The Vintage Recorder Trio – Aldo Abreu, Sarah Cantor and Martin Bernstein – presents a program of recorder music throughout the ages.
Aldo Abreu has taken the recorder and its repertoire to many prestigious venues throughout the United States, Europe, New Zealand, Australia, and his native Venezuela. Since winning First Prize at the 1992 Concert Artists GuildCompetition, Mr. Abreu has been heard in recital at the Ambassador Auditorium in Los Angeles, the Gardner Museum in Boston, Northwestern University’s Pick-Staiger Hall in Chicago, Spivey Concert Hall in Atlanta, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York. Mr. Abreu has been a soloist with orchestras throughout the United States, including Solisti New York, the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Baroque the West Shore Symphony, the Illinois Chamber Symphony, the Savannah Symphony, the Billings Symphony, and the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician with both modern and historical instruments, in concerts for the Cambridge Society for Early Music, Maverick Concerts in Woodstock, NY, the “Distinguished Visitors in the Arts” Series in Corpus Christi, Texas, and the Performing Arts Series in Utica, New York. Born in Caracas, Aldo Abreu holds the Performer’s and Teacher’s diplomas from the Royal Conservatory in the Hague, and a Master’s degree in Early Music from Indiana University in Bloomington. His teachers have included, Ricardo Kanji, Michael Barker and Scott Martin Kosofsky. Mr. Abreu is a member of the faculties of the New England Conservatory, Boston University, The Boston Conservatory, and the Amherst Early Music Festival and Institute.
Sarah Cantor began studying the recorder at age eight to get out of math class in school and dish-duty by practicing after dinner. She later began professional studies at Oberlin Conservatory and holds degrees in early music and Spanish from The Indiana University Early Music Institute and the Royal Conservatory in Holland, where she studied with Marion Verbruggen. Her many appearances as recorder soloist include concerto concerts and recordings with The Berkshire Bach Society; with violinists Eugenie Drucker and Ani Kavafian; Boston Cecilia, Musica Sacra, The Gloria Dei Contores, Eudaimonia, La Donna Musicale, Newton Baroque, Sonoma Bach and the Live Oak Orchestra. She has enjoyed performing in Sing-Sing prison as well as concert halls in Holland, Italy, Costa Rica and Cuba. Her love of chamber music led her to be a founding member of The Hague Baroque Ensemble, The Artemis Trio, The Brookline Early Music Ensemble, Saltarello, Tarantella, Sarasa, and La Sylva; all of which have performed live on several Public Radio stations. In addition to her performing career, she is an active teacher. Ms. Cantor has worked as a dancer and musician for the Utah Shakespearean Festival and in numerous Christmas Revels productions. She has given early music workshops in Cuba and Costa Rica as well as for the San Francisco Early Music Society, Pinewoods, Amherst Early Music and various chapters of The American Recorder Society. Sarah taught dance and served as head of the early music programs at the Brookline Music School and the Putney Summer Arts program. She played with the recorder trio Tarantella that was a finalist in the 2007 Early Music America Medieval Renaissance competition.
Martin Bernstein has been heard in performances across the US and Europe – in 16th century French caves, modern art museums in Reykjavik, and the concert halls of New York City. He performs with many leading early music ensembles, including with Ensemble Masques and Olivier Fortin, with Le Poème Harmonique and Vincent Dumestre, in duo with harpsichordist Justin Taylor, and in his own solo projects. His first CD explores little-known 17th century French chamber music, recorded with Arnaud de Pasquale and Salomé Gasselin. It will appear in 2025. Martin Bernstein began playing recorder at age five. His first teachers were jazz pianist Charles Sibirsky and recorder player Nina Stern. At 18, he left New York City to study at the Royal Conservatoire of the Hague with Reine-Marie Verhagen and Han Tol. He has also studied recorder with Michael Form, and counts many viol players, singers, authors, and friends among his other teachers. In 2021, Martin Bernstein was awarded Harvard University’s Robert Levin Prize in Musical Performance and second prize at the Moeck/SRP international recorder competition. His other honors and awards include: a 2016 National YoungArts scholarship; an appearance in 2015 on U.S. National Public Radio’s “From the Top” program for young classical musicians; and first prize at the 2014 Internationele Prijs Mieke van Weddingen in Belgium. Martin Bernstein teaches recorder at the Amherst Early Music Festival. He holds a degree in History and Literature from Harvard University, where he is currently a PhD candidate in Economics.
