Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord, the perfect pair

Rasmussen-Kleve Duo

Dieterich Buxtehude:

Viola da Gamba Sonata, BuxWV 268

Recorded by Audio for the Arts at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Madison, WI.

Johann Sebastian Bach:

Sonata for Viola da Gamba in D Major BWV 1028. II. Allegro

Recorded by Audio for the Arts at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Madison, WI.


About the Performers

Sean Kleve
Harpsichord

Harpsichordist and historical performance enthusiast, Sean Kleve, is dedicated to the wide world of historical keyboard instruments and what they can tell us about the repertoire of the past. As a long-time performer of Bach on modern and non-traditional instruments, Sean recently dove into the wide world of harpsichord and historical performance. Sean’s particular interests center upon an understanding of figured bass improvisation, historical tuning, the music of J.S. Bach, and early Italian Baroque music from the 17th century.

Sean performs solo recitals, and chamber works on the harpsichord. Sean has been featured as a soloist in a number of public concerts including The Gifts of Music Series in Rocky River, Ohio, Sunday Afternoon Live at the Chazen, and Bach Around the Clock. In addition to solo recitals, Sean performs with Just Bach, Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble, Generation Baroque, and the Rasmussen-Kleve Duo. He is a participant at the 2022, 23, and 24 Madison Bach Musicians Summer Workshops and is the owner of an Italian Cristofori/Ferrini Harpsichord built by David Sutherland in 1984. As an avid supporter of the arts in the community, Sean is the president Bach Around the Clock, a free festival championing the universal appeal of the music of JS Bach. Sean’s principal harpsichord teachers are Trevor Stephenson and Jason Moy.

Sean teaches private piano, harpsichord, and percussion lessons in his home in Madison, WI.

Charlie Rasmussen
Viola da Gamba

Charlie Rasmussen, viola da gamba and cello, is the Instrumental Director at Just Bach and performs with the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble, the New Milwaukee Consort, and the Madison Bach Musicians. Charlie has previously appeared on several recitals at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and at the Boston Early Music Festival Fringe Series with the New York Continuo Collective, Sonata à Quattro, and as a soloist on the Viola da Gamba Society of America’s Gamba Gamut. He has released Tommaso Giordani’s Cello Duos (Centaur Records, 2020) and 11 Capricci by Joseph Dall’Abaco (Centaur Records, 2018).

Charlie coaches the viol consort at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater has been on faculty at the Madison Early Music Festival. Charlie serves on the board of directors of Early Music Now and helps coordinate the Milwaukee Early Music series.

Charlie is a cello faculty member and the Suzuki Area Chair at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee. He holds degrees from Luther College (Decorah, Iowa) and the University of North Carolina Greensboro. He has attended the American Bach Soloists Academy.