The Practitioners of Musick will return to Washington Crossing Historic Park for a public performance on April 28, beginning at 7 PM in the Visitor Center.

Admission is free but registration is required. Donations will be gratefully accepted at the door. 

The Practitioners of Musick survey the music of 17th- and 18th-century Great Britain, Ireland and America. This song and dance performance will feature music based upon the surviving inventory of printed music actually owned by various members of the Washington/Custis family and music that was popular among 18th-century Virginia playhouses and concert rooms.

The ensemble has presented or supported scholarly programs under the auspices of the National Park Service, the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, the National Trust of Great Britain, Fund for Irish Studies at Princeton University, Historic Deerfield, Colonial Williamsburg, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Princeton University Art Museum, New York State Historical Association, The Holland Society of New York, New Jersey Historical Society, Princeton University Library, and the Yale Center for British Art amongst many others.

John Burkhalter studied the performance of early music at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston under Daniel Pinkham and the performance of Baroque music at Harvard University under noted Dutch recorder virtuoso, scholar and conductor Frans Bruggen. In addition, he received valuable instruction from the distinguished Swiss Baroque oboist and recorder virtuoso Michel Piguet. Mr. Burkhalter also performs with Le Triomphe de l’amour, Brandywine Baroque, the Princeton University early music group Musica Alta and the recently formed ensemble Les Agrements de musique with harpsichordist Minju Lee. He regularly performs in various English Country Dance Bands in association, most notably, with the Germantown Colonial Assembly of Philadelphia and New York City’s 92nd Street Y.

Donovan Klotzbeacher studied organ at the University of Minnesota under Heinrich Fleischer and continued his musical studies at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. He has performed throughout the Northeast as harpsichordist and appeared in a series of New Jersey Network [NJN] broadcasts featuring period music in 18th century houses and taverns in the state. For many years he has been Director of Music at the historic First Presbyterian Church of Cranbury, NJ. As composer, he has written numerous anthems, service music and cantatas with instruments that have been performed by members of the New Jersey Symphony.