Album Notes

DREAM SPIRIT BAROQUE BAND
Dream Spirit Baroque Band performs light-hearted music in a variety of styles from many different cultures and eras: Celtic, classical, folk, Renaissance, pop. The group plays an original mix of instruments: violin, cello, hammer dulcimer, recorder, and guitar. Because of their unique instrumentation, all their arrangements are original. Their sound has been described as “hip” chamber music.

Dream Spirit has been playing together for seven years. The band performs at local coffeehouses, art show openings, community events, and public concerts as well as private parties, weddings and celebrations. Performers are Jack Shipley, hammer dulcimer (sounds like a harpsichord) and recorder; Jon Smart guitar; Suzanne Stone, cello; and Diana Woodbury, violin.

Hammer dulcimer and recorder player, Jack Shipley spent many years as a historian and park ranger, playing folk songs at park campfire programs. One thing led to another and now Shipley spends most of his time performing and arranging traditional American, Celtic and baroque music. He is one of the very few hammer dulcimer experts in the Eastern Sierra.

Guitarist, John Smart plays in many styles from classical to folk and beyond. He teaches guitar at Lake Tahoe Community College and the Tahoe Conservatory of Music. He is much in demand as a performer throughout the Tahoe Basin.

Cellist, Suzanne Stone secretly admired the cello for many years before playing it. Instead her musical career began at age four with the piano. She is a founding member of Sierra Strings of Tahoe, a group that has performed in the Tahoe Basin for 20 years.

Violinist Diana Woodbury started playing violin at age eight. She studied with Zaven Melikian, concert master of the San Francisco Symphony. Then she put her violin aside for many years while she danced professionally all over the world. Now she devotes her enthusiasm to Dream Spirit Baroque Band