Dr. Vera Kochanowsky

Member

Biography

Harpsichordist Vera Kochanowsky is founder and director of two Washington DC area early vocal groups, the mixed choir Carmina, and the women’s ensemble Illuminare.  Together the choirs recently received the 2016 Greater Washington DC Area Choral Excellence (“Ovation”) Award for Best Chamber Chorus.  Dr. Kochanowsky is a graduate of the Oberlin and New England Conservatories and holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stanford University, where she specialized in the performance practices of the 17^th and 18^th centuries. While on a Fulbright scholarship in Europe she studied harpsichord with Gordon Murray, Jos Van Immerseel, and Gustav Leonhardt. In the United States her teachers have included, John Gibbons, Arthur Haas, George Houle, and Alan Curtis. Active as a choral conductor, harpsichord soloist, chamber musician, and private teacher, Dr. Kochanowsky has performed with numerous Washington-area groups, including the National Gallery Chamber Players, the Bach Sinfonia, Ensemble Gaudior, the Washington Kantorei, and Tre Voci. The Washington Postpraised her solo performance at the Phillips Collection as “a first-rate recital –poised, pristine, luxuriant.” Between 1994 and 2006 she concertized extensively with harpsichordist Thomas MacCracken, and together they have released two CDs: Pour 2 clavecins and A Decade of Duos.  Her solo CD Three Centuries of Harpsichord Music is available from Amazon and CDBaby.