Mary Bruesch holds a Bachelor of Music degree in cello performance from St. Olaf College and has done graduate work in cello, chamber music, and music history at the Universities of Maine and New Mexico. She earned an M.A. in linguistics from UNM, where she currently works in the Fine Arts Library as a music specialist. As a cellist Mary played with number of orchestras including the Nashville Symphony, and has appeared with the New Mexico Symphony on viola da gamba. She has also performed on violone with Albuquerque’s Orchestra of the Duke and at the 2005 American Handel Festival. Her 7-string viol was made by Linda Shortridge of Albuquerque, after a 17 th-century instrument by Michel Collichon, and her bow is by Harry Grabenstein of Williston, Vermont.