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Medieval & Renaissance Workshop June 27 – July 3, 2010

Director: Tom Zajac

Med/Ren Home | Faculty Bios | Class Descriptions | Schedule | Special Evening Events
Fees | Scholarships | Venue | Enrollment | Registration packet(pdf) | Last Year

In 2010 the Medieval & Renaissance Workshop will continue the successful experiment of combining music with other artistic disciplines. Last year the theme was music and storytelling. This year we have chosen to explore the various ways that music, dance, and ceremony complemented and influenced each other during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. In addition to offering an impressive variety of music classes that reflect this theme, we are bringing in a very special guest teacher from Seattle, Anna Mansbridge. Anna is a dancer, dance historian, and choreographer who will lead us all in a morning dance and movement warm-up, teach dance classes, and co-direct the theater project with Grant Herreid. Her presence, along with that of the wonderful music faculty we've assembled, will infuse the whole week with the joy and energy of dance and movement!

The workshop will be held on the lovely campus of Sonoma State University, with its attractive dorms and facilities.

Evening Events

Our evening events will consist of a fascinating lecture, entitled Unwritten Traditions: The Art and Craft of the Improvising Dance Band in the Renaissance, by musicologist and early wind specialist Adam Gilbert; a lively lecture/demo on Renaissance dance, with live musical accompaniment, by Anna and two of her colleagues; the always popular faculty concert; and the theater project The Masque of the Four Elements, a fully-staged international celebration in dance, song, and instrumental music.

Special Projects

Other special classes and projects will include a semi-staged performance of Machaut's Lai of the Fountain, a class in leather mask making, and the all-workshop collegium, which this year will prepare and perform excerpts from Monteverdi's ballo Tirsi e Clori.

Faculty

Annette Bauer, recorder, early notation
Karen Clark, voice and movement for musicians
David Douglass, Renaissance violin, violin band, medieval strings
Adam Gilbert, recorder and lecturer
Grant Herreid, lute and theater project
Julie Jeffrey, viol
Anna Mansbridge, historic dance and theater project
Eric Mentzel, voice
Margriet Tindemans, viol and medieval strings
Bob Wiemken, double reeds and loud band
Tom Zajac, recorder, sackbut, and all-workshop collegium
Jennifer Davis, mask making and theater project assistant

Last Year's Workshop

We invite you to read participant comments about their experience at the 2009 Med/Ren workshop.

Workshop Fees and Online Enrollment

The fee for the Med/Ren workshop is $480 for enrollment by May 1, $530 for enrollment received after May 1. Discounts are available for SFEMS members and for enrollment in more than one workshop. Room and board at Sonoma State is $490, single occupancy only. All details are on the online enrollment page. Mark your calendars now for the SFEMS Medieval & Renaissance Workshop. Enroll before May 1 and save!

Contact Us

If you have any questions, please contact
Tom Zajac, medrenmail@gmail.com, 617-323-0617

Last updated 05/10/2010.