Persons of Quality are 3 talented musicians performing English Country Dance music with enthusiasm and imagination, using a wide array of instruments. Each tune gets a vivid treatment and driving rhythm, which is both wonderful to listen to, and a pleasure to dance to. Persons of Quality first recording Farnicle Huggy, has a companion book containing 18th century tunes and dance reconstructions by Andrew Shaw. Next of Kynaston chooses tunes from Andrew’s earlier collections by the composer Nathaniel Kynaston and his contemporaries. Their latest, Elephants Stairs, is the most recent collection of 18th century tunes and dances reconstructed by Andrew Shaw.
Persons of Quality performed in Florence, Italy in 2013. (photo by Kalia Kliban)
Jon Berger started playing violin in the fourth grade, but didn't find out about folk music until, while working as a stage technician for the Palo Alto Youth Theater Workshop, he was asked to learn some Irish fiddle tunes to play in the background during a production of Brendan Behan's "The Hostage." He has been playing for English, Irish, Scottish, French, and American folk dancers for over 35 years. He toured with Celtic rockers Tempest for two years, and currently plays with Sonoma county Celtic fusion band Greenhouse.
Rebecca King 
is a versatile dance pianist, conductor, and composer, whose strong classical training and love of jazz shows in her rhythmic and lyric piano accompaniments. She plays English and contra dance in the greater San Francisco Bay area and has been on staff at west coast dance camps, weekends, and balls and at Pinewoods. By day, she teaches music in the Sonoma Valley schools. Rebecca can be heard on Cowboy Dancing by Ray Bierl, on BACDS' CD Swinging On The Gate in which she was executive producer, as well as Farnicle Huggy and Next of Kynaston with Persons of Quality. Rebecca recorded a solo piano CD, Nearer & Farther, with a companion book containing the tunes and dances.
Jim Oakden 
started playing piano and clarinet at an early age and stumbled into early music from the classical music scene. After six years performing early music, he discovered the world of traditional and ethnic music. Having diverse tastes, he has played in many bands and performs on an absurd number of instruments, including accordion, mandolin, several styles of bagpipes, recorders, whistle and zurna (to name but a few). A dancer himself, he specializes in playing for dancers in a bunch of bands for ECD, contra, morris, Irish, Breton/French, Greek, and Bulgarian. He has been on staff at myriad dance camps throughout the country. His recordings include three albums with Persons of Quality and five volumes of Impropriety with the band Roguery.
Wrath of Sandy is an English Country Dance written by Sharon Green to a tune by Jonathan Jensen, composed after superstorm Sandy in 2012. The video was taken at Andrew Shaw's Kyndred Spirits Weekend at Halsway Manor, UK, 2016, with Kalia Kliban calling to the music of Persons of Quality