Seattle, WA
John Lenti specializes in music of the seventeenth century and has made basso continuo improvisation on lute, theorbo, and baroque guitar the cornerstone of a career that encompasses baroque and modern orchestras, chamber music, recitals, and opera. He has played for the Metropolitan Opera, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Seattle Symphony, the Seattle Opera, and many other orchestras, both modern and baroque. He has played lots of chamber music with wonderful partners like Monica Huggett, Ingrid Matthews, Arwen Myers, and Carrie Krause. He has made some well-regarded recordings with groups like Acronym, Baroque Music Montana, Musica Pacifica, and Ostraka, and has played with groups of all sizes and kinds at festivals and concert series all over the place. His primary artistic influences are Vladimir Horowitz and T.S. Eliot, though he doesn’t really write poetry or play the piano, and nothing he’s ever done would remind anybody of either of those guys. He studied lute with Nigel North, Jacob Heringman, and Elizabeth Kenny. He comes from South Carolina, got his degrees from the North Carolina School of the Arts and Indiana University, and received crucial help and inspiration to get him through some creative impasses from Ricardo Cobo and Professor Walter Gray. His favorite authors are Jorge Luis Borges and Nancy Mitford, though Mona Awad and E. Lily Yu are knocking his socks off lately. When John’s not on the road, he’s mostly a stay-at-home dad in Seattle. John likes cheap wine, fancy sausage, and mid-level cheese.
