John Lenti specializes in music of the seventeenth century and has made basso continuo improvisation on lute, theorbo, and baroque guitar the cornerstone of a career that encompasses baroque and modern orchestras, chamber music, recitals, and opera. He plays for the Metropolitan Opera, Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, and many other orchestras both modern and baroque. He has recorded, with various ensembles, some nice albums you can find on the various streaming services. His primary artistic influences are Vladimir Horowitz and T.S. Eliot though he doesn’t really write poetry or play the piano and nothing he’s ever done would remind anybody of either of those guys. He studied lute with Nigel North, Jacob Heringman, and Elizabeth Kenny. His favorite authors are Jorge Luis Borges and Nancy Mitford, though he has recently become a devotee of Mona Awad and E. Lily Yu. When John’s not on the road he’s mostly a stay-at-home dad in Seattle. John likes cheap wine, fancy sausage, and mid-level cheese.
