If you have ever dabbled in Early Music and Baroque period music, as most singers have, you know that the style and performance practice of such works is unique. Just as there are workshops on Bel Canto and contemporary music, there are also a variety of educational summer programs that focus on Early Music and Baroque music—and there’s no shortage of faculty with expertise in everything you could want to learn. Here is a list of pay-to-sings to consider for summer 2014.
Amherst Early Music Baroque Academy
Dates of 2014 program: July 6–13 for Baroque Academy (opera); July 13–20 for ensemble singing intensive and Anonymous 4 workshop
Application deadline: April 1 for opera singers; May 1 for all other auditioned programs
Repertoire: This year the focus is on music of France and the Low Countries. Participants will perform Rameau’s opera Les Indes galantes.
Location: Connecticut College in New London, Conn.
Tuition and fees: $30 registration fee. Tuition for Baroque Academy is $605. Housing starts at $185 per week. Work-study and scholarships are available.
What is the daily schedule like? There are four class periods per day. Opera participants sing in masterclasses with Julianne Baird during one period, and the rest of the day is spent preparing the opera. Other singers (Baroque Academy singers not in the opera, ensemble singers, Anonymous 4 workshop singers) go to sessions including chamber music ensemble, masterclasses, and other topic-focused sessions.
Guest artists: Baroque Academy will be directed by Dutch recorder player Saskia Coolen. Faculty will include Julianne Baird, Drew Minter, Kevin Mallon (director of Aradia), Arthur Haas, and Peter Sykes.
Website: www.amherstearlymusic.org
Contact: info@amherstearlymusic.org; (781) 488-3337
Who should attend? Singers interested in deepening their understanding of Baroque style and interested in forming connections with other Baroque musicians.
What sets this program apart? Past participants often say they love the chance to work with instrumentalists, not just with singers. They get to deepen their understanding of Baroque style. Singers networking with instrumentalists, which can lead to really great things.
Baroque Opera Workshop at Queens College
Dates of 2014 program: June 15-21
Application deadline: April 7
Repertoire: 17th-century Italian works, TBA
Location: Queens College in Queens, New York City.
Tuition and fees: Application fee is $30. Tuition for singers is $695. Housing is available for $55 per night.
What is the daily schedule like? Theatrical and movement techniques (could include Baroque gesture and dance; Commedia dell’Arte; or viewpoints and gesture for Baroque opera); Baroque vocal style masterclasses with Julianne Baird; classes on ornamentation, Italian diction, and other topics; rehearsals; and coachings.
Guest artists: Julianne Baird, Baroque vocal style; Antonio Fava, Commedia dell’Arte.
Website: www.Baroqueoperaworkshop.org
Contact: Baroqueoperaworkshop@gmail.com; (718) 997-3800
Who should attend?Undergraduate and graduate students, emerging professionals, professional performers, teachers, or anyone who is interested in studying Baroque vocal style and its technique, ornamentation, and theatrical craft.
What sets this program apart? Performance projects emerge as participants examine written accounts, ornamentation handbooks, manuscripts, and treatises describing dance, theatrical practices, and the musical system of that time. This approach helps participants discover more pieces of the puzzle, as it were, and fashion a period-specific performance that is fresh, artful, and enlightening.
Early Music Week at Pinewoods
Dates of 2014 program: June 26-July 3
Application deadline: May 15
Repertoire: Early Music and English country dance
Location: Pinewoods Camp, Plymouth, Mass. About a one-hour drive from Boston and about five hours from New York. It is accessible by train, bus, and van service from Boston’s Logan airport.
Tuition and fees: About $910
What is the daily schedule like? Classes during the day and concerts, special events, and a dance in the evening. From morning technique and consort classes to afternoon special-topic ensembles, participants will play and sing music from the vibrant Middle Ages to the virtuosic Baroque period.
Guest artists: TBA. The staff features active professionals and acclaimed teachers of voice, early winds (recorders, reeds, and brass), strings (viols and violin), and harpsichord. Past faculty include members of the Newberry Consort, Anonymous 4, the Baltimore Consort, Piffaro, the Boston Camerata, Sequentia, and the Waverly Consort.
Website: www.cdss.org/em/
Contact: Steve Howe (director of programs); (413) 203-5467; camp@cdss.org
Who should attend? Singers of all abilities will benefit from singing class, chorus, and mixed ensembles with instruments.
What sets this program apart? It offers musical challenges and opportunities to singers and players at every level, from highly experienced to those who are just beginning. The week also features English country dance as music in motion, as a community bond, and as relaxation and fun. In addition to music classes, participants relax with two ponds for swimming or canoeing, a camp house deck for summer reading, afternoon tea, and lots of wonderful dancing.
NAPA Music Festival (Napa Academy of Performing Arts) Baroque Opera Boot Camp
Dates of 2014 program: June 15-July 7
Application deadline: Online only, through YAPTracker.com. No application deadline, but performance assignments will be made on a rolling basis, so early application is encouraged.
Repertoire: A fully staged Baroque opera with orchestral ensemble; concerts of Baroque sacred and secular arias and opera scenes; and public masterclasses as well as non-Baroque repertoire performance opportunities.
Location: Napa Valley, in the heart of California wine country. Room and board, classes, and rehearsals are at Pacific Union College. Performances are in the Lincoln Theater and in wineries and concert venues throughout the valley.
Tuition and fees: Baroque Opera Boot Camp tuition is $3,300. Nonrefundable application fee is $45. Refundable security deposit is $100. A $300 tuition discount is offered to any student whose referral results in another full-tuition participant.
Daily schedule: Classes in diction, stagecraft, dance, gesture, Baroque vocal techniques, and more. Masterclasses in repertoire development, style, and interpretation. Individual voice and coaching lessons, coaching and performance of assigned festival repertoire, opera staging rehearsals. Evening or afternoon concerts by guest artists, faculty artists, and student colleagues from the other programs.
Faculty/guest artists: NAPA Music Festival Founder and Artistic Director Juliana Gondek; stage directors/masterclasses in stagecraft: Andrew Eggert and Robert Tannenbaum; coach Peter Grunberg; coach and Italian expert Rakefet Hak; countertenor Brian Asawa; tenor Rufus Müller; tenor Robert Chafin; bass-baritone Richard Zeller.
Website: www.napamusic.org
Contact: Juliana Gondek, jgondek@ucla.edu, with “NAPA Music Student” in the subject line.
Who should attend? Singers between the ages of 19 and 35 (exceptions to the age limits will be considered on a case-by-case basis).
What sets this program apart? It provides detailed private and class instruction by a world-class faculty of specialists in Baroque vocal technique, style, ornamentation, interpretation, repertoire development, stagecraft and movement; diction training in Italian, French, and German; and Baroque poetry and aesthetic. Eight private voice and/or coaching lessons are included in the cost of tuition.
Rocky Ridge Music Center Early Music Festival & Workshop; Early Music Intensive
Dates of 2014 program: Aug. 20–24 for the Early Music Festival & Workshop; Aug. 25–27 for the Early Music Intensive
Application deadline: Aug. 6, though earlier is better as this workshop fills up fast. $75 application fee; apply online.
Repertoire: Baroque and Renaissance solo and chamber music
Location: Estes Park, Colo.
Tuition and fees: $785 for EMF&W; $350 for Early Music Intensive.
What is the daily schedule like? Every day has time for a private lesson, practice time, two chamber music rehearsals/coachings, masterclass, lecture/workshop (with three meals served). The workshop includes a faculty concert and an informal participant recital.
Guest artists: Céline Ricci, soprano; Jory Vinikour, artistic director and harpsichord; Ann Marie Morgan, viola da gamba and Baroque cello; Paul Miller, Baroque violin, viola, and viola d’amore; Anna Marsh, Baroque bassoon, flute, oboe, and recorder.
Website: rockyridge.org/seminars/emf.htm
Contact: RRMC@RockyRidge.org; (970) 586-4031
Who should attend? Anyone interested in Early Music; singers of all levels.
What sets this program apart? Low student-to-teacher ratio with high-profile faculty in an inspirational, historic mountain setting.
San Francisco Early Music Society Baroque Music Workshop
Dates of 2014 program: June 22–28
Application deadline: April 30 (early registration) but later applications are accepted.
Repertoire: Italian repertoire
Location: Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, Calif. (about 50 miles north of San Francisco)
Tuition and fees: Fee for the Baroque Workshop is $545 until April 30; $595 for enrollment received May 1 or later.
What is the daily schedule like? Days include masterclasses, electives (such as sight singing and performance practice), and rehearsals. Nights include social events, concerts, and rehearsals.
Guest artist: Rita Lilly (voice).
Website: www.sfems.org/
Contact: lpearse@mta.ca
Who should attend? The workshop is geared toward the dedicated amateur or the aspiring young semi-professional or student. Lovers of music of all ages are welcome.
What sets this program apart? It offers a friendly and safe environment to explore new repertoire, grow as a musician, and be nurtured by experienced professional musicians.
Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Dates of 2014 program: May 26–June 8
Application deadline: March 14
Repertoire: Baroque solo, chamber, opera, and choral repertoire
Location: University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Tuition and fees: $1,350 Canadian. Accommodation is not included. Financial aid is awarded only to participants who would otherwise not be able to participate in the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute.
What is the daily schedule like? In order to offer the fullest possible range of activities, classes (such as performance practice and masterclasses) and rehearsals are from morning to evening, seven days a week.
Faculty/guest artists: Choir directors Ivars Taurins and Peter Harvey, voice teachers Peter Harvey and Ann Monoyios, Opera Atelier co-directors Marshall Pynkoski and Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg, orchestra director Jeanne Lamon, and members of the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.
Website: www.tafelmusik.org/education/artist-training/tafelmusik-Baroque-summer-institute/
Contact: tbsi@tafelmusik.org; (416) 964-9562
Who should attend? Singers (advanced students, preprofessional, and professional) interested in exploring period performance practice in solo, ensemble, choral, and operatic repertoire. Singers must be age 21 or older by May 26, 2014. Exceptions will be considered on an individual basis.
