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VdGS/GNY Past Events

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Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019
11:00 am to 4:00 pm

HAUSMUSIK
Hosted by Deborah Peters
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Sunday, September 15, 2019, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm

The Viola da Gamba Society of Greater New York Presents
THE ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING AND PLAY-IN 2019


Stern College
35th Street and Lexington Avenue in New York City

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Sunday, October 14, 2018, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm

The Viola da Gamba Society of Greater New York Presents
THE ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING AND PLAY-IN 2018


Stern College
35th Street and Lexington Avenue in New York City

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Monday, March 5, 2018, 3:00 pm
Masterclass, Coaching and Individual Lessons by

Paolo Pandolfo
Together with His Assistant
Amélie Chemin

At the home of Jillian Samant

Paolo Pandolfo is since at least two decades one of the most appreciated viola da gamba players in the world. His career started in the 80’s playing worldwide in the prestigious group of Jordi Savall. In 1990 he started teaching at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, and since then dedicated himself mainly to record and perform the rich solo viol repertoire. Most of his recordings have received awards by the most relevant musical magazines worldwide and his interpretation for the viola da gamba of Bach's six cello Suites are a “must” in every complete Bach discography.
His last releases for Glossa have been: Marais 1689: pieces for one and two viols from the first book of M.Marais, including pieces for one viol and two viols and G.P.Telemann Fantasias for viola da gamba.
Beside his activity as an interpreter and a researcher, he is a composer, as well as one of the few early music specialists working on historical improvisation.


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SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 2017, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM

The Viola da Gamba Society of Greater New York Presents
THE ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING AND PLAY-IN 2017

Stern College at 35th Street and Lexington Avenue in New York City

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Sunday, May 21, 2017, 9:30 – 4:30 pm
The British Are Coming: A Cultural Revolution in Germany

Music Director: Patricia Ann Neely 
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Sunday, November 20, 2016, at 2:00 pm
Hausmusik

Hosted by Martha McGaughey (Inwood)
Contact Martha: marthamcg@aol.com

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Friday, December 2, 2016, at 7:00 pm
Hausmusik

Hosted by Stanley Dorn (Harlem)
Contact Stanley: dorns@newschool.edu  

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Thursday, December 8, 2016, at 7:00 pm

Fall Soirée

Come and play your solo or ensemble piece for a friendly audience.

Hosted by Jillian Samant (Flatiron)
Contact Martha McGaughey: marthamcg@aol.com  
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Sunday, November 6, 2016, at 1:00 pm
Mini-Workshop with Roland Hutchinson “Temperament Without Tears"

Understanding musical temperament and its application to the viols and other fretted instruments.

An exploration of how musical temperaments apply to viols (and other fretted instruments) in both theory and practice. Players of other instruments are also welcome as auditors.

Central Park Gardens Community Room 50 West 97th Street (between Central Park West and Columbus Aves.)  
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Thursday, October 27, 2016, at 7:00 pm
Hausmusik (New Streamlined Hausmusik)

Here’s how it works: let the contact person know if you are interested. No coaching, but the contact person, who will also play, will see who signs up and find music for a compatible number of players, instruments, and levels. Every effort will be made to accommodate outliers at the following Hausmusik session (if, for example five people want to play treble).

With Arnie Tanimoto.
Hosted by Heidi Waleson (Upper West Side)
Contact Arnie: s.arnietanimoto@gmail.com
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Sunday, September 18, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 pm

MEMBERSHIP MEETING AND PLAY-IN 2016

. NEW LOCATION: Stern College
35th Street & Lexington Avenue New York City
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Saturday, January 23, 2016; Saturday, January 31, 2016

The Viola da Gamba Society of Greater New York Presents
Back to Back Bach: Two Mini-Workshops


Directed by Lucy Bardo

Lucy Bardo offered two classes exploring the music of J. S. Bach on Saturday, January 23, 2016, 1:30 to 4:00 pm (polyphony workshop) and Sunday, January 31, 2016, 10:30 am to 1:00 pm (harmonization workshop).

The class on January 23rd immersed players in hefty chunks of music from Bach’s early career (1709-1712), the Passacaglia and Fugue in c minor for organ, and two from the latest years of his life. These are the 6-part Ricercare from the Musical Offering based on the “royal theme” of Frederick the Great, and a 4-part Contrapunctus from the Art of Fugue.

The repertoire for January 31 presented an opportunity to play and marvel at the various ways Bach harmonizes a chorale tune by studying several of the more familiar ones for which Bach made different harmonizations.

Lucy Bardo is a long-time member of Calliope: A Renaissance Band and the Berkshire Bach Society, and performed for over 40 years with the New York Consort of Viols. Over the years she was a guest artist with many organizations including Musica Viva, the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic. In 2013 she played viola da gamba in an on-stage band for a production of Handel's Giulio Ceasare in Egitto at the Met.

She has appeared as viola da gamba soloist for the Bach Passions with many choral organizations including the Washington D.C. Choral Arts Society and the Berkshire Choral Festival. In the summer of 2005 she was the music director for and appeared in Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew at Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, Massachusetts.

Her recording credits include Nonesuch, Vanguard, Telarc, Musical Heritage, Columbia, Summit, Equilibrium and Lyrachord. She teaches viola da gamba and the Early Music Collegium at Simons Rock College as well as gamba and cello privately. She is the editor of two publications for viola da gamba: the J. S. Bach Art of the Fugue and Le Nymphe di Rheno by Johann Schenck for viola da gamba duo.


Sunday, December 6, 2015, 11:00 am-1:00 pm.

The Viola da Gamba Society of Greater New York Presents
The Annual Fall Matinée


A performance opportunity for members of the
Greater New York chapter of the VdGSA


Sunday, November 1, 2015, 1 to 3:30 p.m.

The Treat Is Only Sound
A mini-workshop with John Mark Rozendaal

One of the greatest beauties of the viola da gamba is the range of sounds, colors, dynamics, and articulations that it can produce. In this workshop we practice techniques for enlarging our vocabulary of timbres and sound shapes: breath, imagination, balance of weight, balance of tension, movement, left-hand attitude, and bowing techniques. And we practice deploying those sounds expressively in fantasies of Coprario and madrigals of Gibbons.

John Mark Rozendaal specializes in teaching and performing stringed instrument music from the Baroque and Renaissance eras. He performs as a member of LeStrange Viols, Brandywine Baroque, and Trio Settecento. In addition, he has performed both solo and continuo roles with many period instrument ensembles, including the Newberry Consort, Orpheus Band, the King's Noyse, the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, and Soli Deo Gloria's Chicago Bach Project. Recordings are available on the Cedille and Centaur labels. A dedicated teacher, Rozendaal is in demand at workshops and often joins the faculty of the Viola da Gamba Society of America Conclave, the Amherst Early Music Festival, and the Madison Early Music Festival. He teaches Viola da Gamba Dojo classes and private lessons at his studio in Manhattan.


Sunday, October 4, 2015, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm

Membership Meeting and Play-In

Grace Church School
86 Fourth Avenue (entrance at East 11th Street), Manhattan


Saturday, January 10, 2015, 2-4 PM

The Roads to and from Paris
The 16th-Century Parisian Chanson


With Ros Morley

At the home of Jillian Samant
26 East 22nd Street #9 NYC 10009 


Sunday, December 7, 2014, 1-4 pm

Pre-Holiday Matinée


An afternoon of informal performances by and for members in a comfortable and supportive environment, followed by refreshments, socializing, and consort playing for fun.

Saturday, September 20, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm

Membership Meeting and Play-In 2014

Grace Church School
86 Fourth Avenue (entrance at East 11th Street), Manhattan


Friday, May 16, 2014, 7:00-9:00 pm.

The Annual Spring Soirée

A performance opportunity for members of the Greater New York chapter of the VdGS.


Sunday, April 27th, 2014, 12:00−2:30 PM

New Wine in Old Bottles
Playing 20th and 21st Century Music with Judith Davidoff


A HALF-DAY WORKSHOP PRESENTED BY
THE VIOLA DA GAMBA SOCIETY OF GREATER NEW YORK


207 West 86th St. PH-A, New York City

JUDITH DAVIDOFF began her music career as a cellist in Boston. She joined the Boston Camerata in the 1950s and was later invited by Noah Greenberg to join the New York Pro Musica. He pursuaded her to form a viol consort, which in 1972 became the New York Consort of Viols. Long interested in new music, she created a catalogue of 20th-century viol music as part of her doctoral thesis in 1995. As artistic director of the NY Consort of Viols, she has commissioned several new works.


Saturday, March 29, 2014

Thomas Lupo’s Consort Music:
Italy Meets England


9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Grace Church School
86 Fourth Avenue (entrance at East 11th Street), NYC

Brent Wissick, director
Joanna Blendulf, Lawrence Lipnik, and David Morris, additional faculty

VdGS/GNY welcomes back Brent Wissick—joined by a stellar cross-country faculty—to lead this workshop highlighting English composer Thomas Lupo, who composed music for two to six viols. Lupo’s family migrated from Italy in the mid-16th century; he was composer and musician at the English court from 1591 to 1628, the Golden Age of English viol consort playing. Brent says, “I have known and loved some of Lupo’s three-part pieces for over thirty years, but more recently have become passionate about the richness and variety of the six-part pieces. They really tell stories, just like Italian madrigals.” Along with his consorts we may sample others by his
English contemporaries influenced by Italian style.

BRENT WISSICK teaches viola da gamba, cello, and early music ensembles at the University of North Carolina. A member of Ensemble Chanterelle and the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, he is a frequent guest with numerous ensembles in the U.S. as well as Wroclaw Baroque in Poland. He has performed and taught at many schools,
workshops, and festivals in North America, Australia, Europe and Asia. He was President of the VdGSA from 2000 through 2004, and chair of the 2007 Pan-Pacific Gamba Gathering. In addition to his work in early music, Brent researches and performs the cello music of Britten and Chopin.

A recent arrival to Alabama from Oregon, JOANNA BLENDULF has performed as soloist and continuo player in leading period instrument ensembles including the Portland Baroque Orchestra, Seattle’s Pacific MusicWorks, and Vancouver’s Pacific Baroque Orchestra; the Bloomington, Boston and Berkeley Early Music Festivals; and the Carmel and Oregon Bach Festivals. A teacher of viola da gamba and baroque cello, Joanna has been a popular faculty member at VdGSA Conclaves and other gamba workshops.

New York’s own LAWRENCE LIPNIK has performed with ensembles from Anonymous 4 to the Waverly Consort, and is a founding member of Parthenia and the vocal ensemble Lionheart. He has taught viol, recorder, and early music performance at Wesleyan University, as well as at VdGSA Conclaves, Pinewoods, and the San
Diego, Amherst, and Madison Early Music Festivals. Larry is music editor for an upcoming authoritative edition of the original songs from Shakespeare’s plays.

Bay-Area based DAVID MORRIS is a member of The King’s Noyse, the Galax Quartet, Quicksilver and NYS Baroque. He has performed with numerous ensembles including Musica Pacifica, the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, Tragicomedia, Tafelmusik, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He has taught at many VdGSA Conclaves, and has been a guest instructor in early music performance-practice at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, Oberlin College, the Madison Early Music Festival, and Cornell University.


Sunday January 12, 2014

Viva Espagna!
A Mini-Workhop with Tina Chancey

TINA CHANCEY plays medieval fiddles, viola da gamba and renaissance, Old Time and Irish violin on roots music from Sephardic and blues to early music and jazz standards. Her specialty is the five-stringed pardessus de viole; she was awarded grants by the National Endowment for the Arts to present debut concerts on the pardessus at Carnegie Recital Hall and Kennedy Center, and has recorded for Dorian and Golden Apple. Director of Hesperus and a member of Toss the Feathers and Trio Sefardi, she is a former member of the Folger Consort, the rock band Blackmore’s Night and the multi-media music theater ensemble QUOG. She teaches, performs, records, improvises, produces recordings, writes articles and directs the SoundCatcher workshops teaching musicians how to play by ear and improvise. The Versatile Viol is her series of three CDs featuring the viol in Scots-Irish music, in French baroque music, and in American traditional music. Dr. Chancey has been given an Special Education Achievement Award by Early Music America and two Wammies for best classical instrumentalist by the Washington Area Music Association. For more information, please visit www.tinachancey.net .


Sunday, December 8, 2013 from 2-4PM

The Annual Pre-Holiday Matinée

A performance opportunity for members of the Greater New York chapter of the VdGS

At the home of Jillian Samant
26 E. 22nd St. #9, NYC (subway: F/M/N/R/6 to 23rd St)


Wednesday, November 13, 2013

A MASTERCLASS WITH
RICHARD BOOTHBY



Richard Boothby is a founder-member of Fretwork, and has played with them for nearly 30 years. He has sought to enrich the viol -consort repertory with new music from today’s finest composers, from Elvis Costello to George Benjamin, from Alexander Goehr to Nico Muhly.He has recently formed a new group, called ‘Aporia’, together with Stephen Preston and Jane Chapman, to explore radical experimental contemporary music, alongside the music of the baroque. With the Purcell Quartet he recorded nearly 50 albums for Hyperion and Chandos; and with Fretwork he recorded over 30 albums for Virgin Classics, Harmonia Mundi USA and others. He has arranged and transcribed many of the great keyboard pieces of J. S. Bach for viols, recorded under the title ‘Alio Modo’; and his arrangement of the Goldberg Variations has also recently appeared. He was widely praised for his performances of William Lawes’s lyra viol solos on the two Fretwork discs devoted to his music. In 1998 he directed performances of Monteverdi's “L’Incoronazione di Poppea” withthe Purcell Quartet; and in 2001 directed them in a fully-staged production of “L’Orfeo”, with Mark Padmore in the title role. He is professor of Viola da Gamba at the Royal College in London.

Four players or ensembles will each have a chance to play for 40 minutes.


Saturday, September 21, 2013

Membership Meeting and Play-In 2013


9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Grace Church School
86 Fourth Avenue (entrance at East 11th Street), Manhattan


Friday, May 10, 2013

Annual Spring Soirée


Church of St. Luke in the Fields
487 Hudson Street at Grove Street, NYC

A performance opportunity for members of the Greater New York chapter of the VdGSA. The Choir Room at the this free event, in which members play for members, provides a chance for our chapter of the Viola da Gamba Society to come together, to meet new friends, and for us to play for one another in a comfortable and judgment-free environment. You might come to overcome stage fright, you might come to try out a piece you’ve been working on, or you might come to play, just for the fun of it. You may choose to perform, or to be a member of the audience. All ages and levels are encouraged. Solos, duos, consorts and mixed ensembles (with at least one player a chapter member) are welcome. After the concert, please stay for refreshments, to chat with your fellow chapter members, and—if time permits—to read consort music we’ll have on-hand. Performers need to arrive at 7:00 PM in order to unpack and tune. Please bring a stand! Audience members should plan to arrive by 7:30 PM. Register early to ensure you have a place. Performers need a friendly audience, so come, even if not to play! 


April 13, 2013, 9:00

A German Bouquet
A VdGS/GNY All-Day Workshop

Directed by Gail Ann Schroeder with Martha McGaughey, Alice Robbins, and John Mark Rozendaal.

Grace Church School
86 Fourth Avenue (entrance at East 11th Street), NYC

Note: Because of high registration for this workshop, we added Margaret Panofsky and Roland Hutchinson to our faculty.

“Seventeenth-century Germany was a time of cultural exchange and cosmopolitan influence,” says Gail Ann Schroeder, whom we are welcoming from North Carolina to direct our all-day spring workshop. “France was looked to for courtly manners and style, Italy for music and art. It was also a time of transition, from Renaissance to Baroque.” We will focus on the luscious repertoire composed for viols in 17th-century Germany. This will include works from the English viol players who lived there, Brade and Simpson; late Renaissance composers such as Praetorius; early Baroque composers Franck, Schütz, Schein and Scheidt; and the Baroque Sonatas à 5 of Johann Rosenmüller.

Gail Ann Schroeder has taught regularly at VdGSA and Amherst Early Music workshops in the six years since her return from living in Europe. There, she taught as assistant to Wieland Kuijken from 1988 to 2002, and performed and recorded with numerous early music ensembles. Gail currently lives in Asheville and teaches extensively in the southeast, including Mountain Collegium and Music on the Mountain workshops. She participated as faculty and performer in the 2012 endowed-chair French Baroque Project at the University of Alabama, and has recently expanded her teaching to include the Alexander Technique.

Martha McGaughey studied with Jordi Savall as well as with Wieland Kuijken. She is a founding member of the New York-based groups Empire Viols and Aula Harmoniae. She has recorded for the Fonit Cetra and Erato labels, as well as for EMI. She has taught at the Ecole Nationale de Musique in Angouleme, at Stanford University, and since 1986 at The Mannes College of Music. Martha teaches privately in NYC as well as at Amherst Early Music and other workshops, including last summer’s Conclave.

Alice Robbins is a member of the Oberlin Consort of Viols, as well as Arcadia Players and Washington Bach Consort. She performs with the Folger Consort, Handel and Haydn Society, and Opera Lafayette, and has earned degrees from Indiana University and the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where she was a student of Hannelore Mueller. She teaches at the Five College Early Music Program at Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges, and has recorded extensively. We welcome Alice back to NYC!

John Mark Rozendaal directs The Viola da Gamba Dojo of New York, a program teaching viol to young children and amateur viol players of all ages. He has performed both solo and continuo roles with many period instrument ensembles, including the Newberry Consort, Orpheus Band, the King’s Noyse, and the Catacoustic Consort. John Mark currently performs in Trio Settecento and the Repast Baroque Ensemble. His recordings include a solo CD of works of Christopher Simpson and others.


March 3, 2013

Semper Dowland
A VdGS/GNY Mini-Workshop

Donna Fournier lead a workshop on chamber music of John Dowland. Enrollment was limited to ten (10) viol players, (two trebles, two to four tenors, and four to six basses), intermediate to advanced levels, plus auditors.
Donna Fournier plays viola da gamba and baroque cello with La Bernardinia (Philadelphia), Triomphe de l'Amour (Princeton) and Mélomanie (Wilmington) and as a guest artist with such groups as Brandywine Baroque, and The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. In a recent review by the Philadelphia Inquirer, her solo work was acclaimed as "poised, soulful ... played with particular depth." Donna is affiliate faculty at Temple University coaching viol players from the Early Music Ensemble. She has a number of recordings to her credit; currently in progress are the Biblical Cantatas of Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre for Plectra Records.


Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Fuoco e Ghiaccio: Late Expressive Madrigals from Italy:
A Mini-Workshop for Advanced Players

Led by David Morris

Fuoco e Ghiaccio = Fire and Ice! By 1580 composers began to push the stylistic boundaries of the “classic” Italian madrigal in extreme ways. Claudio Monteverdi, Sigismondo d'India and Carlo Gesualdo all used chromaticism and sharp, declamatory rhythms to heighten textual expressivity--and in doing so, pushed art music into uncharted musical waters. We will look at a sampling of each composer's works for five voices (in editions adapted for viol-players) and see just how extreme the music of this era can be! Both players and auditors are welcome. Known to many as a popular workshop teacher, David Morris has previously led us in memorable evenings of French baroque theater music and Monteverdi madrigals. David is a member of The King’s Noyse, the Galax Quartet, Quick-silver, the Sex Chordae Consort of Viols, and NYS Baroque. As a gambist, cellist and lironist, he has performed with Musica Pacifica, the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and many other groups. He has been a guest instructor in early music performance practice at UC Berkeley, Oberlin, and elsewhere, and has recorded extensively. Fees for participation are $35 for players, $15 for auditors. Scholarships are available. Participants must be current members of VdGS/GNY; our membership year began this September.


Saturday, November 3rd, 2012

A Sephardic Sampler
Music of the Spanish Jews from Medieval Times to the Present


Led by Lisle Kulbach

We welcome back Lisle Kulbach, a multi-talented performer and teacher of many musical genres and of many instruments besides the viol. Lisle is co-founder of Voice of the Turtle, a group that has specialized in researching and performing Sephardic music for several decades. Under her guidance we will learn beautiful melodies, new scales, and improvising in the Mid-Eastern tradition (similar to the Medieval). And, we’ll jam a little! Singers are welcome. Fees for participation are $35 for players, $15 for auditors. Participants must be current members of VdGS/GNY; our membership year began this September.