by Carlene Phillips ·
Friday, March 6, 2026
Members of Ensemble Eclectica, from left: Rick McLaughlin, bass; Fabio Pirozzolo, hand percussion; Louise Grasmere, vocals; and Peter Lehman, theorbo and guitar. (Courtesy photo)
The name Eclectica perfectly describes the ensemble performing at Fivesparks Sunday, March 22, at 3 p.m. Harvard resident Louise Grasmere, a vocalist with the quartet, said they play “a fusion of music from the 15th and 16th centuries with 20th-century jazz.”
The result, she said, is “contemplative music, an acoustic kind of sound, perfect for smaller settings.” The instruments are old and unusual ones, like the theorbo, frame drum, and cigar-box guitar, which give familiar songs a whole new sound. The group is interested in showing the commonality and connections among music of different times and genres.
Grasmere has been performing in and around Boston for three decades. She moved to Harvard from Arlington about two years ago with her partner, Linda Shoemaker, manager for a community choir that travels internationally. She is also a photographer and doing publicity for Ensemble Eclectica, securing a grant from the Harvard Cultural Council to help support the upcoming concert.
Making connections
Grasmere described how she got involved with Ensemble Eclectica four years ago. She had known music director Peter Lehman for several years through her music network and said he had a vision to play modern music on an old instrument, “something very hard to do.” “Peter is musically adventurous,” Grasmere said. “He sees musical connections, like the stories of the 1400s and improvisation, like jazz.” He asked Grasmere if she wanted to try this, “this” being “You sing jazz, I play the theorbo.” Grasmere was willing to give it a try.
They needed two more musicians and found Rick McLaughlin, who plays upright bass, either plucking the strings or using a bow, and is “deeply embedded in the jazz world,” said Grasmere. Fabio Pirozzolo is a hand percussionist. Among his instruments are a frame drum, played with fingers; an African clay drum, with a hole in the middle; a cajon, a box drum that you sit on and play with your hands; and cymbals. Grasmere said he has all his instruments on the floor around him, and he chooses from among them according to the song. Lehman plays seven-string guitar as well as the theorbo, which resembles a large lute. “Peter’s head sticks out over the top of it,” said Grasmere with a smile. As well as doing vocals, Grasmere plays the three-string, cigar-box guitar and sings a Lead Belly blues tune from early in the 20th century.
“My life has been singing,” said Grasmere. Her dad played in big bands and the family were singers. She first performed at age 13 in a school play, with folk music and guitar. Later she worked at Brandeis and attended the Longy School of Music in Cambridge. One day her voice teacher asked Grasmere to take over the class for her, and that launched her into a career teaching voice.
Telling a story
In Eclectica, Grasmere does jazz improvisations on music from earlier periods. She said listeners will always recognize the song but may be surprised at the improvs along the way. She gave as an example “Scarborough Fair,” originally a 1670 English folk song where a man is trying to convince a woman he’s the right one for her and she sets him on a series of tests. To bring out the humor they see in the story, the group might improvise by having Grasmere sing the woman’s part and Lehman the man’s words.
In “Reflections” by Thelonious Monk, Grasmere wants “to tell a story not just sing words.” She asks herself, “What do I want to say at this time to these people?” She gives her interpretation through phrasing and intonation—“that’s what’s the most fun.” Abbey Lincoln, singing and composing in the 1940s to 1960s, wrote a jazz song called “Throw It Away,” about giving love. Grasmere has to improvise the world the woman is in—mysterious, dreamy, transporting. In the 15th-century English “Riddle Song” (“I gave my love a cherry ...”), Grasmere starts with the familiar melody and improvises after that, creating an alternative melody against the traditional chords.
“A lot happens in the moment. You get deeply into the song and find your way,” said Grasmere, “but everything must be in service to the song—the improv can’t get too far away.” She said when she’s improvising, she’s always listening to the underlying rhythm and melody; she’s “singing around what was written down. But it has to be cohesive.”
Along the way, “Peter has great patter,” Shoemaker said of the ensemble’s program. He’s a “scholarly type,” said Grasmere, interested in Eclectica’s connections to musicians during the Renaissance, who traveled from one place to another. They would take an old song and start singing it the traditional way and then improvise. That’s what Eclectica is doing—every time the group plays the same song, it will be somewhat different. And they are adding instrumental solos, which were never in the original versions. As “patter,” Lehman will give the history of old folk songs, and he’ll tell the audience why the group chose a particular song and what’s interesting about it.
Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at fivesparks.org