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10th Annual Chamber Music Workshop
July 9 - 12, 2024

In-person ensemble coaching, classes, and meals

Madison Bach Musicians’ Summer Chamber Music Workshop, July 9-12, 2024, offers a unique opportunity for musicians to participate in extensive chamber music playing as well as in informative lectures, technique classes, and large group ensembles. We focus on early music from the Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical periods. It is our mission to provide a place where chamber music lovers can come together and work intensely for a week with highly skilled faculty. This summer, we have added new classes including an improvisation class, a conversation with Marilyn MacDonald about early music, and an advanced Viol Consort with Eric Miller, and we continue our popular wind, vocal, baroque, and string ensembles.  There will be a special masterclass given by Marilyn McDonald, Oberlin College emeritus professor of violin and baroque violin, on Wednesday, July 10, and our faculty concert will be on Thursday, July 11. Please join us!

 

Held at:

Christ Presbyterian Church
944 E Gorham St
Madison, WI 53703

Conveniently located on Lake Mendota on Madison’s near east side
with on-site parking and spacious temperature-controlled rooms for ensembles.

Morning Small Ensembles

All ages (13 and over), levels, and instruments are welcome. You can participate as a pre-formed ensemble, or we will create an ensemble for you with other attendees according to your level and instrument. The pitches can be A=440 or 415. We will focus on vocal and instrumental music from the Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical periods.  Scores will be provided in mid-June to practice in advance.  You will get coaching every day and you will have time to rehearse on your own every day as well.  For those groups who would like to perform, there will be a participants’ concert on Friday at 2:00 p.m.

Coaches: Sarah Brailey, Lisette Kielson, Kangwon Kim, Christa Patton, Martha Vallon & Trevor Stephenson

Masterclass with Marilyn McDonald
Wednesday, July 10th at 7:00 PM in CPC’s sanctuary

If you would like to play for Ms. McDonald, please contact Workshop Director, Kangwon Kim at kangwonleekim@gmail.com.  You may play solo or in an ensemble, and you could play on baroque or modern instruments.  All instruments and levels are welcome.

Afternoon Courses and Large Group Ensembles

Classes and large group ensembles meet in four sessions between 1 PM and 5 PM on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Participants choose the classes and large group ensembles they wish to attend. All large group ensembles meet for three days. Some lecture/technique classes are complete in one period while others run throughout the workshop, building on the previous day. Please indicate on the registration form which classes and ensembles you wish to attend. 

Why Early Music? with Marilyn MacDonald

Join us for a special conversation class with Marilyn McDonald.  Ms. McDonald will discuss the history of early music in America and how the movement has changed throughout the past several decades.  This will be an informal question and answer session.  Please bring your questions and comments.

Meet the Fortepiano! with Trevor Stephenson

During the 18th-century, as (what we call) the Baroque Era gave way to the Classical Style, a new and tremendously popular keyboard instrument came on the scene. The fortepiano’s innovation was simple, it allowed the player to activate the strings with hammers instead of with quills, as had been done in harpsichords for centuries. This revolution in sound not only made dynamics and linear shading possible but it helped usher in elements of style and sonority which become the hallmarks of the modern piano. We’ll take a close look at and listen to (live!) a late 18th-century fortepiano—the type of instrument on which Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven practiced and played their public concerts. At the end of the class, participants will have a chance to play a bit on the fortepiano.

Bach and Handel – Overview of their Lives and Musical Styles with Trevor Stephenson

The births of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel in early 1685 were separated by only about one hundred miles in distance and one month in time. Yet their careers and musical styles were vastly different. In this class, we’ll look at the fascinating lives of these two musical geniuses and through
examples, we’ll identify some of the primary differences in their styles.

Bach came from a long line of church and town musicians—a distinguished artisan class. As a teenager, he began a career primarily as a church musician. Bach traveled occasionally, but only within the German speaking provinces. He was widely known and respected among musicians but was not a public figure. During his lifetime, he was virtually unpublished, and the few short-run volumes of keyboard music and the Musical Offering that did come out, did so at Bach’s own expense. He avoided composing opera—although opera was the stylistic rage of the early eighteenth century. Instead, in mid-career Bach created hundreds of church cantatas in cycles covering each week and celebration of the Lutheran calendar. The creativity and energy Bach summoned in exploring the human soul through these cantatas has perhaps never been equaled in the history of music. Whether in the vocal or instrumental medium, Bach’s style is at its core metaphysical and probing—infinitely unfolding.

Handel came from no musical pedigree whatsoever, but simply willed himself to become a great musician. Largely self-taught, he had a knack for putting himself into situations where, with lots of hard work, he could flourish and advance his career. As a teenager, Handel plunged into the world of opera, first in Germany and then on to several important years in his early twenties in Italy learning how to write opera. He then set up shop in England where he became famous as an opera composer. His vocal and instrumental works were widely published, and he was a frequent guest of royalty and the upper class. Handel became a celebrity. His style is theatrical and cathartic in conception, grand in gesture while requiring careful attention to detail in execution. Interestingly, Bach and Handel never met, though twice Bach attempted but failed to intersect with Handel during Handel’s brief return visits to his boyhood home in Halle.

Practicing vs. Playing: Connecting with our Musical Selves with Lisette Kielson 

Do you practice minutes or even hours a day, but choke at a lesson? (“I played it much better at home!”) Do you start to play a favorite piece but stop and grumble at mistakes unable to continue joyfully to the end? In this class we will explore the differences (and similarities!) between practicing and playing and discuss the purpose and process of both endeavors. Come with questions and/or examples of specific musical challenges you encounter with your individual process.

Harpsichord Technique with Tami Morse

Learn how harpsichord technique differs from other keyboard instruments. Participants will learn how to create “dynamics” on the harpsichord and how to bring out different voices through articulation and learn a set of easy exercises to develop these skills. Participants may bring in specific pieces to work on or just their own curiosity! All levels welcome!”

No Fear Improvisation! with Tami Morse

Improvisation, one of the pillars of period instrument performance, is often avoided by musicians for fear of doing it wrong, choosing notes that don’t work with the harmonies, or simply being uncomfortable playing something that isn’t on the page. This class will get everyone improvising immediately in a fun way no matter what instrument you play and what your experience is. Using ground basses and guided group playing exercises, no one will be singled out, so have no fear! Open to all instrumentalists and singers, no previous improvisation experience required.

Using Primary Sources in Our Playing with Martha Vallon

Historical source material written by musicians is invaluable in learning how to perform the music of the time. These sources provide us with stylistic conventions as well as some technical details for musicians. In this class we will use 17th- and 18th-century treatises and publications to learn characteristics of different national styles of Baroque music, and how to distinguish between them.


Vocal Technique
with Clara Osowski

Does singing sometimes feel totally mysterious? Although each individual singing voice is inherently unique, there are technical principles that hold true across every voice part. This class will teach you how to approach your voice as a technical instrument and give you some practical tools  to help you gain the necessary confidence and control to more fully express what is on the page. We will learn basic vocal anatomy, what “breath support” really means, how to feel more secure in the extremes of your range, and how to unearth the dramatic potential of your own singing voice. Wear comfy clothes and flat shoes!

Popular Songs of the 15th and 16th Centuries with Christa Patton

In Italy the Frottola, often containing a pleasant melody with one or more decorative lines and chordal accompaniment, could be sung and accompanied by one or more instruments. Open to strings, (plucked or bowed), winds and voices.

Basso Continuo for All with Christa Patton

Create accompaniments, simple compositions and countermelodies from a single bass line following the practices of composers of the 16th to 18th centuries. Open to instruments of accompaniment, strings, winds and voices.

Vocal Ensemble with Clara Osowski

The vocal ensemble will focus on how to sing Renaissance and Baroque vocal music like chamber music, which means without a conductor! Participants will learn how to communicate with other singers through body language and breath, how to choose the right tempo, how to lead and how to follow. There will be opportunities to sing one on a part as well as in larger groups up to 16 voices. We will explore repertoire from the Burgundian School (Gilles Binchois, Guillaume Dufay), the English Madrigal School (William Byrd, Thomas Morley, Orlando Gibbons), the Venetian School (Adrian Willaert, Claudio Merulo) and on into the Baroque period with composers like Barbara Strozzi, Heinrich Schütz, and of course, the Bach family. Repertoire requests are welcomed!

Advanced String Ensemble with Kangwon Kim (A=440 with baroque bows) 

Have you ever played in a conductorless ensemble where everyone is a leader?  Come and play some wonderful Baroque string music and learn the style and sound of an early music ensemble. You can play on your modern instruments at 440, but baroque bows are strongly encouraged.  If you have owned a baroque bow but did not get a chance to use it much, this ensemble is for you.  Kangwon has several extra baroque bows that she is happy to loan to people (first come first serve) for the week of workshop.  

Beginning Viola da Gamba Consort with Eric Miller

Explore the wonderful world of viols. We will cover the core essentials of the instrument including bow technique to create a flexible, singing, sound and tips for navigating the fretboard. We will spend time with choice music from the Renaissance through the Baroque and refine ensemble playing and style. Instruments of all sizes, treble, tenor, and bass, will be available for participants to borrow (free of charge).  Everyone is welcome!

Advanced Viola da Gamba Consort with Eric Miller

Join us for some consort playing on viols! We’ll explore four and five part gems from the English renaissance. Along the way, we’ll refine phrasing, articulation, and tone production. Open to intermediate to advanced viola da gamba players of all sizes.

Recorder Ensemble with Lisette Kielson (A=440)

In this performance-oriented playing session, Lisette will direct music arranged for recorder consort from the Renaissance to the Baroque. The process of ‘preparing for a concert’ will go beyond the notes, and cover such wind-specific techniques as breathing, tone, and articulation, as well as address general ensemble-playing skills and explore how to deal with those pesky nerves. Geared for intermediate and above players. Flutes and oboes welcome!

Baroque Ensemble with Martha Vallon (A=415)

Play Baroque pieces from different European countries to experience, firsthand, the elements which create the varied national styles. The group will play on the final concert. Pitch will be 415; you can tune down your 440 instrument if needed. Open to all instrumentalists, with a special call out for violas!

2024 Faculty

Soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player Lisette Kielson has been described by the press as “sparkling with life” and “performing with true character and style.” Throughout the Midwest Lisette has had the honor and pleasure of performing at Bach Festivals, College Artist Series, and with, among others, Lyric Opera of Chicago (stage band soloist), Chicago Opera Theater, Haymarket Opera Company, Music of the Baroque, Chicago’s Bach Week Festival and with many Chicago-area early music ensembles including Chicago Recorder Trio. Lisette has released recordings of Bach and Boismortier with Centaur Records as well as CDs under her own label. Past President of the American Recorder Society and former Director of Bradley University’s Collegium Musicum, Lisette currently teaches on the faculty of the Whitewater Early Music Festival, serves as Music Director of the Chicago Chapter of the ARS, and maintains an active schedule as workshop presenter across the country. She holds Bachelor and Master Degrees from Indiana University and a post-master’s Diploma from The Royal Conservatory of The Hague, Netherlands. A former resident of Madison, Lisette loves coming ‘up north’ to collaborate with Madison Bach Musicians!

Kangwon Kim

Kangwon Lee Kim, Madison Bach Musicians concertmaster and Assistant Artistic Director, is a versatile violinist with a repertoire ranging from baroque to 21st-century music using both baroque and modern violins. She has performed throughout the US as well as in Korea, Canada, Puerto Rico, Switzerland, Norway, and the Czech Republic and has collaborated with world-renowned musicians including Menahem Pressler and Laurence Lesser. As a baroque violinist, Ms. Kim has been heard in faculty recitals at the Baroque Performance Institute at Oberlin and with the Smithsonian Chamber Players, Brandywine Baroque, Indy Baroque, Lyra Baroque, and the Third Coast Baroque orchestras. Ms. Kim was an Assistant Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at Biola University in CA and has also taught at Ripon College and Lawrence University Conservatory.  During the summer, she teaches at the Credo summer chamber music festival at Oberlin College and is the director of MBM’s Summer Chamber Music Workshop.

Marilyn McDonald, founding member of the Castle Trio and Smithson and Axelrod Quartets, has toured worldwide, playing repertoire that runs the gamut from Baroque to contemporary. She has appeared as soloist with the Milwaukee and Omaha Symphonies, in concert at Caramoor, Utrecht, and Mostly Mozart Festivals among many others. Her recordings are heard on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Virgin Classics, Smithsonian, and Telarc. She was professor of violin at Oberlin Conservatory for over 45 years and has been artist in residence at Eastman, Indiana, and Boston Universities. Known as “MM” to her students, she is the recipient of the Excellence in Teaching award at Oberlin. Marilyn enjoys keeping in touch with her former students who can be found in orchestras and chamber music groups throughout the world. She’s dreadfully proud of having won the 2009 Oberlin Valentine short story competition and finds kayaking a lot more relaxing than playing the violin.

Eric Miller performs as a viola da gambist, cellist, and occasionally trumpeter around the Midwest, currently performing with the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble, ViolMedium, a project cofounded with Chicago gambist Phillip Serna, and frequently giving solo recitals. Previous performance credits include the Arbor Vitae String Quartet, the Madison Choral Project, the Madison Chamber Choir, Madison Youth Choirs, and American Players Theater as well as countless chamber music projects, mostly centered around historical performance. As an improviser, he is known for his skill and sensitivity in collaboration with songwriters and has collaborated on several albums with songwriter Katie Burns. As an explorer in experimental music, he has recorded several hours of lo-fi electronic music with his duo, Basidium. Eric is a committed educator and currently teaches orchestra in the Oregon School District where he also coaches a youth viol consort as part of the Viola da Gamba Society of America’s Consort Loan Program. He is director of the VdGSA’s Young Players’ Weekend, and has taught viola da gamba at the Madison Early Music Festival. Trained in the Suzuki method, Eric has taught cello, trumpet, and viola da gamba lessons to students all ages and abilities at his home in Madison, Wisconsin since 2009. He holds degrees from Northern Illinois University where he was introduced to the viola da gamba while he studied cello and trumpet and the University of Wisconsin – Madison where he studied cello.

Tami Morse, a Japanese American harpsichordist, is active as a soloist and chamber musician in the United States and abroad. She is the co-founder of Early Music Minnesota, formerly known as The Baroque Room, a performance space in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She has performed with ensembles such as Foundling, Minnesota Orchestra, Border CrosSing, Ensemble 212, Bach Society of Minnesota, Glorious Revolution Baroque, Lyra Baroque Orchestra, Minnesota Bach Ensemble, Big Apple Baroque Band, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. She has performed in notable venues such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Symphony Space, the Dakota, and Le Poisson Rouge. She was a  finalist in the Jurow International Harpsichord Competition in March, 2012. Tami is a founding member of the baroque ensemble Flying Forms, known for innovative, interdisciplinary performances and considered “names to watch” (Berkshire Review for the Arts) and “the bright future of early music” (Arthur Haas, harpsichord). She received her Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan with Edward Parmentier and has a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University where she studied with the acclaimed harpsichordist and teacher Arthur Haas. In addition to her studies in the United States, Tami was awarded a prestigious DAAD grant, which she used to study in Germany at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne with Ketil Haugsand. Tami is dedicated to making early music accessible to today’s audiences and laying a foundation for its study and performance in the United States. https://www.tamimorse.com/

Mezzo-soprano Clara Osowski, who sings “from inside the music with unaffected purity and sincerity” (UK Telegraph), is an active soloist and chamber musician hailed for her “rich and radiant voice” (Urban Milwaukee Dial). On international stages, Clara became the first-ever American prizewinner when she placed second at Thomas Quasthoff’s International Das Lied Competition in Heidelberg, Germany, where she was accompanied by Tyler Wottrich. Recent performance highlights include Clara’s Minnesota Opera debut as Mrs. Herring in Britten’s Albert Herring, her debut recital at London’s Wigmore Hall, and debuts with Kansas City Symphony and Handel and Haydn Society. For more information, please visit her website: claraosowski.com.

Christa Patton – Baroque harp and early wind specialist, has performed throughout the Americas, Europe, and Japan with many of today’s premier early music ensembles. As a multi-instrumentalist she has appeared with the Boston Camerata, Apollo’s Fire, The King’s Noyse, Newberry Consort, Toronto Consort, La Nef, Blue Heron, Folger Consort, Parthenia, ARTEK, Pegasus, New York State Baroque Orchestra, Piffaro the Renaissance band and many others. As a Baroque harpist, she has performed in early opera productions with the New York City Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Atelier, Opera Omnia and the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and more. As an educator and scholar, she has served on the faculty of Rutgers University and the Graduate Center at CUNY. She is also Artistic Director of the Baroque Opera Workshop at Queens College, specializing in the works of early 17th century composers. Christa can be heard on Navona, Lyrachord, Dorian, and ATMA recording labels.

Trevor Stephenson–harpsichordist, fortepianist, and pianistis the artistic director and founder of the Madison Bach Musicians. He received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Historical Performance of 18th-Century Music from Cornell University, where he studied fortepiano with Malcolm Bilson. With his colleague, Norman Sheppard, he has made and refurbished a series of historical keyboard instruments ranging from Italian Renaissance harpsichords to Victorian pianos. He has released fifteen recordings on the Light & Shadow label and tours throughout the United States as performer and lecturer. Information and tour schedule at trevorstephenson.com.

Martha Giese Vallon is a graduate of the Rotterdam Conservatory (The Netherlands) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Having grown up in Madison, WI, she took a circuitous route to Europe via Berkeley, CA where she was awarded a Hertz Fellowship (UC-Berkeley) for study abroad. She has performed in hundreds of concerts and participated in many recordings with the leading European baroque and classical orchestras including The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Les Arts Florissants, La Chapelle Royale and the Orchestre des Champs Elysées. Martha has performed throughout Europe, Israel, and Japan in various chamber music and orchestral settings and has taught in several notable early music courses. She plays an anonymous baroque cello made in the 18th century and a newly made viola da gamba by Francis Beaulieu of Montréal. Martha maintains an active private studio in Madison with students ages 7 – 70. She teaches cello in the summer at the UW-Madison Music Clinics.

Faculty Concert – Thursday, July 11, 7:30 PM

Tuition

$370 – Complete workshop 9 AM – 5 PM, Tuesday – Friday, including ensembles, classes, lunch, evening faculty concert, and masterclass.
$225 – Half days only (mornings or afternoons, lunch not included)
$75 – Full day class auditor (ensembles and lunch not included)
$75 – Large group ensemble
$50 – Lunch and snacks
$20 – Faculty Concert, July 11, 7:30 PM & Masterclass, July 10, 7 PM (two for one ticket)

Tuition is $370 (full workshop) and $225 (half day) before May 1 and rises to $400 and $250, respectively afterwards. Applications for the full workshop, including the morning chamber music ensembles, close May 15. Please send a two minute sample of your playing for ensemble placement to Kangwon Kim at kangwonleekim@gmail.com.  If you prefer not to send a recording, please indicate your playing level. Previous participants do not need to send a recording. Because significant amounts of time and effort go into placing participants into suitable ensemble groups, a cancellation fee of $50 will apply. No tuition refunds are available after May 31st. You may enroll in half day afternoon classes and large afternoon ensembles until July 9.

We provide up to five full and partial scholarships to those who cannot afford to pay workshop tuition, and for those without instruments, we have extended loans. For information, please contact workshop director Kangwon Kim at kangwonleekim@gmail.com or Karen Rebholz at madisonbachmusicians.manager@gmail.com.

This program has been made possible, in part, with support from ACMP Associated Chamber Music Players.