Contact
Research Areas
Women in Early Music; Antebellum American Musical Culture; Historical Performance Practice
Education
D.M.A., Case Western Reserve University
M.M., University of Michigan
B.Mus., University of Michigan
Links
Curriculum Vitae (pdf)
Faculty Page at the University of Cincinnati
Adastra, A Period Instruments Duo
Vivian Montgomery
Vivian Montgomery
Vivian Montgomery is an award-winning harpsichordist/fortepianist and recipient of a Solo Recitalist Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. She earned her Bachelor and Master Degrees in Early Keyboards from the University of Michigan, and received the DMA in Historical Performance from Case Western Reserve University in 2007. Her performing life encompasses concerts throughout the U.S., especially with her acclaimed women-in-music ensemble Cecilia’s Circle, the groundbreaking Galhano/ Montgomery Duo, and the new period instruments initiative, Adastra. Her recordings can be found on Centaur, Innova, and Schubert Club. Vivian has served as Music Director for the baroque opera company Ex Machina, the CWRU Baroque Orchestra, and the Dickinson College Collegium, and she is now the named director of the Jurow International Performance Competition. Since 2003, she has been on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, teaching harpsichord and historical performance. She has also taught at Dickinson College, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Massachusetts-Boston. Vivian’s work as a Visiting Scholar at the WSRC has been supported by fellowships from the American Association of University Women and the Boston Public Library.
Current Projects
I am preparing a book and CD entitled Brilliant Variations on Sentimental Songs: Slipping Pianistic Virtuosity and Invention into the Antebellum Drawing Room. Piano variations on popular songs were embraced by lady performers and composers in nineteenth-century American domestic settings. Examination shows the genre’s unique place in shaping female cultural values, and promoting musical accomplishment.
Representative Publications
Montgomery, Vivian. “Thy Hand Hast Done All This: Music of Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre” (Cecilia’s Circle, Centaur Records).
Montgomery, Vivian. “Songs in the Ground: Variations and Other Renewable Notions for Recorder and Harpsichord” (Galhano/Montgomery Duo, Ten Thousand Lakes Records).