Ian Crane is a high school music teacher, performer, and student. He currently teaches choir and band at Benedictine High School in Cleveland, and previously spent five years on faculty at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, as instructor of bagpipes. He has performed with many local groups, including Apollo’s Fire, the Choir of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, and What’s Next?, a barbershop quartet. Ian earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from Cleveland State University and is working on his master’s in choral conducting from Kent State University. He resides in Lakewood, Ohio, with his wife Tricia and daughter Phoebe.
Nadia Tarnawsky is a teacher of Dalcroze Eurhythmics at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She founded MN2 Productions, an independent production company which creates new works based on Ukrainian themes and sponsors performances by Ukrainian artists. In 2007, MN2 Productions performed Ancestral Voices at the New York International Fringe Festival, the Cincinnati Fringe Festival and Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre. Nadia was recently selected to participate in a series of concerts featuring Ukrainian village-style singing by the Center for Traditional Music and Dance in New York City.
David Saffron, tenor, earned a Bachelor of Music Degree in Voice Performance from Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia, where he focused a great deal on Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music. He has performed with the Atlanta Symphony Chorus, Apollo’s Fire, the Bach & Handel Society of Cleveland and many other ensembles, churches, and synagogues in the Northeast Ohio area.
Coming from a musical family, his love for music began at a very young age. He began singing and playing instruments at age three and will continue his love for music throughout his life. Currently, David is employed by the Cleveland Clinic as an Information Technology Site Manager at Euclid Hospital.
Ross W. Duffin was born in London, Ontario, and attended the University of Western Ontario there. He received his master’s and doctoral degrees from Stanford University where he specialized in the performance practice of early music. He came to Case Western Reserve in 1978 to direct the nationally recognized early music program, and now serves as interim chair of the Music Department there. Duffin has made a name for himself as a scholar in a wide range of repertoires, publishing articles on music from the 13th to the 18th centuries. His edition of DuFay chansons won the Noah Greenberg Award from the American Musicological Society for work of benefit to both scholars and performers, and his edition of Josquin motets was published in 1998 by Oxford University Press. Other “vocal” publications include the award-winning Shakespeare’s Songbook (W. W. Norton, 2004), a study of all the songs from Shakespeare’s plays, and an edition of motets from the Jacobean period from A-R Editions. Duffin’s love of vocal ensemble singing has a familial background, since his grandfather, William Nelson, was a professional countertenor in London, England, and was soloist for Harold Darke and later Herbert Murrill. Duffin has sung with Apollo’s Fire since its inception in 1992. He also directs the Early Music Singers at Case.
Debra Nagy has been called a “musical polymath” (San Francisco Classical Voice) for her accomplished performances as a singer and historical wind player. As one of the country’s top baroque oboists, Debra frequently performs with Apollo’s Fire (among other ensembles on both coasts), is the founder and director of Cleveland-based chamber ensemble Les Délices, and is a member of Ciaramella. She has also appeared as a guest multi-instrumentalist and singer with such groups as the Newberry Consort, Piffaro, Baroque Northwest, and Blue Heron Renaissance Choir. Debra has recorded for the Capstone, Bright Angel, Naxos, Hänssler, Chandos, and ATMA labels and her live performances have been featured on CBC Radio Canada, Klara (Belgium), NPR’s Performance Today, WQXR New York, WKSU Kent, and WGBH Boston. Debra currently teaches in the Early Music Program and conducts the Collegium Musicum at Case Western Reserve University, where she earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree. Please visit her personal website for more information.
