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About the San Francisco Early Music Society

Why Early Music?

Music written hundreds of years ago can sound as fresh and alive today as when it was first heard. Lutes, recorders, sackbuts, baroque violins, harpsichords, and violas da gamba excite the senses now as they did centuries ago.

Since 1975 the San Francisco Early Music Society (SFEMS) has presented high quality concerts, up-to-date publications, and some of the best education programs available anywhere. All this has contributed to the Bay Area’s reputation as one of America’s leading centers for the performance of early music.

The San Francisco Early Music Society seeks to create an appreciative and supportive environment for the study and performance of medieval, Renaissance, and baroque music by both amateurs and professionals in Northern California. To this end, it works to increase public awareness of the richness and variety of classical music before 1750, to create opportunities for the performance of this repertoire, and to educate musicians of all backgrounds, ages, and abilities in the techniques appropriate to early music.

SFEMS History

SFEMS was founded in 1975, growing from an informal gathering of early music enthusiasts into the largest early music presenter and service organization in America. SFEMS is a community-based membership organization and the most successful society of its kind in the USA. Since its founding, SFEMS has been the focal institution in Northern California for the advancement of historically-informed performance of early music. It is unique in providing a full spectrum of programs to the general public, to amateur and professional musicians, and to children.

The Society emphasizes three areas of activity:

• concert presentations of primarily medieval, Renaissance, and baroque music
• education programs that support professionals, encourage the development of amateurs, and increase public involvement and participation
• services to the community, including communication, outreach, and support for emerging artists

SFEMS activities include the following:

• the annual chamber concert series
• education programs for adults and children, including summer workshops and after-school programs
• co-sponsorship of the biennial Berkeley Festival
• a monthly early music newsletter
• the Directory of Early Music
• a professional Affiliate Program

Concerts

The Society produces at least eight major chamber concerts annually. Since 1990 the Society has produced a series of concerts as co-sponsor of the Berkeley Festival, a major biennial event organized in cooperation with Cal Performances and the University of California Department of Music. In all of its performance programs, SFEMS maintains a special commitment to locally-based performers and ensembles.

Education

SFEMS also takes an active role in music education. It offers a nationally renowned series of summer workshops (first held in 1980) taught by artists in residence at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park and at St. Albert’s Priory in Oakland to over 300 amateur and professional musicians. It has offered a series of popular evening classes and collegia in Berkeley on all aspects of early music. In recent years, it has added programs for children, including after-school classes in the public schools and a special summer workshop. Occasionally, the Society also arranges master classes and symposia given by visiting performers.

Membership and Outreach

The Society currently has over 800 members throughout Northern California. As part of SFEMS's community outreach and service programs, each member receives a monthly newsletter covering events in the early music community. In the fall of each year the newsletter is sent to a greatly expanded regional mailing list, as are all concert and workshop brochures. Finally, the Society operates an Affiliate Program providing financial and program support services to carefully selected performers and ensembles. The program currently assists 42 local musical organizations and has given birth to such noted Bay Area groups as the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Chanticleer, and Ensemble Alcatraz.

Board of Directors

The Society is governed by a board of directors, currently (September 30, 2009) consisting of 21 members:

Meryl Sacks, president
Greta Hryciw, vice-president
Susan Richardson, secretary
Peggy Murray, treasurer

Sally Blaker Lisa Capaldini Robert Cole Marie Bertillion Collins Violet Grgich Lisa Grodin

Katherine Heater John Mark Marilyn Marquis Karen Nebelkopf Kate van Orden

Mike Peterson John Phillips Suzanne Siebert Yuko Tanaka Barbara Van Slyke

You too can support early music in the Bay Area.

Donate to SFEMS.