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Sunday, November 1

VdGSNE Fall Workshop: Josquin’s Bow
Jane Hershey, instructor
Franco-Flemish polyphony is known for the richness and variety of its rhythms, especially as the voices weave together at the cadences. Using Josquin’s trio chanson ‘A l’ombre d’ung buissonet au matin,’ we will look carefully at how bow direction can be used to emphasize the sub-groups of twos and threes found throughout this music - a useful technique applicable to all our standard consort repertoire. We will shape these cadential patterns to bring out the cross-rhythms and dissonances among the voices. We will work through each voice of the chanson, and you can play any of the lines against various parts. For beginner-high intermediate gamba players. Music and prep materials will be available in advance.
10:30-11:45 - online via Zoom. Registration Deadline October 15
$15 suggested donation

www.vdgsne.org. For more information contact Anne Legêne, alegene@simonsrock.edu  

VdGSNE Fall Workshop: Tidying Up
Sarah Mead, instructor
Consort music can sometimes trip us up in its rhythmic tangles and awkward leaps. Learn how to sort out the musical strands and tidy up the bowing problems for a cleaner, neater consort. Is there a tricky bit that has slowed down your consort in the past? Sarah will be soliciting your input ahead of time. We'll look at your suggestions, as well as common problem passages. All sizes of gamba and all levels of experience are welcome.
1:15-2:30pm - online via Zoom. Registration Deadline October 15
​$15 suggested donation
www.vdgsne.org. For more information contact Anne Legêne, alegene@simonsrock.edu  

Saturday, November 7

Amherst Early Music Online - Exploring Susato's Dansereye (1551)  
James Howard Young, instructor
Pick a part and play along with selections from Tielman Susato’s 1551 dance collection Dansereye. We’ll be working from the complete edition that has been revised and edited by the instructor in September, 2020, specifically with ensemble play-alongs in mind. We use modern clefs and notation and every participant has access to full quality ensemble part audio that will run interactively on any browser without additional software. I’ll be addressing potential problems that can come up and working on things like articulation, intonation, ensemble skills, and appropriate ornamentation. Open to: intermediate to upper intermediate ATB recorders and other instruments. Pitch: A=440.
1-2:30pm EST - online course (​link sent to registrants)
​$25 per session

https://www.amherstearlymusic.org/weekend_online_classes
Amherst Early Music Online - Musicalischer Schlissel: 17th-Century Ensemble Music
​Daniel Elyar, instructor
In these challenging times, the great joy and depth of 17th-century ensemble music can bring people together in a unique way. Each individual part in this genre has something worthy to express in concert with the rest. The repertoire for this class will feature a rich array of sonatas and dance music for mixed string consort of 3, 4, 5, and more by Capricornus or Schmelzer, for example. Participants have the opportunity to try several parts if they wish. Our title is drawn from an autograph treatise on violin and string playing: here, the “key” or "Schlissel" opens the door for a wide variety of players to come together in harmony during social distancing. Geared to: upper intermediate to advanced violin, viola, cello, viol, dulcian, and plucked instruments; other melodic instruments are welcome. Pitch: A=440.
3-4:30pm EST - online course (​link sent to registrants)
​$25 per session

https://www.amherstearlymusic.org/weekend_online_classes

Sunday, November 8

Amherst Early Music Online - ​Stante Pede: the Improvised Estampie and Ductia 
​Norbert Rodenkirchen, instructor
Norbert Rodenkirchen returns to the AEM Online program with a second class on Medieval improvisation, focusing partly on what Johannes Grocheo, a music theorist in late 13th century Paris, had to say about estampie and ductia. What can we learn from his comments, especially as regards dancelike versus non-dancelike rhythm, measured versus non-measured beats, and difficult versus simple form? The targeted focus of this class will be about the improvised postludium called Neupma. We will take a new, fresh view of this important treatise and find new answers for a performance practice of medieval instrumental music today, including ex tempore melodic inventions. Open to: all instrumentalists are invited to join the workshop, actively or as auditors. The content is geared toward players with a high level of facility on their instrument. Pitch: A = 440.
1-2:30pm EST - online course (​link sent to registrants)
​$25 per session

https://www.amherstearlymusic.org/weekend_online_classes
From Bach....to Brahms
Anne Legêne cello; Larry Wallach, piano
Simon’s Rock presents a faculty recital of music for cello and piano including Bach's Cello Suite no. 2 in D minor, Chaconne for solo violin from Partita no. 2 as arranged by Brahms for piano left hand (alone), and Brahms’ Sonata no. 2 in F major for Cello and Piano, op. 99.
3pm - Kellogg Music Center (by reservation, SR community only) Bard College at Simon's Rock, Great Barrington, MA
and Live-streamed on Zoom for everyone
For information, call 413-528-7212 and leave a voice message
Amherst Early Music Online - The Trio Sonata Challenge 
​Joanna Blendulf, instructor 
Now is your chance to finally embrace and work through those tricky solo viol parts in the Baroque trio sonatas by Buxtehude, Erlebach, Telemann and Rameau! Learn how to figure out optimal fingerings, bowings, articulations, dynamics and more - all in the comfort of your own space and while playing along with me! We will go through the excerpts progressively and have some fun while tackling these challenging obligato parts! All excerpts will be provided in advance. Geared to: Upper intermediate to advanced bass viols. Pitch: A=415.
3-4:30pm EST - online course (​link sent to registrants)
​$25 per session

https://www.amherstearlymusic.org/weekend_online_classes

Tuesday, November 10

Pilgrims' Progress Lecture-Demo
Seven Times Salt: Dan Meyers & Karen Burciaga, presenters
On the eve of the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower reaching Cape Cod, we’ll explore the music its passengers might have known. This online lecture-demo follows the passengers from their homes in turbulent 1590s England to religious refuge in the Netherlands, and onward to the unfamiliar shores of New England in 1620. The Plimoth colonists, or “Pilgrims” as they were later called, were a diverse group of Separatists and Anglicans, religious zealots and irreverent opportunists from many walks of life, and they brought with them experiences of music as varied as their reasons for coming to the New World. We’ll discuss and listen to music of the Elizabethan tavern and theater, songs by Thomas Ravenscroft, Dutch tunes, the Ainsworth Psalter, dances from Playford’s English Dancing Master, and more. You'll hear music samples from our CD "Pilgrims' Progress," recorded in the 1717 Meetinghouse in West Barnstable.
5pm - online (link sent to registrants)
$10 admission. 
Register Here
presented by Chatham Historical Society

Saturday, November 14

Amherst Early Music Online - Checklist: Questions to Consider When Approaching (New) Renaissance Vocal Repertoire Michael Barrett, instructor
Our class will focus on practical considerations when learning and rehearsing vocal music of the Renaissance. We'll make a close study of features of individual vocal lines, looking for clues to tempo, pitch, dynamics, phrasing, and other musical parameters rarely made explicit in the sources. There will be plenty of (mostly muted and mostly unison) singing, so bring your voice and your imagination! Geared to: all voices. Instruments are welcome to join the class. Pitch: A=440.
1-2:30pm ET - online course (​link sent to registrants)
​$25 per session

https://www.amherstearlymusic.org/weekend_online_classes
Amherst Early Music Online - Basic Renaissance Ornamentation for Wind Players
​
Liza Malamut, instructor
This class will provide a friendly introduction to the world of Renaissance ornamentation for winds. Using resources from the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, we will address the following questions: Who would have used ornaments during the late sixteenth century? What were they used for? When was it appropriate to use them? Where should ornaments be placed in a piece of music? Why use ornaments (or why not)? Finally, we will get an opportunity to put some basic ornamentation techniques into practice using didactic exercises from the late sixteenth century by Bassano, Rognoni, Dalla Casa, and other Renaissance pedagogues. Open to: intermediate and advanced sackbut, dulcian, and cornetto players. Recorder players also welcome. Pitch: A=440.
3-4:30pm EST - online course (​link sent to registrants)
​$25 per session

https://www.amherstearlymusic.org/weekend_online_classes
Dido And Aeneas: An opera for Distanced Lovers
The Boston Camerata (Anne Azéma, director) Tahanee Aluwihare, Luke Scott, Camila Parias, Jordan Weatherston Pitts, voices; with students from Longy School of Music of Bard College and Harvard Choral Fellows (Edward Elwyn Jones, director)
This new production of Purcell’s only true opera features performances by live and remote musicians and media elements conceived by Peter Torpey, all stitched together to be viewed from the safety and comfort of your home. The production will be recorded live, post-produced to include remote elements, and released on the Camerata website. Pre-concert talk by Prof. Ellen T. Harris and post-performance conversation with Anne Azéma and Peter Torpey. 
6pm - online (link sent to ticket buyers). Available to watch ​November 14-29.
$50 family/$25 general/$10 student
https://bostoncamerata.org/performances/

Sunday, November 15

Amherst Early Music Online - Duets from Ogni Sorte
Martha Bishop, instructor
The Ogni Sorte Collection of Renaissance hit parade songs edited by Richard Taruskin and Arnold Grayson presents pieces with challenging contrapuntal parts around easier cantus lines based on the most famous melodies of the 15th and 16th centuries, set by Franco Flemish composers. Learn the original melodies and their texts, marvel at the canonic devices used in the settings, practice the rhythmic intricacies and play both parts with Martha Bishop using your choice of instrument(s). You may choose from any size viol or recorder, also lute, cornetto, sackbut, whatever! Print out scores in treble and treble-8 clefs, supplementary treble-8 parts are also available in bass clef. Open to: all instrumentalists. Pitch: A=440.
1-2:30pm ET - online course (​link sent to registrants)
​$25 per session

https://www.amherstearlymusic.org/weekend_online_classes
Amherst Early Music Online - Tristre Plaisir: Love’s Ups and Downs in the 15th Century
Debra Nagy, instructor
Suffering and joy go hand in hand when it comes to 15th-century love songs. We’ll draw from the beautiful “Burgundian” song repertory for this class with songs by Dufay, Binchois, and others. Spend the afternoon exploring themes in the poetry, demystifying formes fixes, consider the role of the contratenor, savoring melodic twists and turns, and enjoying plenty of rhythmic syncopation! PDFs of the music in modern edition and poetry with translations will be provided in advance. Geared to: Soft instruments (bowed and plucked strings, recorders, harps, etc) and voices, intermediate and up level. Pitch: A=440.
3-4:30pm EST - online course (​link sent to registrants)
​$25 per session

https://www.amherstearlymusic.org/weekend_online_classes

Wednesday, November 18

Pilgrims' Progress: Music for the Plimoth Colony Settlers
Seven Times Salt: Dan Meyers & Karen Burciaga, presenters
Celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower's sailing with music! This online lecture-demo follows the passengers from their homes in turbulent 1590s England to religious refuge in the Netherlands, and onward to the unfamiliar shores of New England in 1620. Contrary to what the history books tell us, the Plimoth colonists, or “Pilgrims” as they were later called, were a diverse group of Separatists and Anglicans, religious zealots and irreverent opportunists from many walks of life, and they brought with them experiences of music as varied as their reasons for coming to the New World. We’ll discuss music of the Elizabethan tavern and theater, songs by Thomas Ravenscroft, Dutch tunes, the Ainsworth Psalter, and dances from Playford’s English Dancing Master. You'll also hear music samples from our CD "Pilgrims' Progress," recorded in the 1717 Meetinghouse in West Barnstable.
FREE; register to receive link (Registration opens Oct. 1)
7pm EDT- Online Event
Presented by Plymouth Public Library 
Blue Heron Spotlight Session: Renaissance Polyphony & Turkish Makam
Featuring Grammy-nominated composer and New England Conservatory faculty member Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol, our first Spotlight Session is an introduction to the Turkish modes (makam), how makam compares to the modes of Western European music, and how makam may be used in polyphonic composition. Sanlıkol is the composer of Devran, a two-movement work for voices setting 16th-century Sufi texts using the techniques of Renaissance-style polyphony combined with aspects of traditional Turkish music.
7pm - online. This event will be held live on Zoom, then recorded and posted for ticketholders.  
$35 Adult / $10 Student & Low-Income
https://www.blueheron.org/spotlight-sessions/sanlikol/

November 20-22

Fall Texas Toot
Directed by Danny Johnson and Susan Richter
Amherst Early Music hosts the online Fall Toot with three days of classes for all levels on repertoire from the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods. Faculty includes Mary Springfels, Frances Blaker, Tish Berlin, Jennifer Carpenter, Peter Maund, Saskia Coolen, Annette Bauer, Sarah Mead, Christa Patton, Ros Morley, Patricia Ann Neely, and Priscilla Herreid.
$25 per session
​Details, class schedule, and registration at www.amherstearlymusic.org/toot_2020

Sunday, November 22

Hidden Figures: Baroque
Paula Maust, presenter
Join Paula Maust to learn about the musically innovative women in the 17th and 18th centuries, from opera writer Francesca Caccini to less well-known composers from the courts, convents, and domestic sphere in this next installment of our five-part Discovery Series, Hidden Figures: Women Composers through the Ages.
4pm EST - via Zoom
$15
https://www.pvsoc.org/event-details/discovery-baroque

Sunday, November 27

Texas Toot Faculty Concert
​Mary Springfels, Frances Blaker, Tish Berlin, Jennifer Carpenter, Peter Maund, Saskia Coolen, Annette Bauer, Sarah Mead, Christa Patton, Ros Morley, Patricia Ann Neely, Priscilla Herreid
​The faculty of the Fall Texas Toot present a concert of works spanning the Medieval through Baroque eras.
6:30pm EST
FREE; register for Zoom link
​
www.amherstearlymusic.org/toot_2020

Friday, November 27

Looking Back at Orpheus: Monteverdi’s Orfeo
For our traditional Thanksgiving weekend feast, the Boston Early Music Festival opens our treasure trove of video archives for the first time to share FREE streaming broadcasts of two productions inspired by the Orpheus legend from our GRAMMY Award-winning Chamber Opera Series! Both productions are led by BEMF’s GRAMMY Award-winning Musical Directors Paul O’Detteand Stephen Stubbs, Stage Director Gilbert Blin, Concertmaster Robert Mealy, and Choreographer Melinda Sullivan. Each production features sublime performances by the all-star BEMF Vocal and Chamber Ensembles and GRAMMY Award-winning tenor Aaron Sheehan in the title role, gorgeous costumes designed by Anna Watkins, and videography by Kathy Wittman of Ball Square Films with audio from Sound Engineer Frank Cunningham (Charpentier) and WCRB Classical Radio Boston (Monteverdi). You'll also find additional new videos including documentaries on the making of each production, video lectures, and a 30-minute excerpt from BEMF’s 2017 fully staged production of Campra’s Le Carnaval de Venise featuring an Orpheus-themed “opera-within-an-opera” attended by the characters of the larger story.
8pm EDT- streamed on YouTube 
FREE; donations gratefully accepted at https://bemf.org/support-bemf/

Sunday, November 29

Looking Back at Orpheus: Charpentier’s La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers
For our traditional Thanksgiving weekend feast, the Boston Early Music Festival opens our treasure trove of video archives for the first time to share FREE streaming broadcasts of two productions inspired by the Orpheus legend from our GRAMMY Award-winning Chamber Opera Series! Both productions are led by BEMF’s GRAMMY Award-winning Musical Directors Paul O’Detteand Stephen Stubbs, Stage Director Gilbert Blin, Concertmaster Robert Mealy, and Choreographer Melinda Sullivan. Each production features sublime performances by the all-star BEMF Vocal and Chamber Ensembles and GRAMMY Award-winning tenor Aaron Sheehan in the title role, gorgeous costumes designed by Anna Watkins, and videography by Kathy Wittman of Ball Square Films with audio from Sound Engineer Frank Cunningham (Charpentier) and WCRB Classical Radio Boston (Monteverdi). You'll also find additional new videos including documentaries on the making of each production, video lectures, and a 30-minute excerpt from BEMF’s 2017 fully staged production of Campra’s Le Carnaval de Venise featuring an Orpheus-themed “opera-within-an-opera” attended by the characters of the larger story.
3pm - streamed on YouTube 
FREE; donations gratefully accepted at https://bemf.org/support-bemf/
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