Pear Tree and Partridge
Laura Hairgrove Randall and Mary Vanhoozer are Renaissance women who love to make music, engage in rich conversation, and share the gift of beauty in the everyday through a variety of creative outlets. Their shared passion have led them to Pear Tree and Partridge:
More than simply a music duo, their musical and creative collaboration also represent a way of living.
Pear Tree and Partridge is committed to crafting live music with skill, dedication, and creativity with the aim to create excellent music for the joy, enrichment, and good of their local communities. In addition to concerts, Pear Tree and Partridge also shares blogs, poetry, recipes, and pictures on their website, creating a virtual space for artistic reflection and personal rejuvenation.
Pear Tree and Partridge
Laura Hairgrove Randall and Mary Vanhoozer are Renaissance women who love to make music, engage in rich conversation, and share the gift of beauty in the everyday through a variety of creative outlets. Their shared passion have led them to Pear Tree and Partridge:
More than simply a music duo, their musical and creative collaboration also represent a way of living.
Pear Tree and Partridge is committed to crafting live music with skill, dedication, and creativity with the aim to create excellent music for the joy, enrichment, and good of their local communities. In addition to concerts, Pear Tree and Partridge also shares blogs, poetry, recipes, and pictures on their website, creating a virtual space for artistic reflection and personal rejuvenation.
Pear Tree and Partridge
Laura Hairgrove Randall and Mary Vanhoozer are Renaissance women who love to make music, engage in rich conversation, and share the gift of beauty in the everyday through a variety of creative outlets. Their shared passion have led them to Pear Tree and Partridge:
More than simply a music duo, their musical and creative collaboration also represent a way of living.
Pear Tree and Partridge is committed to crafting live music with skill, dedication, and creativity with the aim to create excellent music for the joy, enrichment, and good of their local communities. In addition to concerts, Pear Tree and Partridge also shares blogs, poetry, recipes, and pictures on their website, creating a virtual space for artistic reflection and personal rejuvenation.
Multi-instrumentalist and melodist
Angelus ad Virginem*
Mary Vanhoozer
Multi-instrumentalist Mary Vanhoozer grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she learned to play the Scottish fiddle and developed an enduring love of folk music. Traditional noëls from southern France played an equally formative role as they introduced her to the hurdy gurdy. Since acquiring her first gurdy, Mary has eagerly continued to research and perform a variety of repertoire on the instrument, from medieval dances to French baroque suites and sonatas. Her published anthology, Playford's Wheel, features 70 English country dance tunes, including second voice parts (her own compositions) transcribed and transposed for the hurdy gurdy. She is a member of the critically acclaimed Ciaramella ensemble. Her hurdy gurdy debut with Ciaramella featured a concert of renaissance dances broadcast live in southern California on KUSC radio.
A versatile performer and melodist, she has produced three albums of original music, each of which feature a combination of piano, violin, hammered dulcimer, and hurdy gurdy. The melodies offer a unique blend of styles and musical traditions significant to her: European folk music traditions, and medieval and renaissance dance music. Bard and Ceilidh, her one-woman studio recording ensemble, is rooted in historical and folk traditions, creating a sound world into which the child in each of us in invited to marvel, rest and enter into creative but serious play.
A passionate educator and hurdy gurdy advocate, Mary curates concerts for educational institutions: her programs contain a variety of repertoire and are accompanied by slides and spoken introductions to musical selections. She also serves as a co-director of the Wheel Song Hurdy Gurdy Festival. ​​
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A dedicated teacher, Mary helps her students gain a deeper love and understanding of music, develop a vision to share live music with local community, and cultivate an appreciation for the craft of performance. She currently teaches piano through the Elmhurst University community music school program. Mary holds degrees in piano performance from Wheaton College Conservatory (B.M.), the Eastman School of Music (M.M.), and the Cleveland Institute of Music (D.M.A).