Craig Trompeter has been a musical presence in Chicago for more than fifteen years as an acclaimed cellist and violist da gamba. He performs in concert and over the airwaves with Baroque Band, Music of the Baroque, the Newberry Consort, the Chicago Symphony, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Opera Theater, the Cal Players, the Oberlin Consort of Viols, and the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society. He has appeared at such prestigious venues as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. As the principal cellist of Chicago’s nationally recognized period instrument orchestra Baroque Band, he has appeared as soloist at the prestigious Ravinia Festival and at the annual conference of the American Bach Society. He has been soloist with the Chicago Symphony and Music of the Baroque and has recorded discs of Mozart, Biber, Boismortier, Marais, Handel, Maurice Greene, and a potpourri of Elizabethan composers on the Harmonia Mundi, Cedille, and Centaur labels. As a modern cellist, Trompeter was a founding member of the acclaimed Fry Street String Quartet.  He premiered several chamber operas by MacArthur Fellow John Eaton, performing as actor, singer and cellist in roles written expressly for him. A passionate educator, Trompeter has taught master classes at his alma mater, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Oberlin Conservatory, Grinnell College, and the Chicago Musical College. In 2003 he founded the Feldenkrais® Center of Chicago where he teaches Awareness Through Movement® and Functional Integration®. Craig has given Feldenkrais® workshops throughout the nation in universities, music conservatories, and dance studios.

Meriem Bahri, costume designer, is a self-taught costume historian. In addition to her work with the Haymarket Opera Company, Meriem has designed and constructed costumes for the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and for the Brazilian dance group ATABAK in her native France. She holds a PhD in biology, specializing in genetics/biochemistry. Upon completing this advanced degree she turned to her great passion for theater, costumes, and design. Meriem is also an illustrator.

For more information, please visit http://meriembahri.com

David Mayernik, is an internationally recognized artist and architect practicing in the Renaissance humanist tradition. His work as a fine artist ranges from drawing and watercolor to oil, buon fresco and sculpture. As a designer he works on projects from the urban scale, to campus planning, architectural design and interiors. His work in the decorative arts includes furniture design and decorative objects. An associate professor with the University of Notre Dame's School of Architecture, his research includes studies of Renaissance and Baroque art and architecture, and theoretical projects that test the insights of his scholarship.

Jeri-Lou Zike, concertmaster and board member, is a versatile, energetic musician who enjoys a variety of artistic activities in symphonic, baroque and chamber music. She is principal and founding member of the Metropolis Symphony Orchestra and principal second violin of the Chicago Opera Theater. Additionally, she is a member of the Chicago Philharmonic and the Ravinia Festival Orchestra, and has performed with the Grant Park Symphony.

As a period instrument performer, Jeri-Lou is principal violinist of the renowned Baroque Band that performs regularly at Symphony Center and WFMT classical radio. She has played Music of the Baroque’s first performances on period instruments. She has also appeared as soloist with the Chicago Baroque Ensemble, Apollo’s Fire, His Majestie’s Clerkes, Kansas City Music Consort and the James Chorale. She also performs regularly as concertmaster of the University of Chicago Rockefeller Chapel Concerts. Jeri-Lou studied baroque performance practice with Monica Huggett and was a member of The City Musik and Basically Bach.