EarlyMusicNews.Org

Because of its technological developments, the 19th century can be called revolutionary for brass players, with innovations in instrument building taking on never-before-seen proportions.

During this new laboratory, the instructors will acquaint (pre) professional musicians with particular playing techniques, instruments and the 19th-century repertoire including some lesser-known works. You’ll play the instruments coached by the following members of the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées: Alain De Rudder, Luc Bergé, Wim Becu and Marc Girardot. A19th-century instrument can be borrowed for the duration of the lab.

Works by Jean François Victor Bellon, Antoine Simon, Félicien-César David, … will be performed.

Michael Praetorius (1571-1621) is best known for his treatise Syntagma Musicum. Yet he was also an especially prolific composer. Praetorius’s repertoire deserves wider recognition, not only because of its polychoral writing and colourful instrumentation, but also for its expressive content.

The annual winds course (Gabrieli workshop) will this year be directed by Wim Becu, Adam Woolf and Judith Pacquier. They explore the so-called ‘polychoral style’ in 17-century Portugal. Works by Frei Manuel Cardoso, Antonio Carreira and Joao Lourenço Rebelo will be performed.

Cellists William Skeen, Michael Lawson, and John Lutterman will perform the Cello Suites of Johann Sebastian Bach on Saturday, January 23, 2010, at 8 p.m. (Suites 1-3) and Sunday, January 24, 2010, at 3 p.m., at historic St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Sacramento. Both concerts will be . ..

“Some lucky composers attract scholars of such assiduity of purpose that their names become linked from then on: one thinks of Henry-Louis de La Grange's work on Mahler or David Cairns' on Berlioz. That Joseph Haydn is now universally accepted as one of the great composers is down largely to the spadework of H. C. Robbins Landon – the music had long since slipped from view when he first began the pioneering research which would restore the reputation Haydn had enjoyed in his own lifetime.

(NL) Lute lessons on YouTube -- David van Ooijen, lutenist.

David Van Ooijen advises those interested that more lute lessons have been added to his YouTube website.

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Ever since the onset of Mad Cow Disease (BSE), we have done our best to maintain our business activity. Unfortunately, however, despite all our efforts, we must inform you that SOFRACOB will terminate its business at the end of February 2010.
We recommend that you purchase some inventory before our closing, but we must receive your order no later than late January.

“I am happy to annouce that our next concert, featuring maestro Roberto Gini
(italy) on the viola da gamba, myself on the recorder, Nitai Zori on the
baroque violin and Miri Singer on the harpsichord, shall be broadcasted live
on the internet on Monday, January 11th, at  17:00 - Israeli time...

Integrated Repository of Musical Resources at the Research Institute for Digital Media and Content (DMC), Keio University

In Japan, there are many unavailable collections of musical sources (musical notes, books on music, etc.). Of primary consideration is the Nanki Music Library, founded by Marquis Yorisada Tokugawa (1892-1954) in Azabu-Iikura, Tokyo in 1918, which includes autographs of Beethoven, Liszt, and other composers. The Nanki Music Library was the first public musical library in Japan and actively collected many rare musical sources from throughout the world, such as the bibliotheca of William Hayman Cummings (1831-1915), a British music educator. The Library was closed to the public in 1931 due to financial difficulty of the Tokugawa family; nevertheless, international attention has remained focused on the collection.

Summer School of Early Music is an Early Music course targeting the historically informed performance mainly of Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Music. Some of the recorder classes concentrate on contemporary, world and folk music.

The workshop takes place every July in beautiful South Bohemian town Prachatice (130 km south from Prague, 200 km north-west of Vienna). In 2010 we will be there for the 12th time, until 1998 the course took place in Bechyně.

“Unicorn Music of Bloomington, Indiana will host a recorder consort workshop led by Han Tol during the weekend of April 9-11th th for upper-intermediate to advanced players who wish to play 4, 5, and 6-part music on matched consorts, one or two-to-a-part. 

“This recording project features a selection of our favorite lute-songs and airs of John Dowland and his comtemporaries. For us it represents the culmination of years of studying and performing this very same repertoire until we finally felt ready to record it and make it comercially available.

“St. Paul, Minn. — The five 'summiteers' have been studying with and teaching one another for 20 years or so. They get along pretty well in spite of having worked all over the globe and developed some very specific ideas on how the lute is to be played best.

Visit this YouTube site (Stuart Walsh) for a short video clip on the Greenwich Festival of Nov. 2009.

Early Music Exhibition 14 Nov 2009

Sunday, January 31, 2010, 18:30 - free admission
Santuario Madonna della Quercia
Location La Quercia (Viterbo)
Sacred music of the Venetian '600

Cristina Paolucci, soprano
Schinaia Joseph, organ

Program:
Girolamo Frescobaldi - Selection from the Mass of Our Lady (Fiori Musicali, 1635)
Francesco Cavalli - O quam suavis et decora, motet for solo voice and bc (1645)
Barbara Strozzi - Salve Regina, antiphon for soprano and bc (1655)
Natale Monferrato - Exaltabo te Deus, Glorious Mary, two motets for solo voice and bc (ca. 1650)

“The colloquium on Ben Johnston and the American Just Microtonal Tradition seeks a  wide range of approaches to the music of Ben Johnston and composers closely associated with him.  Analyses of specific works, broader discussions of Johnston's career and output, papers focusing on issues of performance practice, and historical/philosophical discussions of the American just microtonal tradition are all welcome areas of focus.

“Mark Brown talks to Geoff Smith, whose reinvention of the piano allows players to alter the tuning of notes either before or during a performance Link to this video

For a non-pianist, the idea of a microtonally fluid piano might seem either no big deal or baffling. But this weekend a composer will reveal the result of a 10-year mission – nothing less than the reinvention of one of the most important instruments in western music.

“The building of keyboard instruments began over 300 years ago. The development started with the organ and the Harpsichord, continued through the pianoforte, and reached its high point with what today is known as the modern grand piano - which remains until now virtually unchanged. (The Golden Years of grand piano construction were between 1825 and 1925).
  

“We're happy to announce the release of our 6th CD, Au Pres de Vous. Recorded in the warm and vibrant acoustic of an old country church, our latest release explores the important marriage of music, poetry and dance tunes of sixteenth century France.

39th Annual
AMIS Meeting
Library of Congress
Washington, DC
May 26 to 29, 2010

“The Library of Congress will host the 39th annual meeting of the American Musical Instrument Society from May 26 to May 29, 2010.

“As the UK’s academy of sciences and the world’s oldest science academy, we want people all over the UK to join with us in celebrating 350 years of scientific achievement and endeavour.