EarlyMusicNews.Org

“Take your chance to launch your career! As a vocal and/or instrumental ensemble playing on historically authentic instruments you can participate in the International Young Artist's Presentation. If you are selected, you will be awarded with 2 days of coaching sessions by Jill Feldman and offered a stage during the early music festival Laus Polyphoniae 2012.”
                     

Location: Marseilles, France

"Passion(s) et débordements" (Passions and Excesses) are on the agenda of the tenth Festival "Mars en Baroque", unmissable event for lovers of music and art. For this special edition, it was indeed an exceptional theme.

The "extraordinary" has attracted many artists of the Baroque era, fascinated by the delicate balance point where the excess tipped the reason of man. The spectators will feel this dizzying attraction on a day of "excess" Italian. They will be able to hear three composers, Domenico Scarlatti, Arcangelo Corelli and Carlo Gesualdo, whose music has never ceased to amaze with their novelty. ...”
                    

“[SEATTLE, WA]-Early Music America will sponsor a new Baroque Performance Competition in 2012 for the purpose of encouraging the development of emerging ensembles in the performance of Baroque music. “
                         

“Each Boston Early Music Festival concert season offers a new opportunity to experience the most legendary, the most daring, and the most extraordinary musicians performing today. Join us for the 2012–2013 Concert Series and create musical memories to last a lifetime.”
               

The latest Lufthansa Festival 2012 newsletter is out. Of particular interest is that the festival now tweets! So, if you are interested in keeping up at the “bleeding edge” of information regarding the Lufthansa Festival 2012, add them to your tweet favourites!

“YOU CAN NOW FOLLOW US... Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music now tweets!  With something like 300 million tweeters worldwide, we reckon there must be at least a few Baroque aficionados among them, so please do follow us ;@lufthansafest.  We aim to be dedicated followers of the like-minded. …
      

Location:  Christ the King Lutheran Church, 2353 Rice Boulevard at Greenbriar, Houston TX, US

“The Bach Society (Houston)’s Organ Recital series presents Kimberly Marshall (University of Arizona) in a celebration of German liturgical organ music, with works by J.S. Bach, Schlick, Brahms, Scheidemann, and Bruhns on the Bach Organ (Noack, 1995) at Christ the King Lutheran Church.
           

Available from eClassical in FLAC 24, FLAC16 and MP3

BIS's Boss Robert von Bahr:
This is a very, very special release. The release date coincides with the passing of exactly one year since the terrible disaster in Japan. It was Masaaki Suzuki's idea to release this compilation in order to give solace to the victims of this disaster - the music has been especially chosen for this purpose, including some newly recorded material - and also to contribute to their physical well-being: all the royalties are going to the Tohoku Relief Foundation and BIS are matching that, penny for penny.
                     

“The second English Concert Master Class for young harpsichordist-directors will take place in June 2012 at the Foundling Museum in London.
              

ArkivMusic holds regularly held weekend specials of its CD holdings. You may be interested in adding the site on your links of early music sites as some of its sale items may be of interest to you. This weekend has its 2-disc set of the J.C. Bach: Milanese Vesper Psalms/Concerto Köln on sale.
                 

“This is the performing and recording arm of Southampton University's Cantum Pulcriorem Invenire research project: 13th Century Music & Poetry, funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council, begun in October 2010.

The outcomes of the project include a series of three CDs, Conductus I, II & III (appropriately subtitled) which will be released by Hyperion from July 2012 onwards, sung by John Potter, Christopher O'Gorman and Rogers Covey-Crump. The live version of the project is initially for two tenors (John Potter & Christopher O'Gorman) with a specially commissioned video by Michael Lynch, to be launched at the York Early Music Festival in 2012.
      

In these two Mignarda blog posts, Ron & Don lay tribute to John Milton Ward who recently passed away on December 21, 2012. 

“… The world of the lute has attracted people who share in common a fascination with trivial details concerning the geometry of the instrument, specialized playing techniques, string materials and the surviving historical sources of lute music.  For the latter, we should all bow down and thank the brilliant 20th century scholars who have spent endless hours researching, analyzing, and codifying this surviving music in order to make it available to those of us who are inclined, with many drops of sweat, to reconstitute the dessicated old manuscript pages back into living, breathing music. …” (21 jan 2012, blog post)
                

Recent news from the Ars & Amici group.

“Ars & Amici will visit the Dolomites and Venice, April 11-23, 2012.  In addition to singing masses and presenting concerts, we will enjoy Nature’s beauty in the mountains and valleys of the Trentino/Alto-Adige region, the glories of Venice, and fine art and food at many stops along the way.

Music by Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Priuli, Marenzio, Banchieri, Croce, Canale & other composers connected to the Veneto.

Location: St. Benedict Education Center, Seitenstetten Austria

“A varied Biedermeier dance program, a new piece for the historical wardrobe, recreation in the countryside - all in just one long weekend!

The course content of the following dances are planned: “Quadrille, Ecossaise, Tempete, Ländler, Walzer, Contredanse, Francaise, Hops-Anglaise, Contre-Ecossaise, Figouraise”. The course is suitable for beginners but also for the advanced …” Instructor: Pia Brocza
                    

“It will be some weeks before all concerts and workshops are confirmed for this year’s festival, but we can say that the performers will include baroque violinist, Maya Homburger and Ensemble Meridiana who will be “in residence” for the whole of the festival.

Maya Homburger has performed a number of times in earlier Sligo Baroque Festivals, always displaying a remarkable grasp of Baroque musical architecture and an assured technique, always memorably. She is one of the great Baroque violinists of our time. Maya will be playing Bach, the A minor sonata and D minor Partita in a solo recital, and in a trio programme the details of which await confirmation.
                

(Re-posted with updated information. -- Editor)

“One of the Piccola Accademia’s most important activities is to provide students and recent graduates with exceptional master classes in harpsichord performance. The combination of our instrument collection, the quality of teaching at the Piccola Accademia, superb acoustics and the quiet and relaxed nature of life in the Tuscan countryside, creates a special environment in which to study and be inspired.

The Summer 2012 Masterclasses will be given by:

• July 10-15 -- Menno van Delft
• July 17-22 -- Christophe Rousset
• July 24-29 -- Pierre Hantai / Skip Sempe
• August 14-19 -- Ketil Haugsand
• August 21-26 -- Bob van Asperen
       
  

(This is a re-post from an article on February 26 2012 -- Editor)

“What....HENRY'S Messiah?

You read that right. Handel wasn't the only one to set those familiar texts to music. Henry Purcell beat him to it, and you can hear these remarkable settings on March 11. 
                        

“We are pleased to announce that Philippa Waite will be joining with Andrew Wilson-Dickson to lead a workshop on the dances and choruses in Henry Purcell's "The Fairy Queen" for the Border Marches Early Music Forum.  The workshop welcomes singers, instrumentalists and dancers, and there will be segments where musicians can learn some Baroque dance steps.
                                   

EarlyMusicNews.org Weblinks Revisited

“The Practitioners of Musick ensemble, founded by John Burkhalter and the late Professor Eugene Roan (1931 - 2006) to survey the musical riches of 18th century Great Britain - Ireland & both the Colonial and early Federal periods in America. Recent research, has also focused attention on musical life in New-France before the Fall of Quebec in 1759. 
                         

Without a care: Music from Sans Souci

Location:  The New Church, 114 East 35th Street, New York NY, US

“Of all the works on our program, Johann Gottlieb Graun’s Trio in G for flute, violin and continuo meets our expectations for the delight and vitality we have come to expect from rococo music. Johann Graun (1703-1771), student of Tartini, teacher of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, and admired by Johann Sebastian Bach has left unexplored chamber music delights and this work will make you want to know more. How fine that he gives the cellist rococo riffs that respond to the flute and violin. Here there is lyricism and sparkle that reminds us of the silver and gold that shimmers by candlelight or sunlight in every room at Sans Souci. And yet, all the embellished charm is supported by excellent counterpoint. No wonder Johann Sebastian sent his favorite son for lessons with this modern master. …”
                               

Festival held in Cremona celebrating Claudio Monteverdi. If you are in the region, you may be interested in attending one of the concerts on the concert listings below --
                  

EarlyMusicNews.org Weblinks Revisited

“The Elyma Ensemble is made up of singers and instrumentialists specialising in Latin music of the Renaissance and the Baroque period, and has long been active in the rediscovery of early Latin American music. It has also gained international recognition for its interpretation of 17th century italian compositions.
                   
Founded in Geneva in 1981, The Elyma Ensemble continues to be based there and is directed by its founder, Gabriel Garrido ... "
              

“Each year in June, bring the Potsdam Sanssouci Music Festival, waking the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Berlin-Brandenburg from the slumber of centuries.” A festival of international early music groups play in spectacular venues.
                 

“Things are definitely picking up again, as you can see from the March concert calendar -- here's a preview! …

[Read on for the concert dates]
             

La Nuova Musica dir. David Bates with Lucy Crowe (soprano)
Trinity College Chapel

La Nuova Musica is a vocal and instrumental ensemble dedicated to the music of the European Renaissance and Baroque. In less than five years since its foundation by counter-tenor David Bates, it has shot to prominence in the UK and abroad.