Musica Stellarum
The Art of the Viola da Gamba
Caroline Nicolas, viola da gamba
Dr. Joyce Wei-Jo Chen, harpsichord
Kevin Payne, theorbo
Musica Stellarum: The Art of the Viola da Gamba brings together three acclaimed early-music performers for a celebration of one of the Baroque era’s most expressive and virtuosic instruments. Viola da gambist Caroline Nicolas and lutenist/theorbist Kevin Payne join harpsichordist Dr. Joyce Wei-Jo Chen.
At the heart of the program are two towering masters of the French viol: Marin Marais and Antoine Forqueray. Their contrasting styles were famously characterized in the eighteenth century as Marais playing “like an angel” and Forqueray “like the devil.” From Marais’s elegance, refinement, and imagination to Forqueray’s fiery virtuosity, the program reveals the extraordinary expressive range of the viola da gamba. Alongside these French masterpieces, J. S. Bach’s Sonata in G major for viola da gamba and harpsichord transforms the viol into an equal partner in an intricate musical conversation.
Together, Nicolas, Payne, and Chen bring some of the finest music written for the viola da gamba to Oregon—music by turns intimate, elegant, dazzling, and dramatic, heard across three very different spaces and acoustic worlds.
Admission is free thanks to the Mount Angel Institute.
Repertoire List
Antoine Forqueray (1672-1745)
Suite No. 1 for Viola da Gamba and Basso Continuo
– Allemande (La Borde)
– La Forqueray
– La Cottin
– La Bellemont
– La Portugaise
– La Couperin
Johanna Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Sonata no. 1 for Viola da gamba and Harpsichord in G major
Marin Marais (1656-1728)
Suite in A Minor from Livre 3
– Fantaisie
– Allemande
– Courante
– Menuet et Autre
– Grand Ballet
About the Artists
A native of Taiwan, Dr. Joyce Wei-Jo Chen 陳瑋若 is a harpsichordist, organist, musicologist, and educator. She currently serves as Assistant Director of Liturgical Music at the University of Portland, overseeing the university’s liturgical music program and collaborating with students, faculty, and Campus Ministry in leading music for worship. During the 2026–27 academic year, she also completes her final year as Assistant Professor of Historical Keyboards and Musicology at the University of Oregon, where she teaches across academic and performance areas and directs the UO Collegium Musicum. Dr. Chen holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Harpsichord Performance from Stony Brook University and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.
In Spring 2026, Dr. Chen completed her Ph.D. in Historical Musicology and Humanities at Princeton University. Her dissertation, Musica Experientia/Experimentum: Embodied Acoustics and Keyboard Knowledge in Europe, China, and America, 1600–Present, explores the intersections of science, music, and aesthetics through instrument making, sensory experience, and the development of acoustical theory. Her work has been presented at conferences in the United States and Europe, including meetings of the American Musicological Society, the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music, and the History of Science Society.
In 2026, she became the inaugural recipient of the Barbara Owen Research Grant from the Westfield Center for Historical Keyboard Studies for her publication project, Chinoiserie at the Keys: Exoticism, Character, and Interpretation in Eighteenth-Century French Harpsichord Music. In addition, Dr. Chen is the recipient of Early Music America’s 2026 Thomas Binkley Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement in collegiate early-music ensemble direction and honors leaders whose work has made a lasting impact on students and the field of early music. She previously received the 2018 Individual Artist Fellowship from the Delaware Division of the Arts and was a featured soloist in Early Music America’s 2019 Emerging Artist Showcase.
As a solo harpsichordist, Dr. Chen has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Taiwan. Her appearances include the Musica Antiqua Festival in Belgium, the International Normandy Baroque Competition in France, the Prix Annelie de Man in Amsterdam, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Empressa Ensemble, Chamber Music Northwest, the Oregon Bach Festival, Chatter PDX, and Ars Musica Chicago.
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Hailed as a “bright new gamba star” (The Strad Magazine), Canadian cellist and viola da gamba player Caroline Nicolas enjoys an international career performing repertoire from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. She performs regularly with leading ensembles across Europe and North America, including The English Concert, Philharmonia Baroque, Kammerorchester Basel, Ars Lyrica Houston, Pacific MusicWorks, and New World Symphony. She recently completed her tenure as Music Director of New Baroque Orchestra and now serves as Artistic Director of Ars Poetica. Caroline has appeared at the Boston Early Music Festival, Bach Festival Leipzig, and Styriarte, and in venues including the Berliner Philharmonie, Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and KKL Luzern.
Her debut solo album, Pièces en solitude, was praised by Gramophone for its “understated beauty,” noting that her performances “judge the music’s elasticity of form and tempo to perfection.” The recording was also featured in The Strad, Strings Magazine, and Early Music America.
A Fellow of The English Concert in America and winner of The Juilliard School’s Historical Performance Concerto Competition, Caroline has taught at Yale University, the Peabody Conservatory, and the University of Washington. She studied at The Juilliard School and the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and now resides in New York City. More information is available at www.carolinenicolas.com.
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Lutenist Kevin Payne is active as a recitalist, accompanist, and continuo player. Recent ensemble work includes performances with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Twelfth Night, Blue Heron, Handel and Haydn Society, and Bach Collegium San Diego. Festival appearances include Caramoor, Tanglewood, Spoleto, and Newport Classical. Performance venues include Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, Germany. His playing has been broadcast on a number of nationally syndicated radio programs including Sunday Baroque and Performance Today.
When not performing, Kevin enjoys cooking, reading, watching Star Trek (P’Tach!) and attempting to delay the inevitable (and often imminent) demise of the houseplants he shares with his wife, cellist Caroline Nicolas.