Carnegie Hall

Founded in 2021, Twelfth Night is a refreshingly new period ensemble led by keyboardist David Belkovski and violinist Rachell Ellen Wong, driven by their belief that art is best explored as a meeting place of the past, present, and future.

Inspired by Shakespeare’s play of the same name, the ensemble invokes a spirit of boundless revelry, celebration, and community in its programming. Based in New York City, Mr. Belkovski and Ms. Wong are regarded as key young representatives of early music: Ms. Wong is the only Baroque artist to receive an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and Mr. Belkovski is the first recipient in the field of early music to receive the Levinson Arts Achievement Award. Twelfth Night has been hosted in concert series across the country, including Arizona Early Music, Chatham Baroque, ChamberFest Brown County, Music Before 1800, and Apex Concerts. In 2023, it was the only historical performance ensemble to be featured at Chamber Music America’s national conference showcase. This year, Mr. Belkovski and Ms. Wong debuted with Miami’s New World Symphony, directing the ensemble’s first exploration of period instruments. Future concerts include recitals for Early Music Seattle and the Heifetz International Music Institute, as well as appearances at Chamber Music Society of Logan, Friends of Chamber Music Kansas City, and Cal Performances at UC Berkeley.

Mr. Belkovski and Ms. Wong met as students in the historical performance division of The Juilliard School. Endless hours rehearsing and performing together confirmed a special musical chemistry and shared vision, inspiring them to dream up an ensemble for the 21st century. Through Twelfth Night, they are eager to position historical performance as an integral part of all performance.

Violinist Rachell Ellen Wong made history in 2020 when she was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, becoming the only Baroque artist to receive the honor. Her exceptional blend of technical virtuosity on gut strings, expressive musicianship, and understanding of period performance practices have garnered international critical acclaim and a dedicated following. With performances across five continents, she has established herself as one of the leading historical performers of her generation, collaborating with esteemed ensembles such as the Academy of Ancient Music, Jupiter Ensemble, Bach Collegium Japan, The English Concert, and Les Arts Florissants, among others. Equally accomplished on the modern violin, she made her first public appearance with Philharmonia Northwest at age 11 and has since performed as a soloist with orchestras such as Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Panamá and the Seattle Symphony. Currently, she serves as concertmaster of the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, and is on faculty at the Valley of the Moon Music Festival in Sonoma.

Notable appearances from her 2023–2024 season include performances with the New World Symphony, Camerata Pacifica, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Ilumina Festival in São Paulo, Reno Chamber Orchestra, Northwest Sinfonietta, and Rome Chamber Music Festival.

Alongside the exceptional conductor and keyboardist David Belkovski, Ms. Wong is co-founder of Twelfth Night. Among her many awards, she was the Grand Prize winner of the inaugural Lillian and Maurice Barbash J. S. Bach Competition. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, she lives in New York City with her husband and two bunnies. Ms. Wong performs on a Baroque violin from the school of Joachim Tielke ca. 1700, and a violin made in 1953 by Carlo de March. For more information about Ms. Wong, please visit her website at rachellwong.com.

Born in Skopje, Macedonia, David Belkovski’s journey as a musician has taken him from early ventures into Balkan folk music to the vibrant beginnings of a career as conductor, soloist, and continuo player. Performing regularly on harpsichord, fortepiano, and modern piano, Mr. Belkovski has been awarded first prize in several international and national competitions, including the 2019 Sfzp International Fortepiano Competition, earning him praise for his artistry on both historical and modern keyboards.

Quickly establishing himself as one of early music’s most exciting young directors, Mr. Belkovski has conducted notable orchestras from behind the harpsichord. He holds the position of assistant conductor of Philarmonia Baroque Orchestra, making his opera conducting debut with the ensemble in 2022. In early 2024, he conducted the New World Symphony in the renowned orchestra’s first exploration of period instruments. He will join Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in the summer of 2024 as assistant conductor with Ensemble Pygmalion and Raphaël Pichon for a world premiere of Rameau’s Samson.

Along with international prize-winning violinist Rachell Ellen Wong, he founded Twelfth Night, a period-instrument ensemble based in New York City. In addition to performing, his compositions include commissions by Juilliard415. As an instructor, he coaches vocalists at The Juilliard School and teaches courses and workshops on subjects ranging from continuo performance to historical pedagogy. He is the recipient of the Robert A. and Patricia S. Levinson Award, the first to receive the fellowship in the field of early music.

As the first prize winner at Operalia 2023 and grand winner of the 2022 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, Julie Roset has quickly established herself as one of the finest coloratura sopranos of her generation.

Performance highlights of Ms. Roset’s 2023–2024 season include her debut at Opéra national de Paris as Amour in a new staging by David McVicar of Charpentier’s Médée under William Christie, a European concert tour of Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Ensemble Pygmalion and Raphaël Pichon, and a staged version of Die Schöpfung at Opéra national de Lorraine with Marta Gardolińska.

Her previous operatic highlights include Zémire in Zémire et Azor at Opéra Comique under Louis Langrée; Valletto and Amore at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in Ted Huffman’s inspired staging of L’incoronazione di Poppea under the baton of Leonardo García Alarcón; Euridice and La Musica in Sasha Waltz & Guests’s acclaimed production of L’Orfeo at Teatro Real Madrid; and Amore in L’incoronazione di Poppea at Opéra national du Rhin under Mr. Pichon.

Ms. Roset is in high demand as a concert performer, with recent debuts including concert performances of Il re pastore at the Salzburg Festival with Ádám Fischer and the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Christmas Oratorio with Ottavio Dantone and Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Haydn’s La Création with Julien Chauvin and Le Concert de la Loge at Festival de Saint-Denis, and Acis and Galatea with Mr. Alarcón and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.

Ms. Roset can be heard in her solo recording of works by Handel entitled Salve Regina with Millenium Orchestra. Other recent recordings include Sigismondo d’India’s Lamenti e Sospiri with Capella Mediterranea, Brabant with Holland Baroque, and Dido and Aeneas with Les Argonautes. Her trio La Néréide’s debut album, Il Concerto Segreto, was released in 2023 to great critical acclaim. She began her vocal studies at an early age, joining the Conservatoire du Grand Avignon and going on to graduate with honors from the Haute École de Musique de Genève in 2019. She was awarded her artist diploma in opera studies from The Juilliard School in 2022.

Australian Xenia Puskarz Thomas made her debut as vocal soloist at age 16 on a national tour with Queensland Youth Orchestras, going on to further her studies at Queensland Conservatorium, graduating with first-class honors, and receiving the University Medal for Academic Achievement. Subsequently graduating from The Juilliard School in 2022, this talented young mezzo-soprano is currently a member of the Opernstudio of the Bayerische Staatsoper.

On the Munich stage, her roles in the 2022–2023 season included Melanto/Minerva in Il Ritorno / The Year of Magical Thinking; Sandmann in Hansel and Gretel; Rabe in Der Mondbär; Der Küchenjunge in Rusalka; and Dackel/Specht in The Cunning Little Vixen. Ms. Thomas has collaborated with conductors including Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Henrik Nánási, Titus Engel, and Christopher Moulds. In addition to her operatic roles, Ms. Thomas has enjoyed several concert performances around Germany and Italy with the Opernstudio, including soloist in Elijah by Felix Mendelssohn, with Duncan Ward and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra; and soloist in W. A. Mozart’s Requiem and L. Mozart’s Missa Solemnis, together with players of the Bavarian State Orchestra.

This season, she performs the roles Mercédès in Carmen conducted by Daniele Rustioni, Zweite Dame in August Everding’s historic production of The Magic Flute, Puck in Max und die Superheldinnen, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, Blumenmädchen in Pierre Audi’s production of Parsifal, Flora in La Traviata conducted by Francesco Lanzillotta, and Servia in Respighi’s Lucrezia. Ms. Thomas will make her debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2024 as Aglaja in Krzysztof Warlikowski’s new production of Mieczysław Weinberg’s The Idiot, conducted by Ms. Gražinytė-Tyla.

Ms. Thomas returns this year to perform with New York–based early music ensemble Twelfth Night. Previous collaborations include Fillide (Aminta e Fillide) as part of the Music Before 1800 concert series.