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About the San Francisco Early Music SocietyOur MissionThe San Francisco Early Music Society is a community-based organization dedicated to increasing public appreciation for historically-informed performance of early music. The Society emphasizes three areas of activity:
Why Early Music?Music written hundreds of years ago can sound as fresh and alive today as when it was first heard. Lutes, recorders, sackbuts, baroque violins, harpsichords, and violas da gamba excite the senses now as they did centuries ago. Since 1975 the San Francisco Early Music Society (SFEMS) has presented high quality concerts, up-to-date publications, and some of the best education programs available anywhere. All this has contributed to the Bay Area’s reputation as one of America’s leading centers for the performance of early music. The San Francisco Early Music Society seeks to create an appreciative and supportive environment for the study and performance of medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music by both amateurs and professionals in Northern California. To this end, it works to increase public awareness of the richness and variety of classical music before 1750, to create opportunities for the performance of this repertoire, and to educate musicians of all backgrounds, ages, and abilities in the techniques appropriate to early music. SFEMS HistorySFEMS was founded in 1975, growing from an informal gathering of early music enthusiasts into the largest early music presenter and service organization in America. SFEMS is a community-based membership organization and the most successful society of its kind in the USA. Since its founding, SFEMS has been the focal institution in Northern California for the advancement of historically-informed performance of early music. It is unique in providing a full spectrum of programs to the general public, to amateur and professional musicians, and to children. The Society emphasizes three areas of activity:
SFEMS activities include the following:
ConcertsThe Society produces at least seven major chamber concerts annually. Since 1990 the Society has produced a series of concerts as co-sponsor of the Berkeley Festival, a major biennial event organized in cooperation with Cal Performances and the University of California Department of Music. In all of its performance programs, SFEMS maintains a special commitment to locally-based performers and ensembles. EducationSFEMS also takes an active role in music education. It offers a nationally renowned series of summer workshops (first held in 1980) taught by artists in residence at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park and at St. Albert’s Priory in Oakland to over 300 amateur and professional musicians. It has offered a series of popular evening classes and collegia in Berkeley on all aspects of early music. In recent years, it has added programs for children, including after-school classes in the public schools and a special summer workshop. Occasionally, the Society also arranges master classes and symposia given by visiting performers. Membership and OutreachThe Society currently has over 800 members throughout Northern California. As part of SFEMS's community outreach and service programs, each member receives a monthly newsletter covering events in the early music community. In the fall of each year the newsletter is sent to a greatly expanded regional mailing list, as are all concert and workshop brochures. Finally, the Society operates an Affiliate Program providing financial and program support services to carefully selected performers and ensembles. The program currently assists 42 local musical organizations and has given birth to such noted Bay Area groups as the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Chanticleer, and Ensemble Alcatraz. Board of DirectorsThe Society is governed by a board of directors, currently (September 9, 2011)
consisting of 19 members: John Phillips, president Directors are elected at the Annual Membership Meeting held the first Wednesday in September. You too can support early music in the Bay Area.Become a member of SFEMS today!
Donate to SFEMS.
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