About Lutenklang
Lutenklang was founded on a simple idea: that music written five or six hundred years ago still has the power to move people today. Whether it’s a courtly love song, a rousing dance, or a moment of quiet contemplation, the emotions in this music haven’t changed. The language and style may belong to another time, but the feelings are still human.
Our ensemble draws on a wide range of instruments and voices: vielles, viola da gamba, sackbut, recorder, crumhorn, rauschpfeife, nyckelharpa, and more, each chosen to match the sounds and styles of each piece we perform. Some of these instruments produce intimate, whispering tones suited to small rooms; others were designed to carry across a church or an open courtyard. Together, they offer a glimpse into a world very different from our own, and yet surprisingly familiar.
We are based in Houston, Texas, and perform in venues around the city.
The Ensemble
Joachim Zwick Artistic Director
Vielle, early violin, nyckelharpa, rauschpfeife, tabor, riqq, tapan, crumhorn, voice
Joachim began studying early music and became a performer in Houston’s Istanpitta early music group in 2006 and (re)joined the Renaissance recreation group Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) in the same year. He has performed early music, taught early music performance/ technique/drumming classes, organized musicians to support social dance and Middle Eastern events in the SCA as a musician for two decades. Joachim has continued studying and performing early music throughout that time, including via workshops with Al Cofrin, Shira Kamen, Stephen Redfield, and Lisa Grodin.
Joachim plays violin and viola professionally and participates in several chamber music workshops throughout the year. He is an Associate Coach for the Kammermusik workshops in Santa Fe, NM and Oxford, UK.
In addition to his roles in Lutenklang and the SCA, Joachim is also a member of the Celtic group Rhubarb Shags, plays Middle Eastern violin for the Crimson Vagabond Roadshows, is a fiddle player for the Houston Area Traditional Dance Society, plays viola in the JAMAT String Quartet, and sings in the Coro Gloria Dei choir.
Chase Collins
Flute, recorder, crumhorn, rauschpfeife, cittern, trumpet, voice
Chase Collins is a professional trumpet and flute performer and scholar specializing in Renaissance and early music. As Lead Herald Trumpeter with the Texas Renaissance Festival, he has performed at 73 weddings and 85 other festival events including jousts and royal parades. His work spans historical instrument research, performance practice, and early music concert programming, including the development of educational materials on fifteenth and sixteenth century repertoire. He holds two graduate degrees from Harvard University and the University of St. Thomas, and participates in the Society of Creative Anachronism.
Chase approaches early music as a practical tradition as much as a historical one. He has designed interactive experiences around Renaissance musical culture, and teaches and performs with an eye toward making the repertoire accessible to new audiences.
Stephen G. Crawford
Sackbut, renaissance guitar, crumhorn, recorder
Conductor, trombonist, and educator Stephen Crawford grew up in Houston and returned after earning degrees from The University of Texas at Austin and Pennsylvania State University. He is Music Director for the Gulf Coast Concert Band, teaches private low brass lessons, guest conducts frequently for a variety of local ensembles, and performs on trombone and early music instruments. He was the Band Director at Houston’s prestigious Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts for 21 years, and served as faculty and lead administrator for summer music programs for youth for more than 15 years including at the Austin Chamber Music Center and Houston Independent School District’s Summer Academy for Scholarship in the Arts. Stephen has been a lifelong fan of both very old and brand new music, with a particular interest in connecting that music to everyone’s lives.
Holly DiClaudio
Voice
Lyric soprano, Holly Thomson DiClaudio, earned her MM from Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University and her BA from California State University, Chico. A seasoned performer, teacher, lecturer, and clinician, she has performed with orchestras, chamber orchestras, and choirs throughout the United States and Europe. As soloist, she has appeared in famous venues such as “The Terrace Theater” at The Kennedy Center, Peabody Conservatory’s Friedberg Hall, and with Washington D.C. Summer Opera. She has been featured as guest soloist with orchestras on the east and west coasts with specific recognition for her “moving interpretation” of Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (her personal favorite). As a member of the DaCamera Singers in Baltimore, Maryland, she performed the Bach Cantanta 140, Fauré’s Requiem, and Knoxville. She was also a Finalist in The American Prize, Professional Art Song Division.
She is owner and operator of a successful full-time voice studio. She was awarded an Independent Teacher Fellowship by the National Association of Teacher’s of Singing. Many of her students have participated in The Governer’s Honors Program, All-State Chorus, ACDA, Solo/Ensemble Festival, UIL, and Regional and State Choirs. Students have successfully auditioned for and been awarded solos with their school choruses, lead roles in their high school musicals, and leading roles in local community theater productions. She has also been nominated as best musical director three years in a row by Tommy Tunes for her work on Nunsense, Little Women, and Godspell at St. Pius X High School. Some of her students have gone on to pursue college degrees in both classical voice and musical theater. In addition to teaching private studio voice lessons, Holly is on faculty at LSC, Tomball and runs the Veritas Vocal Singing Club at St. Pius X High School.
Don Hite
Recorder, rauschpfeife, violin, vielle
Donald Hite is an active music educator and musician in the Friendswood/Clear Lake area. He spends most of his time teaching violin/viola and clarinet/saxophone through his private studio and various schools in Clear Creek ISD. Donald is a strong advocate for the Suzuki Method, holding certifications in violin, viola, recorder and guitar.
While most of his time and efforts are devoted to teaching, Donald also does freelance performance work with various churches and theater groups in his area. He has alway had a fascination with early music and his thrilled to be playing with Lutenklang.
Scott Jernigan
Voice, percussion, recorder
Baritone Scott Jernigan studied voice with Douglas Henshaw, among others, and has performed madrigal and folk music for years as a solo artist and with various groups, including Cantus Precatus, Feral Cocks, and the Celtic band Rhubarb Shags. He led the Houston-area Music Guild for the Society of Creative Anachronism for more than a decade, specializing in Renaissance and Medieval multipart pieces.
Alexa Lietzow
Vielle, early violin
A lifelong musician, Alexa Lietzow has performed in the violin sections of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, and the Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra, where she served as Associate Concertmaster. She also spent a summer studying at the Aspen Music Festival and School. She began her musical life in Houston with violinist Deborah Moran, and later studied with Anne Crowden at University of California, Berkeley and Mitchell Stern at the Manhattan School of Music.
In addition to her orchestral work, Alexa performs as a fiddler with the Houston Area Traditional Dance Society and is currently attempting to learn the banjo. By day, she serves as Artistic & Music Coordinator at Houston Grand Opera, where she creates surtitles and keeps track of an ever-rotating cast of children’s chorus members, supernumeraries, light walkers, and chaperones.Alexa continues to perform regularly, bringing curiosity, collaboration, and a love of musical storytelling to everything she does. She is especially grateful to Joachim and her colleagues in Lutenklang for drawing her into a completely different kind of musical experience!
Jocelyn Derienne Ursua
Viola da gamba (bass viol), voice
Jocelyn Ursua began playing tenor viol in the midst of the pandemic in 2020 while finishing her Medical Doctorate program at McGovern Medical School, studying with Houston-based gambist Pedro Funes-Whittington. Since then, she has taken up the bass viol and treble viol and performs with all three instruments. Jocelyn also has been training her voice as a tenor under Houston-based educator and performer Melissa Krueger, and she contributes her vocals with her ensembles regularly. Jocelyn also has been performing as a member of Houston-based viol consort Les Touches since 2024.
Over the years, Jocelyn has developed her involvement in the viol community of the Greater Houston region not only as the secretary for the Viols of Houston officer board but also as an active coordinator for Les Touches since its most recent revival. Outside of performing, Jocelyn loves singing every week with her choir at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church.
A Note on the Instruments
Many of the instruments Lutenklang performs on are unfamiliar to modern audiences The vielle is an ancestor of the violin, played with a bow and producing a warm, reedy tone. The nyckelharpa is a Swedish keyed fiddle, one of the oldest bowed instruments still in regular use. The rauschpfeife is a loud, buzzing double-reed instrument, somewhere between a shawm and a crumhorn. The sackbut is the Renaissance predecessor to the trombone. The viola da gamba, or bass viol, is held between the legs and has a gentle, resonant voice well suited to intimate music.
We’re happy to show and explain any of these after a concert — just ask.