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Press Releases
The Inaugural American Bach Soloists ACADEMY to Enliven Summer Music Scene
American Bach Soloists (ABS) announces the creation of the American Bach soloists ACADEMY, an annual two-week summer professional training program in historically informed performance practice—the only such program explicitly for conservatory-level students and emerging professionals. Held July 5-18, 2010, in the exquisite new facilities of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Academy brings together exceptional young musicians and illustrious professionals for a series of concerts, recitals, and lectures in the heart of the Civic Center/Hayes Valley arts district.
The Academy’s exceptionally diverse educational activities afford an unparalleled academic experience to its student body of string players, wind players, continuo and keyboard players, and singers. Over an intensive two-week period, Academy students receive in-depth coaching and attend daily lectures on performance practice,Baroque studies, and historical contexts. Working both individually with masters of their particular instrument and collaboratively with all Academy faculty, they gain exposure to broad-based, multidisciplinary perspectives on performance practice issues. At the end of the two-week period, one student will be awarded the Henry I. Goldberg Young Artist Prize of $3,000 and an invitation to perform with ABS in a future concert season.
For concertgoers, the Academy offers an impressive array of exciting performances by students and faculty, centered on six premiere concerts (detailed below). Highlights include a three-night SummerFest of chamber music, Handel’s operatic oratorio La Resurrezione, and a performance of Bach’s Mass in B Minor.
Audiences can also attend free master classes, faculty lectures, and student recitals, with at least one free event scheduled for nearly every day of the two-week period.
Co-directing the Academy are Jeffrey Thomas, Artistic Director and co-founder of ABS, and Corey Jamason, ABS’s principal keyboardist and director of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s early music program. They are joined by a highly distinguished roster of ABS’ professional musicians, collectively named “the best American specialists in early music” by The Washington Post. (The full list is presented below.)
SAMPLE QUOTE FROM JEFFREY THOMAS: “I am delighted to introduce the American Bach Soloists Academy as a vibrant new educational and performance program, and look forward to it becoming a staple of the San Francisco summer music scene,” says Thomas. “Balancing an outstanding educational opportunity with top-notch student and faculty performances, there is truly nothing comparable to the Academy in the Bay Area. With a daily menu of performances and lectures to choose from, there will be plenty for the music-starved patron to enjoy during the slow summer season!”
For more on the Academy including its faculty, programs, and schedule of concerts, visit http://americanbach.org/academy.
Founded in 1989, the American Bach Soloists (ABS) continue to introduce audiences to the masterworks of Bach and his contemporaries – as well as little-known gems from the Baroque and early-Classical eras – through historically informed performances using leading instrumental and vocal interpreters of Baroque music. Under the leadership of Co-founder and Music Director Jeffrey Thomas the ensemble has become a veritable “Who’s Who” of early music specialists and has been called “superbly musical,” and “a breath of fresh air.” Their virtuoso performances, with the “sounds of remarkable transparency and body,” have earned ABS recognition as “the best American specialists in early music.”
ACADEMY FACULTY
Elizabeth Blumenstock, violin
Max van Egmond, voice
Corey Jamason, harpsichord
Steven Lehning, violone/contrabass
Judith Malafronte, voice
Robert Mealy, violin
Sandra Miller, flute
Debra Nagy, oboe/recorder
Elisabeth Reed, viola da gamba/violoncello
John Thiessen, trumpet
Jeffrey Thomas, conductor
Tanya Tomkins, violoncello
Full Schedule and information: http://americanbach.org/academy
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The Academy’s exceptionally diverse educational activities afford an unparalleled academic experience to its student body of string players, wind players, continuo and keyboard players, and singers. Over an intensive two-week period, Academy students receive in-depth coaching and attend daily lectures on performance practice,Baroque studies, and historical contexts. Working both individually with masters of their particular instrument and collaboratively with all Academy faculty, they gain exposure to broad-based, multidisciplinary perspectives on performance practice issues. At the end of the two-week period, one student will be awarded the Henry I. Goldberg Young Artist Prize of $3,000 and an invitation to perform with ABS in a future concert season.
For concertgoers, the Academy offers an impressive array of exciting performances by students and faculty, centered on six premiere concerts (detailed below). Highlights include a three-night SummerFest of chamber music, Handel’s operatic oratorio La Resurrezione, and a performance of Bach’s Mass in B Minor.
Audiences can also attend free master classes, faculty lectures, and student recitals, with at least one free event scheduled for nearly every day of the two-week period.
Co-directing the Academy are Jeffrey Thomas, Artistic Director and co-founder of ABS, and Corey Jamason, ABS’s principal keyboardist and director of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s early music program. They are joined by a highly distinguished roster of ABS’ professional musicians, collectively named “the best American specialists in early music” by The Washington Post. (The full list is presented below.)
SAMPLE QUOTE FROM JEFFREY THOMAS: “I am delighted to introduce the American Bach Soloists Academy as a vibrant new educational and performance program, and look forward to it becoming a staple of the San Francisco summer music scene,” says Thomas. “Balancing an outstanding educational opportunity with top-notch student and faculty performances, there is truly nothing comparable to the Academy in the Bay Area. With a daily menu of performances and lectures to choose from, there will be plenty for the music-starved patron to enjoy during the slow summer season!”
For more on the Academy including its faculty, programs, and schedule of concerts, visit http://americanbach.org/academy.
Founded in 1989, the American Bach Soloists (ABS) continue to introduce audiences to the masterworks of Bach and his contemporaries – as well as little-known gems from the Baroque and early-Classical eras – through historically informed performances using leading instrumental and vocal interpreters of Baroque music. Under the leadership of Co-founder and Music Director Jeffrey Thomas the ensemble has become a veritable “Who’s Who” of early music specialists and has been called “superbly musical,” and “a breath of fresh air.” Their virtuoso performances, with the “sounds of remarkable transparency and body,” have earned ABS recognition as “the best American specialists in early music.”
ACADEMY FACULTY
Elizabeth Blumenstock, violin
Max van Egmond, voice
Corey Jamason, harpsichord
Steven Lehning, violone/contrabass
Judith Malafronte, voice
Robert Mealy, violin
Sandra Miller, flute
Debra Nagy, oboe/recorder
Elisabeth Reed, viola da gamba/violoncello
John Thiessen, trumpet
Jeffrey Thomas, conductor
Tanya Tomkins, violoncello
Full Schedule and information: http://americanbach.org/academy
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