I'd second Eugene's caveat about blanket statements about early music performance in the barren plains. This weekend in the St Louis area two different ensembles are presenting programs--one an all-French concert with dancers and costumes and the other a concert of 17th-c music for violins, violone, and theorbo by Cazzati, Corradini, Frescobaldi and others. Beginning May 3, I have a different concert to play every weekend for 3 weeks with 3 different ensembles. In July, Early Music St. Louis runs an early music camp for high school string players at which the kids all get to play on gut-strung period instruments with proper bows.
We have 5 early music ensembles in the area who perform pretty regularly, hire professional players, and present pretty high-level concerts. The newest organization, St. Louis Baroque, is a group I helped found and direct and the plan is to grow it into a good-sized baroque orchestra--the city now includes at least a half-dozen baroque violinists (one of whom is a great viola d'amore player), 3 baroque cellists (including one fine gambist), 2 baroque bassoonists/dulcian players, a number of fine harpsichordists, one theorbo/luter and lots of good singers, I think this has some serious potential. We don't have the audience yet, but it's out there and we're working to get them in. It's not Vancouver or Boston or Berkeley--but it's good music by good performers on period instruments. For a sample of some of what we do here, go to http://arsantiguapresents.com/ to hear Jerry Fuller's Ars Antiqua Chicago podcast. Although they are not ascribed, the podcasts for January, February & April were all recorded in live concerts here in STL. I helped with sound and recording for the Graupner & Telemann recordings and I played on the Shakespear Bande recording. Some of the players on the Graupner & Telemann were imported (oboist from Boston, flute from Mexico) but the bulk of the band was local players, as it is for the Shakespear Bande. And now I have to go practice for the concert I'm playing Sunday! All the best. jeff ----- Original Message ----- From: "Eugene C. Braig IV" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Daniel F Heiman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 7:31 AM Subject: [LUTE] Re: Extravaganza (OT) > This is a fine tale and thank you for it, Daniel. However, the whole of > the US's creamy center isn't necessarily that desert-like (or > dessert-like). Consider Indiana U. and their early-music festival in > Bloomington, IN. Here in Columbus, OH, we have a thriving, obscenely > well-attended early-music concert series. Cleveland has a successful > baroque orchestra and tends to host the LSA convention every other year. Etc. > > Best, > Eugene > > At 02:10 AM 4/18/2008, Daniel F Heiman wrote: > >The center part of the US tends to be an early music desert compared to > >either of the coasts, but lately the Chicago area has begun to perk up a > >bit, with a few more local musicians putting on relatively high-quality > >performances. In addition, there are sometimes outreach events designed > >to engage young people and the general public. I participated in > >something last Sunday that, while not superb musically, was still just a > >lot of fun to do. Pictures here: > >http://earlymusichicago.org/photoalbum_MICEarlyMusicExtravaganzaApril2008 > >.htm > >Some of you who attend LSA Seminars will recognize a singer.at the center > >of the group in the second picture from the right in the top row. > > > >Daniel Heiman > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >
