Mark Rimple has garnered critical notice for his interpretation of early music from national newspapers and journals including the Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, Early Music America, and Early Music (UK).  

 

He was a founding member of the vocal-instrumental ensemble TREFOIL and he appears regularly with viola da gambist Mary Springfels' ensemble Severall Friends (Santa Fe, NM).  He has appeared with The Folger Consort, The Newberry Consort, Piffaro, the Renaissance Band,  The Nota Bene Viol Consort, The King’s Noyse, Les Delices and Blue Heron, Ex Umbris (at the Clinton White House), New York’s Ensemble for Early Music, Mélomanie, Pomerium, Tempesta di Mare, Network for New Music, Seven Times Salt, The Brandywine Singers, Cygnus Ensemble and the GEMS production of The Play of Daniel.  His CD of solo Italian lute music for three different instruments (Tre Liuti, available on CDBaby, ITunes, etc.) received highly favorable reviews.

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Mark principally plays medieval and Renaissance lute, archlute, gittern, citole, psaltery, cittern, and viol.  He is currently working on a recording of solo works for lute and classical guitar (playing without nails).  Before his early music career, he was an accomplished classical guitarist, specializing in new music.  Mark has recorded early and new music as countertenor and lutenist with the Newberry Consort, Trefoil, Seven Times Salt, and Cygnus Ensemble and has performed with The Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra and Curtis Orchestra (on mandolin), The Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra (lute), Network for New Music (lute, guitar, mandolin)  and The Philadelphia Classical Symphony (guitar). 

 

Mark's compositions incorporate early instruments and techniques. His works have been performed and presented by the 21st Century Consort (at the Smithsonian American), Parnassus (at Merkin Hall), Network for New Music, The Temple Faculty New Music Trio, Mélomanie, Duo Del Sol, ChoralArts Philadelphia, Piffaro, The Renaissance Band, The League of Composers/ISCM Chamber Players (at Weill Hall), counter(induction (at the Corcoran New Music Festival), countertenor Drew Minter, baritone Randall Scarlata, Project Resonance (Cellist Eve Miller and baritone Jean Bernard Cerin), tenor Stephen Ng, and pianists Andrew Hauze and Carl Cranmer, among others.   Mark's solo composition CD, January:  Songs and Chamber Music of Mark Rimple including works for archlute, countertenor, electric guitar, viola da gamba and harpsichord, is available from New Focus Recordings.   Violinist Rebecca Harris recorded his Mystic Fragments for Baroque violin with lutenist Richard Stone on her CD A String Mysterious, and his Portrait of a dying empire  is slated to be recorded by saxophonist Marshall Taylor and harpsichordist Joyce Lindorff.  

 

Mark and theorist Alexander Rozin have been working for several years on a new, groundbreaking undergraduate music theory textbook unlike any on the market: A Perceptual Approach to Music Theory (Preview it here).  Mark's writings on the history of music theory have focused largely on the influence of Boethius on 14th – 17th century composers.  His most recent research was on the enigmatic subject of vocal tablature for the Encyclopaedia of Tablature to be published by Brepols for the Centre d'Études Supérieures Project Ricercare.  Mark is a Professor of Music Theory and Composition at The Wells School of Music at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, and is currently serving as President of The Lute Society of America.