John Thiessen, Executive Director
John Thiessen comes to GEMS with an extensive background in arts management, including the Trinity Baroque Orchestra, NOVUS NY and The Music Paradigm. He was previously Executive Director of the American Bach Soloists. As an instrumentalist specializing in music from the 17th–19th centuries, Thiessen has been described by The New York Times as “the gold standard of Baroque trumpet playing in this country”. He has appeared as soloist and principal with Philharmonia Baroque, Tafelmusik, Handel & Haydn Society, and Boston Early Music Festival. Thiessen has recorded over 80 commercial CD’s for Sony Classical, BMG, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, London Decca, Telarc and EMI. He serves on the faculties of Juilliard’s Historical Performance Department, the American Bach Soloists Academy and Montclair State University.
Gene Murrow, Founder and Chairman of the Board
Gene was founder and president of two successful computer companies and has been involved with early music for over 40 years. Following a music degree from Columbia with oboe studies at Juilliard, he toured with the New York Renaissance Band and the Paul Winter Consort. He has coached American Recorder Society Chapters and at early music workshops throughout the United States for over 30 years, and served as ARS President from 1994-2000. A founding member of Early Music America, he has served on the Board of Directors for two terms. Prior to founding GEMS in 2007, he served as General Manager of Early Music/New York in New York City.
Naomi Morse, Director of Marketing
A native of Vermont, Naomi lived in Brooklyn from 2007–2020. She is a graduate of Oberlin College, where she performed frequently with the College's early music vocal ensemble. During 2006, she lived in York, England, where she studied ensemble singing at the University of York with her early music quintet, "Uncloistered." In addition to her professional singing and work at GEMS, Naomi plays the fiddle for traditional contra and English country dances as well as in concert with a number of bands, including The Poor Cousins and Childsplay.
Steven Marquardt, Director of Concert Services, Midtown Concert Manager
Steven Marquardt is an experienced arts administrator and freelance musician in New York City. Steven's breadth of administrative experience includes positions across multiple disciplines at Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Bach Akademie Charlotte, New York Philharmonic, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. As a freelance musician, Steven specializes in Baroque Trumpet and Natural Horn. He performs regularly with Trinity Wall Street, Apollo's Fire, Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity, Sebastian's, and American Classical Orchestra, and made appearances with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Portland Baroque Orchestra, and The English Concert. Steven lives in Morningside Heights with his wife, Marissa, who currently works in Development at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Rachel Givner, Director of Administrative Services
Rachel manages a wide variety of GEMS administrative and financial responsibilities, thoughtfully and with attention to detail. Her professional background includes 20+ years of experience at the New York City Transit Authority in planning, analyst, and management roles. Rachel is an amateur clarinetist who currently plays in folk music ensembles, and who also sang in her high school's Renaissance Choir. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where she played in the wind ensemble and in a Dixieland band. She has a graduate degree from the London School of Economics, where she played in the orchestra.
Rebecca J. Weber, Director of Development
Rebecca, an organizational advisor with more than a decade of experience in strategic capacity building, developing growth opportunities, content marketing, and galvanizing organization-wide campaigns, is driven to guide the sustainable scaling of GEMS’ reach by her strong belief in the organization’s mission to serve artist-led early music projects. A former nonprofit executive director in the social justice sphere, she brings a deeply held commitment to closing the opportunity gap that includes public access to the arts and opportunities for artists. Rebecca graduated from Cornell University with a bachelor’s degree in communication and currently volunteers as co-leader of the Women Career Changers Networking Circle, a group dedicated to helping women help each other.
Dennis Cembalo, Social Media Manager
Dennis is a Brooklyn native who has had a long-standing appreciation of early music. As a frequent concert-goer, he has become well acquainted with musicians and venues throughout the city. Dennis studied Architecture Technology at the CUNY City Tech, but his studies have now turned toward the keyboard. He is an avid harpsichord enthusiast seeking proficiency with the instrument and its repertoire. Dennis' goal within GEMS is to strengthen the connection between early musicians and their audience as well as expose new audiences to the art form.
Paul Ross, Past Board President and Media Guru
Following a career in publishing, Paul joined GEMS to design and implement effective scheduling and management systems for our organization. For 14 years, he was Managing Editor of Ziff-Davis's PC Magazine, where he coordinated the efforts of some 40 professionals in writing, editorial, design, and printing to ensure that the magazine reached newsstands and subscribers on time, twice a month.
Wendy Redlinger, GEMS Live! Artist Representative for Special Projects
Wendy enjoyed a successful career at Vermont-based World Learning and its School for International Training overseeing language instructional programs abroad and negotiating with organizations around the world for placement of ESL teachers. Fluent in English, Spanish, German, Nepalese, and conversant in French, she began her career as a booking agent by representing the medieval duo Asteria following their win of the 2004 EMA Medieval/Renaissance competition (her son, Eric, was half the duo). From 2006 to 2013, she was booking a roster of New York-based early music groups for GEMS Live! which at one point includes 14 ensembles. From 2013 to 2018, Wendy led Road Scholar educational travel tours to Cuba. In 2015 Wendy started booking U.S. tours for the Cuban early music ensemble, Ars Longa, which have taken place in the spring of 2017 through 2020. She continues to represent Ars Longa for U.S. touring in spring 2021 and beyond. Wendy holds a B. Mus. degree in piano performance, and has been performing on portativ organ and harpsichord since 1991, first in a duo with the late Edmund Brelsford and later with local southern Vermont baroque ensembles, where she lives.