2026 Coach Bios

Teresa Deskur

Alexa Raine-Wright

Known for her spirited and luminous sound, Baroque flute and recorder player Alexa Raine-Wright shares her eloquent interpretations with audiences across North America in solo, chamber and orchestral performances. Born in Ithaca, NY (USA), Alexa maintains an active career based in Montreal, QC (Canada).

Winner of several national and international competitions, Alexa was most recently awarded the Grand Prize as well as the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra Prize at the 2016 Indianapolis International Baroque Competition. She also won First Prize at the 2015 National Flute Association’s Baroque Flute Artist Competition (Washington, DC), Second Prize at the 2015 Mathieu-Duguay Early Music Competition (Lamèque, NB), the Most Touching Performance Award at the 2009 Montreal International Recorder Competition, and First Prize in the 2007 Piffaro Competition for Young Recorder Players (Philadelphia, PA).


Alexa is a founding member of the ensemble Infusion Baroque, winner of the Grand Prize and Audience Prize at the 2014 Early Music America Baroque Performance Competition in Chicago. She is also a member of the celebrated recorder quartet Flûte Alors!, and has performed with ensembles such as Arion Baroque Orchestra ,Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, Les Boréades, Clavecin en concert, Apollo’s Fire, The Boston Camerata, Ensemble Caprice, I Musici and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She has performed in music festivals across North America including the Montreal Baroque Festival, Montreal Bach Festival, Montreal Chamber Music Festival, Boston Early Music Festival, and Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Alexa can be heard on recordings with Arion Baroque Orchestra, Infusion Baroque, Flûte Alors! and La Bande Montréal Baroque. Her debut album, “Platti: Flute Sonatas Op. 3” was released in 2019.


Alexa is a graduate of McGill University in Montreal, where she studied with Claire Guimond (baroque flute) and Matthias Maute (recorder). She also studied with Cléa Galhano and Barbara Kaufmann (recorder), as well as Immanuel Davis and Beth Kelly (baroque flute).

Phil Hollar

Phil Hollar teaches recorder in Hickory, North Carolina. He is a frequent faculty member at workshops including Mountain Collegium Early Music and Folk Music Workshop, the Atlanta  Mid-Winter Workshop, and the Triangle Recorder Society’s Spring Early Music Workshop. Phil has extensive experience leading American Recorder Society chapter playing sessions and has been invited to lead sessions nationwide. He served two terms as a board member for the American Recorder Society where he chaired the Play the Recorder Day Task Force and hosted the Chapter Rep Round Table discussions. Phil holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Christine Rua

Chris Rua performs on a wide range of instruments including recorders, oboe, bagpipe, Renaissance reeds, percussion and as a vocalist. She has performed with the Quadrivium, the Utah Shakespeare Festival, Libana, the Christmas Revels, Early Music New York, Piffaro, and Ex Umbris. She has taught at numerous Early Music and Dance workshops including Early Music Week at Pinewoods, of which she directed for three years, World Fellowship Early Music Week and at the Westminster Choir College, The Mideast Early Music Workshop, Mountain Collegium and at various American Recorder Workshops.  She has played for English Country dancing from California to England, with Bare Necessities, for ECD Balls and at other dance weeks including the Berea Christmas Week, Buffalo Gap and English American Week at Pinewoods. Having completed a 10 year tour with Cirque du Soleil she now lives in Vermont performing, Baroque music, teaching and coaching ensembles at Seven Star Arts in Sharon VT and the Upper Valley Music Center in Lebanon NH. Chris’ most recent project is a live radio show called “Star Radio Hour” which she created and directs in Sharon, VT.  This old timey radio show incorporates local talent and highlights a swing band, close harmony singers, poets, storytellers and fun ads from local sponsors. of North Carolina at Greensboro.