Robert Eisenstein, viola da gamba (Amherst, MA) is a founding member and program director of the Folger Consort in Washington, D.C, with which he has toured nationally, recorded extensively, and lectured frequently on its wide ranging repertoire from the middle ages to the baroque. He is the director of the Five College Early Music Program in western Massachusetts, where he teaches music history, performs regularly on viola da gamba, violin, and medieval fiddle, and coordinates and directs student performances of medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music. Robert recently served as Music Director for the Five College Opera Project production of the first opera by a woman composer, Francesca Caccini's La Liberazione di Ruggiero. He has performed with many ensembles including the Washington Bach Consort, the Newberry Consort, the National Symphony, Western Wind, and recently at Tanglewood, Amherst Early Music, and other summer festivals. He studied viola da gamba with Judith Davidoff and Richard Taruskin.