Biography
Harpsichordist
Though specializing in Baroque music, Dr. Bloomfield plays all music styles for harpsichord from the sixteenth through the twenty-first centuries, and frequently performs on her William Dowd French double harpsichord. She is also a permanent member of the chamber group “Suitte Royale,” with fellow members John L. Robinson on tenor recorder and Jim Garafalo on viola da gamba.
Dr. Bloomfield released a CD titled Music from Versailles featuring the Four Suites for Harpsichord by Bernard de Bury. The first known performer of de Bury’s music outside France since the eighteenth century, she has presented the complete volume four times, including as guest artist for Point Loma Nazarene University and Claremont Graduate University, and also for the Iowa City Early Keyboard Society concert series. Dr. Bloomfield released her second CD of Johann Sebastian Bach’s monumental Aria with Thirty Variations (Goldberg Variations). Her performances of the variations have included guest artist appearances at Fresno Pacific University and Claremont Graduate University.
Scholar
Dr. Bloomfield’s edited volume of Four Suites for Harpsichord by Bernard de Bury: Critical Edition was published by The Edwin Mellen Press. She presented a paper called The French Connection: Influence of François Couperin on Bernard de Bury at both the 2014 Sixteenth Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music in Salzburg, Austria, and the 2013 annual conference of the Historical Keyboard Society of North America in Williamsburg, VA.
Educator
Dr. Bloomfield has taught at The Master’s University in Santa Clarita, CA since 1989. Courses she has instructed include: Music Theory: Aural Skills (four-semester sequence); Essentials of Music and Art (general education course); Music Components and Techniques (music education course); Arts in Culture: Music, Film, Art (humanities course); and Harpsichord Individual Instruction. Dr. Bloomfield is known for her energetic teaching style.
Background
After receiving a B.M. in Music History and Literature and Harpsichord Performance at Bowling Green State University (Ohio), Dr. Bloomfield completed a M.M. degree in Musicology and Harpsichord Performance at Northwestern University (Illinois). She earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Historical Performance Practices at Claremont Graduate University (California), where she studied with Robert Zappulla. Dr. Bloomfield also has participated in ten separate week-long harpsichord workshops at the University of Michigan led by acclaimed recording artist Edward Parmentier.
Performance Ethics
Beauty in the composition and performance of music reflects the beauty and creativity of God. All good things are from God, through God, and ultimately to God. Our world was designed to be a place of beauty and goodness, but was marred and continues to struggle with evil. One day God will restore the world, but in the meantime, beauty and goodness are not totally lost – they still shine through, and point toward the way things will be again.
Psalm 33:3 exhorts, “sing to Him a new song; play skillfully with a shout of joy.” Dr. Bloomfield’s goal is to be a blessing to others by skillfully playing beautiful music. Like Bach, her aim in music making is “none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.” Soli Deo Gloria.
