John Lenti is a specialist 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 work with baroque and modern orchestras, chamber music, recitals, and opera. Recent highlights include performances with the Seattle Symphony, the Cincinatti Symphony, and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, recitals with violinists Carrie Krause, Ingrid Matthews, and Monica Huggett, and chamber music with the I-90 Collective, the Dark Horse Consort, and Acronym. In addition, John frequently plays solo house concerts, living rooms being his preferred venues for solo lute repertoire. John is principal lute of Portland Baroque Orchestra, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, and Pacific Baroque Orchestra (Vancouver, BC). Other groups he has played for include the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, Apollo’s Fire, New York Baroque, Inc., the Sebastians, Seraphic Fire, Musica Pacifica, Seattle Opera, and Bach Collegium San Diego. He has played at early and modern music festivals in Boston, Berkeley, Indianapolis, Bloomington, Vancouver, Carmel, the Proms, Aldeburgh, Valletta (Malta), and the San Juan Islands (Washington state). His research interests include the metaphysics of historically informed performance, early English continuo practice, particularly in the music of Matthew Locke, and the lute music of Alfonso Ferrabosco the elder. John holds degrees from North Carolina School of the Arts and Indiana University and studied lute with Nigel North, Jacob Heringman, and Elizabeth Kenny. Crucial help and inspiration have come from Pat O’Brien and Ricardo Cobo. He lives in Seattle.