About Gina DiBello
Music of the Baroque concertmaster Gina DiBello joined the first violin section of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in April 2013. She was previously principal second violin of the Minnesota Orchestra and a member of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. In addition to her orchestral work, she enjoys an active career as a soloist and regularly appears in numerous series around Chicago.
During her tenure with the Minnesota Orchestra, Gina DiBello performed Mozart’s 3rd and 5th concertos with the orchestra under the batons of Stainslaw Skrowaczewski and Andrew Litton, respectively. A Chicago area native, Gina DiBello grew up in a musical family. Both her parents had 40-plus-year careers with the Chicago Symphony and Lyric Opera orchestras.
Gina DiBello attended the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Juilliard School. Her principal teachers include Desirée Ruhstrat, David and Linda Cerone, and Joel Smirnoff. She lives on the north side of Chicago with her family.
About Mary Stolper
Mary Stolper is principal flute of Music of the Baroque. She has also held principal flute positions with the Grant Park Orchestra, Chicago Philharmonic, the Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet, Contemporary Chamber Players, Fulcrum New Music Project, Chicago Chamber Symphony, and the Chicago Chamber Musicians. She has appeared around the world in several ensembles, including a performance art piece in which she sang, acted, and played the flute in John Eaton’s “Golk.”
Mary Stolper was the principal guest flutist in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for over 20 years. During that time she worked with some of the greatest conductors, including Georg Solti, Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Zubin Mehta, and Bernard Haitink, and traveled on eighteen world tours. Highlights include performing Bernstein’s Halil in Vienna; the Nielsen Flute Concerto on a tour of the former East Germany, which closed with a performance in the Great Hall of Berlin; and appearing as soloist with Renee Fleming in her 2004 recital at Orchestra Hall.
As a member of the board of the National Flute Association, Mary Stolper has written numerous teaching articles that were published in various flute publications. She is a past president of the Chicago Flute Club and the Musicians Club of Women. As a recording artist, she has appeared as a soloist and ensemble performer for the Cedille, Bridge, and Erato labels.
Chair of the flute faculty at DePaul University for 29 years, she is currently on staff at Northwestern University as a coach and mentor for student chamber ensembles.
About Laura Osterlund
Laura Osterlund is a sought-after American recorder player and member of a new generation of historically informed musicians. At home in Baroque, Renaissance, medieval, and modern music, Laura Osterlund has performed with Opera Theatre of St. Louis in the North American premiere of Handel's Richard the Lionheart, with Chicago Shakespeare Theater in the American premiere of Nell Gwynn, for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban live with Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, and with Cincinnati Opera in its production of Monteverdi's Coronation of Poppea. She also premiered a new composition by Eric Malmquist as a guest artist with Bach + Beethoven Experience.
As a founding member of Boston-based Ensemble Musica Humana, Laura Osterlund performed in staged productions of Hildegard von Bingen's liturgical drama Ordo Virtutum, as well as concerts featuring the music of Michael Praetorius, Turlough O'Carolan, and Cancionero de Palacio. She also performed programs showcasing the diverse musical repertoire of the recorder as a founding member of Chicago Recorder Quartet.
After earning her bachelor's degree in Early Music Performance and Music History from McGill University in 2012, Laura Osterlund worked as the Assistant Program Manager and Recorder Specialist Teacher for Keiskamma Music Academy in rural South Africa, where she facilitated musical instruction and academic support for over a hundred students from elementary school to high school.
Laura Osterlund's facility with chant notation gave her the opportunity to help develop an online searchable Liber Usualis as an undergraduate research assistant at McGill's Distributed Digital Music Archives and Libraries Lab. She completed her graduate studies in Historical Performance Practice at Case Western Reserve University in 2018. Advised by musicologist Susan McClary, her culminating lecture-recital explored medieval instrumental improvisation in the Codex Faenza. Her honors include the American Recorder Society Professional Development Grant, Walgreens National Concerto Competition awards, MacDowell Artists Annual Scholarship, Musicians Club of Women Farwell Trust Award, and Barbara Thornton Memorial Scholarship.
Based in Chicago, Laura Osterlund has worked as a recorder teacher at the Madison and Whitewater early music festivals, as a writer for the radio show Harmonia Early Music, and has performed with Chicago Opera Theater, Music of the Baroque, and Cleveland Opera Theater, among other ensembles. She also performs on the vielle, Irish whistle, and shawm, and sings as a cantor and choir member at churches throughout Chicago.
