Workshops and Classes
Here at SFEMS, we’re excited about being able to provide both virtual and in-person opportunities to learn more about early music!
SFEMS offers a range of educational programs for adults, children, and youth, including lectures, collegia, and four weeks of summer workshops, taught by an internationally-renowned faculty, covering the full range of historical music. We are also proud to offer year-round opportunities for virtual instruction!
Coming up
Sing-along workshop with the
Boston Camerata
19th century American spirituals
Join Anne Azéma and Boston Camerata in a pair of sing-along workshops co-presented by the Amateur Music Network and SFEMS — designed to prepare you to sing as part of their We’ll Be There! concerts.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 28 (two sessions):
3:30-5:30 & 6:30–8:30 PM
Chan National Queer Arts Center
170 Valencia St., San Francisco
Play-in & Summer Preview
Workshop
Medieval & Renaissance
Party like it’s 1499!
Spend a day with Adam Gilbert and get a preview of the musical magic we’ll be making at the Medieval Renaissance Workshop this summer!
We’ve got a playlist you can dance to–while no one is watching, of course.
For all instruments and voices A=440
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 9:00 AM–4:00 PM
Loper Chapel, First Church Berkeley UCC
2345 Channing Way, Berkeley (entrance on Dana St.)
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“The Old Song and Dance”
When they sang they danced, and when they danced they sang, at home, at court, in the church, and in the street, and in pilgrimage paths. We will explore the marriage between dance melodies and song texts from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, including how they appear in Masses.
Get ready to wiggle your fingers, wag your tongues, and tap your feet to cantigas, pastourelles, bawdy songs, and even a Missa La Bassadanza or two.
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9am–noon with a coffee break
Noon–1pm lunch*
1pm–4 with a break
*BYO: brown bag lunch, music stand
SFEMS provides waters, coffee, sweets & cookies.
Homemade offerings are welcome.
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$65 Full Day
$40 Half Day
Questions? Email workshops@sfems.org
Play-in & Summer Preview
Workshop
Baroque
Let’s chase away those late winter blues and get musicking together!
Come join Baroque Workshop Director Lindsey Strand-Polyak for a day celebrating March’s most famous baroque birthday besties: Johann Sebastian Bach (March 31) and Georg Philip Telemann (March 24). We’ll be throwing them a joint birthday party in our afternoon play-in, complete with cake! This event is open to all instrumentalists playing at A=415: violin family, gambas, recorders, flutes, oboes, bassoons, harp, guitars, harpsichord, bass sackbuts, and beyond. If you can read the music, you can play the parts!
SATURDAY, MARCH 8, 10:30 AM–3:30 PM
St. Mary Magdalen Church, Magdalen Hall, (formerly the Parish Hall)
2005 Berryman (at Shattuck)
On-site parking available
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On our party playlist will be a bit of Brandenburgs, Tafelmusik (the OG early modern mixtape), and a few surprises as well. String Players— come in the morning for a session designed for bowed string players: violin and viol family members welcome.
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2 sessions 10:30–12; lunch, 1 to 3:30 (with a break)
String Clinic – Spring String Training to prepare for Summer Workshops.
TUTTI – Bday Party Playing, Winds and other Baroque players welcome!
BYO: Music Stands and Brown Bag lunch
SFEMS provides waters, coffee, sweets
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$65 Full Day
$40 Half Day
Questions? Email workshops@sfems.org
2025 Summer Workshops
Questions about the workshops? Email us at workshops@sfems.org
Baroque Workshop: June 16–22
Medieval/Renaissance Workshop: July 13–19
Recorder Workshop: July 20–26
Classical Workshop: July 27–August 2
Save the dates!
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Become a Workshop Angel!
Over four decades, SFEMS’ summer workshops have meant so much to so many. Consider supporting the future of early music by becoming a workshop angel donor!
Tuition covers a substantial portion—but not the entirety—of our rising costs. With the workshop experience already an expensive endeavor for many folks, we are acutely aware of the impact of increasing tuition and room & board fees. Our workshop angels are crucial in helping us meet this challenge.
As a workshop angel, you can ensure that we recruit and retain our top-flight instructors, all experts in historically informed performance. You can also “pay-it-forward” through sponsoring a scholarship for a young musician. Your gift will help our early music community flourish and expand!
Becoming an angel:
A $1,500 gift underwrites one scholarship;
A $3,000 gift underwrites one faculty member.;
A $6,000 gift underwrites one workshop director, or provides for general support for the workshop.
That said, a gift of any size is greatly appreciated!
Let us shout our appreciation from the rooftops, or you may choose to remain anonymous! Please contact our workshop administrator, Stacey Helley, at slhelley@sfems.org to discuss becoming an angel donor!