielle player Shira Kammen (“Mistral” on Bright Angel Records), Handel’s Acis and Galatea with the Montreal-based ensemble Les Boréades (ATMA), sacred music of Vivaldi with Toronto’s Aradia Ensemble (Naxos), Masses of Joseph Haydn with Ensemble Rebel (Hänssler Classics), Brandenburg Concertos with the American Bach Soloists, instrumental music by Johann Friedrich Fasch with Philadelphia's Tempesta di Mare, Lully's Psyché with the Boston Early Music Festival, and Lutheran Masses of J.S. Bach with the Washington Bach Consort (Loft Recordings). Forthcoming recordings include Les Délices's debut CD, Goûts-réünis (or The Tastes Reunited), and a disc featuring BWV 170 "Vergnügte Ruh" with Ian Howell and the American Bach Soloists. Debra has appeared at many international early music festivals including the Boston & Berkeley Early Music Festivals, Bloomington (Indiana), Regensburg (Germany), and Laus Polyphoniae (Belgium), and has had live performances featured on CBC Radio Canada, Klara (Belgium), NPR’s Performance Today, WQXR (New York City) and WGBH Boston.
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