When in Rome, listen to the music. If not in Rome, visit Oberlin.
The Baroque Performance Institute (BPI), America's premier summer workshop for baroque instrumentalists and vocalists, will mark its 35th season by celebrating the influence of Italian music and musicians throughout Europe. The two-week institute, founded at the Conservatory by the late Professor of Oboe James B. Caldwell and his wife, Associate Professor of Viola da Gamba and Cello Catharina Meints, begins Sunday, June 18, and concludes Saturday, July 1. BPI's internationally renowned faculty of acclaimed performers and scholars will train their lens on Italy with "Airs from the South: Italian Musical Influences Throughout Europe."
BPI's participants, who range from young musicians in high school to young professionals and adult amateurs, will receive intensive instruction on a large variety of baroque instruments as well as lessons in voice, choral conducting, and baroque ornamentation. Their days and evenings will be packed with private lessons, master classes, ensemble coaching, lectures, informal open discussions, enormously popular classes in baroque dance, and concerts featuring BPI's faculty members. Many of these concerts are free and open to the public; select concerts require a ticket, which may be purchased at the door for $10. Concerts will be held at the Conservatory's Warner Concert Hall, Kulas Recital Hall, and Fairchild Chapel, located in Bosworth Hall, one of several buildings on the Oberlin College campus designed by renowned architect Cass Gilbert.
Kenneth Slowik, conductor, cellist, and director of the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society, is BPI's artistic director. Members of the Oberlin Baroque Ensemble — Michael Lynn, Marilyn McDonald, Catharina Meints, and Webb Wiggins — comprise BPI's core faculty; all are also on the faculty at the Conservatory. This year's distinguished roster of visiting musicians and music scholars include Oberlin Emeritus Professor of Harpsichord Lisa Goode Crawford, baritone Max van Egmond, and baroque violinist Cynthia Roberts. Guest artists include soprano Kendra Colton, Visiting Professor of Singing at the Conservatory; mezzo-soprano Jennifer Lane; members of the New York Baroque Dance Company and its Artistic Director, Catherine Turocy.
For more information about BPI and related events, please contact Anna Hoffmann at (440) 775-8044. |
