Co-creators Anne Charrier and Ben Kazez met as Britten–Pears Young Artists and first needed a tool like VMII while planning a concert in 2017. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Anne began cataloguing works, and Ben designed and created the site.
Anne Charrier is a flautist performing on both modern and historical instruments. She studied at the Conservatoire Royal of Brussels, Haute Ecole de Musique of Geneva, and Royal Academy in London. She has performed under Philippe Herreweghe, Christophe Coin, Jordi Savall, John Butt, and others at Wigmore Hall, Philharmonie de Paris, Théâtre du Châtelet, and Victoria Hall.
Baritone Ben Kazez has performed as soloist in Europe and the US under Václav Luks, Christian Curnyn, Dame Sarah Connolly, and Mark Padmore. He has sung in Ghislieri Coro e Orchestra (Giulio Prandi) and the Monteverdi Choir (Sir John Eliot Gardiner) at the Salzburg Festival, BBC Proms Royal Albert Hall, Vienna Musikverein, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and Berlin Philharmonie.
VMII has been featured by the music libraries of Brigham Young, Carleton, Juilliard, Oberlin, Queens College, Rider, Roosevelt, Royal Academy of Music (London), Stanford, Tulane, Univ. of California (Berkeley), Univ. of Michigan, Univ. of Minnesota, Univ. of Texas, Wichita State, Wittenberg, and others.
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Thanks to Katie Boardman, Robert Bringhurst, Vijay Chalasani, Pamela Dellal, Colin Donihue, Daniel Kazez, Steve Marquardt, Brian Mason, Catriona McDermid, Packard Humanities Institute, Emma Seibert, Andrew Wong, and everyone else who has helped!