The San Francisco Early Music Society
2008 Recorder Workshop
July 20 - 26, 2008

Please check this web site again from time to time, as details will be posted as they become available. (Last updated 5/7/08)

Message from Frances Feldon, Director:

I'm very pleased to announce our program for the upcoming July 20-26, 2008 SFEMS Recorder Workshop at St Albert’s Priory in Oakland, California. Please join us for a jam-packed week of recorder classes, ensemble playing, wonderful concerts, and the opportunity to improve your skills. We offer you a weeklong opportunity to work with highly regarded recorder specialists in a friendly and intimate, yet serious atmosphere, on a quiet campus adjacent to the amenities of a large city. Click here for your welcome letter and registration form.

Enroll on line via our secure form!

Registration is now full for the recorder workshop. If you would like to be on a waiting list, please complete an enrollment form. We will accept names for the waiting list in the order received and will let you know as soon as there is an opening when that occurs.

Our faculty for 2008 includes

• Janet Beazley, San Juan Capistrano, CA
• Frances Feldon, Berkeley, CA
• Katherine Heater, Piedmont CA
• Lisette Kielson, Bloomington, IL
• Norbert Kunst, The Netherlands
• Herb Myers, Menlo Park, CA
• David Morris, Oakland, CA

Click here for faculty biographies.

About St Albert’s Priory:

St Albert’s Priory, a Dominican campus, is a beautiful, quiet and collegial ivy-covered brick oasis one block off of College Avenue in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland, CA. It is two blocks and a five-minute walk from the Rockridge BART station, so is easily accessible (by BART) from any part of the Bay Area via public transportation. Ample parking is available for commuters who drive. College Avenue is an attractive upscale shopping area with lots of boutiques, cafes, and excellent restaurants. You may choose to stay on campus. All rooms on campus are singles containing a bed, desk, armchair, closet and sink; toilets and showers are dorm style (down the hall, with individual cubicles). The rooms are extremely nice and overlook the serene inner courtyard garden of the priory. Meals are available in the priory dining room (the refectory, that is!), and the menu is very simple but well crafted. You may purchase a commuter meal plan AHEAD OF TIME even if you don’t stay on campus. The classrooms available to us are roomy and nice. For recorder orchestra, we have the use of the incredibly beautiful main chapel, with gorgeous woodwork and stained glass.

If you would like to view some pictures of the chapel go to: sap.opwest.org and click on “Photo Galleries.”

Curriculum

Our curriculum this year includes some new and old components. Rotating technique instructors continues to be a resounding success, and will be repeated again next year -- each participant experiences every instructor and a range of technical topics. We have had repeated requests for a music history course, and so we are working on how to include that as a course.

We will offer an array of late morning and afternoon ensembles. Topics will range from medieval to Renaissance and baroque, and from contemporary to crossover.

Recorder orchestra rehearses every morning with Norbert Kunst. This year the recorder orchestra will enjoy learning new works chosen to illustrate a scene from Antoine de Sainte-Exupéry’s The Little Prince.

Katherine, our resident harpsichordist, is a welcome addition to the recorder workshop teaching tradition. This year, we will also benefit from rounding out the workshop continuo teaching team with viola da gambist and cellist David Morris.

Click here for a curriculum guide

Special course offerings in 2008:

• Ensemble classes include topics on recorder music from the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque to the 21st century, eg Renaissance recorders, madrigal music for recorders, jazz arrangements for recorder, etc
• Technique classes at every level with rotating instructors
• Recorder orchestra every morning conducted by Norbert Kunst
• Optional Master class every day with resident continuo team artists
• Friendly atmosphere, small classes

A variety of engaging evening activities are planned. We will open the workshop with an all-workshop playing session on Sunday evening led by Lisette Kielson. Small, informal, faculty-coached ensembles continue as the popular Monday evening activity. Judy Linsenberg will offer an in-depth single topic workshop on Wednesday afternoon (for those who don’t want to take time off!). Thursday features a surprise lecture demonstration. (Last year’s lecture demonstration was given by recorder composer Tom Bickley.) You can be sure to find many opportunities for impromptu ensemble playing organized by workshop participants.

Special concerts begin Tuesday night with the faculty doing solo and ensemble recorder sonatas with basso continuo accompaniment (Katherine and David); Friday night features YOU (the recorder orchestra!) in a half-program, with the faculty performing consort music for a half-program. Saturday morning is a student class concert.

Evening activities in 2007:

• Coached informal playing sessions
• Faculty concerts
• Lectures

Click here for a daily schedule .

Scholarships

Scholarships are available from Early Music America, American Recorder Society, your local ARS chapter, and the SFEMS Recorder Workshop.

Comments from our 2007 Recorder Workshop participants:

• Well done! I liked the variety…from Buxtehude to the blues! …. This was great and inspired me to do more.
• I really liked having exposure to the five different teachers for technique, each with his/her different topic and slant … I commend you for finding such a lovely, serene and conveniently located venue.
• Thanks for the great workshop! I think it was the best I have ever attended. I liked the St Albert’s Priory venue very much and think that it added to the quality of the workshop for me
• The faculty and fellow attendees were friendly and helpful. I really appreciated all the mentoring.
• I was amazed at the overall spirit and feelings that I had at this workshop! Especially the way all teachers approached our classes with such focus and attention to our needs, questions, etc and the loveliness of it all. Thank you.

Last year’s workshop was nearly full by a month before workshop time, so it is recommended that you register early. Be there or be square! Hope to see you this summer.

Frances Feldon, Director, and Katherine Heater, Co-Director
510-527-9840; franfel@aol.com