Viols West Workshop 2009
Rosamund Morley, Music Director
Alice Brin Renken, Administrative Director
August 9-15, 2009
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CARegistration is closed
The Workshop
We offer five full days of varied classes for players at different levels. Most students take three daily classes; in addition, there is usually an optional session of a mixed activity in the late afternoon. Teachers will give an informal concert, and will also help students form evening consorts, and there is a student concert to end the week. Please note that enrollment is limited to 60.
The Setting
We return to the campus of California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, CA. "SLO-town" nestles six miles inland in a broad valley half way between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Surrounded by gently rolling hills dotted with native oaks, its Mediterranean-like climate complements a charming downtown with a restored Mission. Both a small airport (with connecting commuter flights) and Amtrak serve the city. Our shortened Thursday schedule (no dinner served on campus) allows you to take advantage of SLO's popular market night where there are plenty of choices for your dinner, spread your towel by the ocean, visit giant Morro rock, or compare the wares of local wineries.
Housing
We'll have a dormitory all to ourselves. Classes will be held in its rooms and lounges. There are no elevators, but your viols will be safe on the first floor. Please note that the facilities available to us are NOT fully ADA-compliant, but we do try to make it as easy on you as possible. Meals in the dining commons are a gamba-stretching stroll away. Walking trails are everywhere.
Enrollment & Fees
Tuition this year is $470.00. A $100 workshop deposit, plus fees for Rec Center passes ($35), ethernet in your room ($25), and refrigerator rental ($22), along with a reservation for a parking permit if you think you might need one, MUST BE RECEIVED BY JULY 15. Room and Board is $405.00 for single rooms, $345.00 per person for doubles. The full balance (plus the parking permit fee ($15 per car per week) is due at check-in on Sunday, August 9, 2:30-4:30 PM. There may be wireless access in the public areas, but you will have to have CalPoly's approved software installed before you arrive on campus in order to use it.
IT WILL NOT BE POSSIBLE FOR ANYONE TO STAY OVERNIGHT ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 15. PLEASE PLAN ACCORDINGLY.
Questions
Classes: Ros Morley 718 852-1247; rhm13@columbia.edu
Everything else: Alice Renken 760-729-6679; arenken@sandwich.net.
Extras: Boulder Early Music Shop and PRB will be with us again this year. Charlie Ogle will be on hand all week for repairs. Bill Lazar and Patrice Connelly (Saraband Music) will each visit briefly.
Fremont Hall is one of 6 red brick dorms on your right after you enter the campus on Grand Ave. Turn right on Deer Road. Look for VW SIGNS to direct you to lot R1, behind those dorms. Registration will start at 3 PM on Sunday, Aug. 10. If you get to the campus early, have a look around. If you're arriving late, PLEASE INFORM US.
For Airport or Amtrak pickup, be sure to let Alice know by mail or e-mail when and where you will be arriving. We need to know flight numbers and times of both arrival and departure. You will be picked up at the airport or the train station. For last minute changes, contact Alice on her cell phone: 760 419-9152. Voice mail is undependable, so do keep trying.
We tune at A=415
Don't forget your marked music stand, strings, tuners, rosin, pencils, etc. You can make copies in the Student Union weekdays only, or in town. Light is adequate but not brilliant; lamps and extension cords are always appreciated. Linens, blankets, towels, and many teensy soaps are provided. Everything else is up to you— hangers? fan? a mug for the morning coffee break?
Weather
Anything is possible. Bring a jacket or sweater for foggy mornings. Dress is casual.
Alcohol Policy
Cal Poly is a DRY campus. DO NOT go outside the dorm with "adult beverages" and DO NOT discard any such bottles in campus dumpsters or leave them behind in your room. If you bring it in, you MUST take it out with you and discard or recycle OFF CAMPUS.
Phones
Each room has a phone (free local calls, use credit card for long distance). There are pay phones in the lobby. Additional campus numbers: 7AM-9PM: 805 756-5680, and absolute emergency ONLY: 805 756-2281.
Jack Ashworth, Louisville, KY
Jack Ashworth isProfessor of Music History and director of the Early Music Ensemble at the University of Louisville, where he has taught since 1977. Primarily a harpsichordist, he also plays early string and winde instruments and has taught for many years on workshop faculties in the United States, England, and Australia. He is past president of the Viola da Gamba Society of America and received the Thomas Binkley Award for Outstanding Achievement by a Collegium Director from Early Music America (1999), as well as U of L's Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award (1995). His other main musical interest in Appalachian fiddling.
Johanna Blendulf, Eugene, OR
Johanna Blendulf, on treble and bass viola da gamba and pardessus de viole, has performed and recorded with leading early music ensembles and orchestras throughout the U.S. and has toured throughout South America and Europe. She is currently performing with American Baroque, American Bach Soloists, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Catacoustic Consort, Wildcat Viols, the Streicher Trio, Musica Angelica, ViVaCe, the Portland Baroque Orchestra and the Carmel Bach Festival Orchestra. She has received degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and INdiana University, Bloomington.
John Dornenburg, Oakland, CA
John Dornenburg teaches at Stanford University and CSU Sacramento. He holds a Soloist's Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, studying with Wieland Kuijken, and also studied with Nikolas Harnoncourt at Salzburg Mozarteum. He is a member of Sex Chordae Consort of Viols, Magnificat, Music's Re-creation, Philharmonia, American Bach Soloists, and has recorded for Centaur, Meridian, Koch, and Dorian.
Wendy Gillespie, Bloomington, IN
Wendy Gillespie has performed all over the world with ensembles ranging from the English Concert to Ensemble Sequentia and has participated in more than 70 recordings; sharing a Gramophone award, a French Grand Prix du Disque, and an Edison Award with various colleagues. As a member of the viol consorts Fretwork, Phantasm, and Les Filles du Sainte-Colombe, Gillespie feels fortunate to be able to pursue her interest in the viola da gamba and its literature in depth. She serves as Department Chair of Early Music at Indiana University, where she has been on the faculty for more than 20 years.
Julie Jeffrey, Richmond, CA
Julie Jeffrey is a member of Sex Chordae Consort of Viols, whose concerts and recordings have received critical acclaim; of Wildcat Viols, which she founded in 2003; and is half of Hallifax & Jeffrey, a viol duo specializing in French Baroque music. Ms. Jeffrey freelances with many California ensembles and has played with Chicago's Newberry Consort, Cincinnati's Catacoustic Consort, Toronto's Scaramella, Oregon's Terra Nova Consort, and at the Regensburg Tage Alter Musik, the Melbourne Autumn Music Festival, and the Festival Internacional Cervantino in Guanajuato, Mexico.
Larry Lipnik, Long Island City, NY
Larry Lipnik has performed with many acclaimed chamber and early music ensembles including the Waverly Consort and Anonymous 4. He is a founding member of the vocal ensemble Lionheart, the viol consort Parthenia, and is a frequent musical collaborator with artist William Wegman. In addition to performing, he is currently co-director of the New York Recorder Guild, enjoys a busy teaching schedule, and has recently prepared an authoritative edition of Francesco Cavalli's opera La Calisto, commisstioned by the Juillard School and performed by the San Francisco Opera. BR>
Rosamund Morley, Brooklyn, NY
Rosamund Morley has performed on all the viols and their medieval ancestors with ensembles as diverse as Piffaro, Lionheart, ARTEK, The Boston Camerata, Sequentia and Les Arts Florissants; she has toured worldwide with the Waverly Consort. She is a longtime member of Parthenia where she loves to play both early and new music. Her teaching schedule has included workshops such as Charney Manor in the UK, the Cammac Music Center in Quebec, Summerkeys in Maine, and the Viola da Gamba Society's annual Conclave. She teaches viol at Columbia University.
David Morris, Oakland, CA
David Morris is a member of many west coas performing groups, the Madison Early Music Festival, and the Boston Early Music Frestival Orchesras. He was the founder and musical director of the Bay Area baroque opera ensemble Teatro Bacchino and has produced operas for the Berkeley Early Music Festival and the San Francisco Early Music Society series. Mr. Morris received his B.A. and M.A. in Music from UC Berkeley, and has been a guest instructor in early music performance-practice at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Mills College Oberlin College and Cornell University.
Mary Springfels, Cerrillos, NM
Mary Springfels has been musician-in-residence at the Newberry Library since 1982 and has served as director of the Newberry Consort since its founding in 1986. Ms. Springfels has played with many ensembles, including the New York Pro Musica, the Waverly and Folger Consorts, Concert Royal, the New York Renaissance Band, Pomerium Muisces, the Harwood Early Music Ensemble, and Orpheus Band; seh was a founding member of the Elizabethan Enterprise and Les Filles de Sainte-Colombe. Ms. Springfels serves as director of the Collegium at Northwestern University and has taught at Duke University, the UNC-Chapel Hill, the university of Chicago, and in early music workshops across the United States. Ms. Springfels has recorded for Titanic, Nonesuch, Columbia, Decca, and harmonia mundi.
Shanon Zusman, Marina del Rey, CA
Shanon Zusman is adjunct professor of violone and viola da gamba at the University of Southern California and Claremont Graduate University, and an associate faculty member at Santa Monica College. He has appeared with Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, Camerata Pacifica Baroque,Los angeles Bach Society, Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra, and Concordia Clarimontis, in addition to performing with and servig as General Manager of the Bach Collegium San Diego. In his teaching at the VdGSA Conclave, he has encouraged students to consider the music histroy and performance practice perspectives equally as they explore the viol repertory.
VIOLS WEST 2009 CLASSES
FIRST MORNING CLASS
A morning "homeroom" technique and repertoire class. Participants will be grouped according to experience and size of viol.
SECOND MORNING CLASS
Early German masters of the Viol Consort. Samuel Scheidt and his contemporaries. (LI-MI, Blendulf)
Dowland's Pavanes. Learn these beautiful pieces by playing all the parts round robin style. A chance to try other sizes of viol; or not, as you prefer. (MI, Zusman)
Tallis and Byrd - Best Friends. An exploration of the sacred and secular music of these monopolists of music printing. (MI-UI, Ashworth)
Tenor Technique. A technical workout on the tenor viol, using the beautiful and rhythmicall challenging music of the late 15th-early 16th centuries. (all levels, Morley)
The Faithful Shepherd. Settings of Guarini's 1590 masterpiece "Il Pastor Fido" by Monteverdi, Giaches de Wert and others. (MI-UI, Springfels)
Celebrate Purcell's 350th Birthday. Songs, aires and dances from the operas, and odes adapted for viols. Gorgeous melodies and sprightly dances adapted to viols offer an introduction to English Baroque style.(MI-UI, Jeffrey)
Consorts for the Stuart Princes of Wales. Music of Coprario, Ferrabosco II, Gibbons. (UI, Gillespie, Morris)
Bass Duets. A survey class in which everyone plays the repertoire together. Alto and bass clef reading mandatory.(UI-A, Dornenburg)
FIRST AFTERNOON CLASS
Music from the Early Viol Tutors. Study the viol as players did in the 16th century, playing consorts from the books of Gerle and Ganassi.(LI-MI, Zusman)
Treble Technique. Focus on treble-specific techniques, including finding hard-to-reach places and getting a consistently beautiful sound. (all levels, Blendulf)
Violin Band. Under Kapellmeister Ashworth, viols will play Scheidt, Schein, and Praetorius with the energy of the sprightly violin. (all levels, Ashworth)
The Viols Players' Songbook. Madrigals and other vocal styles inspried a generation of composers for the viol. Repertoire reading with emphasis on shaping vocal lines and playing rhetorical phrases. (MI-UI, Lipnik)
The First Printed Music. Music from Petrucci's Odhecaton, using both modern and early notation.(MI-A, Gillespie)
Apt for Voices and Viols. Preview a new edition of Weelkes' beautiful and dramatic music. (MI-UI, Jeffrey)
Music of the High Renaissance. Exploring Josquin and Isaac. (UI-A, Dornenburg, Springfels)
Bach on Viols. Play immensely satisfying chorales, preludes, fugues. This class is limited to 4. (UI-A, Morris)
SECOND AFTERNOON CLASS
VOICES & VIOLS. Music for a Royal Chapel. Sacred and secular anthems of Gibbons, Tomkins, East, and Byrd. (everyone welcome, Lipnik)