John Hillenbrand

1950 - 2025

John Steven Hillenbrand, connoisseur, musicologist, artist, bon vivant, and a longtime member and founder of The Goliards, passed away recently in Savannah, Georgia, where he had lived since 2005. Born in 1949 in Bremen, Germany, he also lived in France and Hungary as well as Washington, DC, Athens and Savannah Georgia. His father, Martin Hillenbrand, a diplomat, was the Ambassador to Hungary and Germany, and Secretary of State for European Affairs. He later was the Dean Rusk Professor of International Relations at the University of Georgia. His mother, Faith Stewart Hillenbrand, was an adventurous and sociable diplomatic wife, with a fondness for German Shepherds, good food, and travel.

John was a painter from an early age, and beginning in 1971 exhibited in several galleries in both France, Germany and Savannah, Georgia. He was included in several articles on American art by the critics David Galloway, Raymond Jaker and Axel Behr. He worked for a few years at the Pyramid Galleries, a well known Washington, DC, gallery. After his move to Georgia he took up Medieval music performance and formed The Goliards in 2006.

John was a student of Margriet Tindemans, an internationally known leader in the early music world, at the University of Washington. One of John's most vivid early Medieval music experiences was a music class bus trip that took the Camino route starting in Pamplona, then Burgos, Leon, Astorga, and finally ending in Santiago de Compostela. They would spend the night in monasteries along the way or stay in small villages where the roads were too narrow for their bus. John made the mistake of bringing a large, heavy suitcase and had to haul it over many cobbled stone streets, ensuring that he would in the future pack with more consideration.

John took great delight in the intellectual challenges that came with performing early music, and personally wrote all the scores for the Goliard concerts which also involved a certain amount of translation from Old French. In addition to transposing music, John made several musical instruments including a vielle, a Medieval fiddle.

John will be greatly missed by his sister, Ruth Quinet, of Seattle, WA, her husband, David Stang of Washington, DC, her son, Derrick Quinet (his two daughters) of Santiago, Chile, and his nephews Stuart Hillenbrand of Frederick, MD (his wife and two sons) and Joseph Hillenbrand of Fairplay, CO (his wife). His brother, David Hillenbrand, pre-deceased him in 2019.