Besides performing Baroque, Classical, and Romantic masterworks, the festival has presented music of 20th-century composers such as George Antheil, Béla Bartók, and Charles Ives on period instruments.
Boulder Bach Festival Goes Beyond Bach Read More »
Last spring, KIConcerts (Colorado Springs, Colo.) asked me to lead a choir tour to Italy that would focus on the cities where Claudio Monteverdi
(1567-1643) wrote: Cremona, Mantua, and Venice. Because Monteverdi’s music is so endlessly fascinating, the prospect seemed too exciting to pass up. This tour, called Via Monteverdi, will become a reality in May 2015,
expanded by two additional performances in Rome, including a service at St. Peter’s Basilica. The choir of over 40 includes the singers of Canzonetta, a small Seattle ensemble directed by Roger Nelson, that will perform a few pieces on its own in each concert.
Via Monteverdi by Joan Catoni Conlon Read More »
EMA Marketing and Public Relations Manager, Brandon Labadie, caught up with Leslie Kwan over the phone last February to discuss her work with her ensemble, L’Academie, in the Boston hospital system. Since 2009, L’academie has been presenting French Baroque music to the patients of Dana Faber Cancer Institute and has recently financial support for their outreach programs from the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Leslie gives EMA the story behind L’academie’s beginnings, how she feels the group’s music making has made an impact, and what other projects might be on the horizon.
L’Academie at Dana Farber Cancer Institute: An Interview with Leslie Kwan Read More »
This academic year I had the honor of being named a Fulbright Scholar to complete archival research in Paris, France. I have been welcomed by the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles (CMBV (hyperlink to: http://www.cmbv.fr) as a chercheurassociéand have enjoyed meeting French musicologists and learning about the differences between working as an academic in the United States and in France. My dissertation examines seventeenth-century French street music, particularly music associated with the Pont Neuf (a seventeenth-century bridge in Paris that became an important public space and information conduit), and it investigates the symbiotic relationship between street culture and theatrical spectacle that emerged during the reign of Louis XIV.
Song on the Pont Neuf in 17th-Century France by John Romey Read More »
A clever self-promoter, Jacquet de La Guerre augmented her exceptional musical talents with a combination of shrewd risk taking, perceptive opportunism, and persuasive ability. Described by the Mercure Galant, a prominent French newspaper of the time, as a “marvel of our century,” Jacquet was born into a musical family, and was highly favored by King Louis XIV. From a young age, she received musical training at his court. She later composed and performed works that spanned several genres, publishing many of them, which was quite unusual for a woman.
Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre’s 350th Birthday Read More »
