Since 2009, the early music ensemble Wayward Sisters has dazzled audiences across the United States, bringing “distinctive freshness” (Early Music Review) and intimacy to music from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. “Wayward Sisters immediately impress with their evident rapport” (Gramophone). The ensemble’s “polished and spirited playing,” and “alert, stylish performances” (Chicago Classical Review) have earned it appearances on concert series coast to coast.
In 2011, Wayward Sisters won the Early Music America/Naxos competition, a nationwide search for new early music talent. In 2010, the Newberry Consort showcased Wayward Sisters on their series as Emerging Artists to watch. The group’s debut CD was released on the Naxos label in March 2014.
Wayward Sisters is Beth Wenstrom (baroque violin), Anne Timberlake (recorders), Anna Steinhoff (baroque cello and viola da gamba), and John Lenti (theorbo and guitar). Members of Wayward Sisters have studied historical performance at Oberlin Conservatory, Indiana University, and The Juilliard School.
The name “Wayward Sisters” refers not only to Henry Purcell’s vivid conjuring of Shakespeare’s witches, but to the group members’ far-flung lives and continuing commitment to making music together.