Trobár
Trobár is a small medieval band of voices and instruments led by co-directors Allison Monroe (strings, voice) and Elena Mullins Bailey (voice, harp). The word trobar, meaning “to find, to create, to compose” in the language Occitan, encapsulates the spirit of discovery and invention that we bring to the musical texts of the Middle Ages. We welcome guest artists into our musical explorations, frequently including Karin Weston (voice, flute; founding member), Allen Otte (percussion), Rosemary Heredos (voice, chant specialist), Nathan Dougherty (voice), Nadia Tarnawsky (voice), Sian Ricketts (winds, voice), and Debra Nagy (winds, voice), among others.
Since our founding in 2017, Trobár has created twelve original programs for our Cleveland audiences. Several of these programs have been featured on Early Music America’s 2020 Emerging Artists Showcase, Les Délices’ SalonEra, GEMS (NYC), the Catacoustic Consort (Cincinnati) series, Early Music at the Barn in Chicagoland, and in a live-televised concert at St. James Cathedral Basilica (Brooklyn).
Education is central to Trobár’s mission. We host a free podcast called Trobár Talks, as well as MuckAbouts, a series of public events oriented around history and the arts, experiential learning, and community building. We have held residencies at the University of Louisville and Purdue University Fort Wayne. A mini-grant from Early Music America (2022) helped us launch our show The Donkey Prince, an elementary-age introduction to medieval music and storytelling. We also taught weekly historical dance classes with live music for elementary school students at Garden Christian Academy during the 2022-23 season.
