What's that Shape?

Find out from Shelley Phillips:

Shape note singing is a uniquely American tradition, a proudly inclusive and democratic part of our shared cultural heritage. The noteheads are four different shapes matched up and sung with solfege (fa so la and mi), aiding sight-singing in four-part harmony. The tradition is a living, breathing, ongoing practice passed directly to us by generations of singers, many gone on before and many still living. In fact, the tradition was born from colonial “singing schools” whose purpose was to teach beginners to sing, and our methods continue to reflect this goal. Groups are usually very social and open to anyone. Fasola singing (another name for this style) is not affiliated with any denomination and in earlier times it was a place where, say, the Baptists and Methodists could sing together. Here today in Santa Cruz we like to say that here the Wiccans and the Buddhists can sing together! This style is also often called “Sacred Harp” singing because the book that most singers use today is called “The Sacred Harp", referring to the human voice — that is, the musical instrument one is born with.

-- Shelley Phillips, Community Music School & Shape Note Singing Society

The Santa Cruz Shape Note Singing Society's choir will be featured on our upcoming Season Concert V, Jefferson's Jigge, an event co-presented by the Community Music School and the UC Santa Cruz Music Department.

Date & Time: Saturday – May 1, 2010 – 7:30pm

Location: UCSC Music Center Recital Hall

Featured Artist(s): Bill Coulter (guitar)

Deby Benton Grosjean (fiddle),

Barry Philips (cello), Boyd Jarrell (baritone),

Linda Burman-Hall (early keyboards) and The Shape Note Singing Society.

Description: Join the Jefferson family for folk and Baroque dance tunes in the parlor of Monticello. Our consort’s mix of classic colonial melodies, fancy continental imports, songs after Robert Burns, and passionate hymnody will set toes tapping. Co-presented by the UCSC Music Department & Community Music School.

Imaginary Intersections this Saturday: MORE INFO!

The SCBF is very much looking forward to this weekend's exciting and unusual concert production, "Imaginary Intersections: Raga & Raj." This premiere has resulted from over a year's worth of work and collaboration between Barry Phillips, Linda Burman-Hall and the Baroque Festival's resident ensemble Lux Musica. Here you can find various bits of information on the Raga & Raj project:

Event Poster
About the Program
Rehearsal Photos (Sunday, March 14)
Press Preview (SC Sentinal, March 18)
Press Info (more detail)

The performance will include the world premiere of Barry Phillips' imaginary musical exploration of Indian-Baroque crossovers, as well as selections of Indian and 18th-century European composers (inspired by Indian music), and finally a work by this and last century's Lou Harrison (d. 2003), known for his Southeast-Asian inspired compositions. Alone the sonic mix of Indian instruments with the softer and less-commonly heard, but timbrally instriguing historical Western instruments will be a journey worth engaging. We hope to see you there, and if you wish, do join us for a post-concert hangout at the Crepe Place (to be announced to the audience).

An Evening with Harps at Concert I

Our opening 2010 Season Concert I with harpist Cheryl Ann Fulton and ensemble was very well received.

Here are some comments (send us yours, too!):

"Cheryl Ann Fulton and three of her students played a program of traditional music from Wales on Welsh traditional harps. These lovely instruments are difficult to play, because they have three sets of strings. The ensemble played familiar Welsh melodies with much virtuousity and beauty.

Cheryl Ann Fulton holds a Ph. D. in music from Indiana University and is a specialist in Welsh and Italian historical harps. She is both a scholar and a performer on these instruments."

-- Alexandra Romanoff (Board Member)

"We found it charming. I'd never heard of harps having any more than a single set of strings, much less 3 sets! Cheryl Ann Fulton was passionate about the Irish Harp and she told amusing and informative stories about the harps and the compositions."

-- Judy Foreman (Board Member)

"Today while cleaning, I unwrapped Cheryl Ann Fulton's CD. Listening to The Airs of Wales, my heart is filled with the joy only beautiful music provides. Thank you to the Baroque Festival for providing the opportunity to hear her play in concert."

-- Jeannie Logan (Subscriber and Donor)

And here are some photos: Click Here (Photo in this gallery, as well as the one used above in this post by Lars Johannesson)

Wondering what we have been up to?

As you might have guessed, it is fall and we are in the middle of our fundraising efforts, accumulating the resources needed to present our upcoming 2010 Concert Season "Musical Voyages." Yes, that is correct, each year we generate these funds from scratch . . . through efforts made by real humans . . . and perhaps you have already heard from us in the mail. We would like to hear from you, too!

Indeed, we are old-fashioned enough to hand-address our letters to our supporters (yes, the dipping ink is for real, but no quills), and our board-members have been enjoying our mailing get-togethers over coffee and treats (bribes. . .). We hope to hear back from you, and if you would like to receive information about making a contribution, or simply be added to our events reminder email list, then please email me at scbaroque[a]baymoon.com.

As a non-profit our only goal is to get people in the door to hear early music, and to educate our community about these instruments and their performance practice. Meanwhile, fundraising is hard work . . . and sadly enough, ticket sales only cover the artist fees themselves (roughly speaking). But there is also hall rental, staff time for planning and publicity, printing, insurances, . . . and the list goes on. We really need your help each year, and we are happy to see you at our concerts!

Here are some things you can do:

● Read WHY we think our organization is worth contributing to.

● Make a PLEDGE (printable form, payment can follow later).

● Become a SUBSCRIBER or even a VOLUNTEER usher.

● Sign up for our Events (E)Mail List by sending us your contact information (whichever format you prefer, email or mail).

● Or just for starters: Come to our November 14, 2009 FALL ORGAN BENEFIT CONCERT and say HI.

● One last idea: BRING A FRIEND ALONG.

Summer Greetings

Dear Baroque Festival Friends,

Summer is coming to a close and we are gearing up for our fall planning and fundraising work.

Our 2010 season plans are now in place and will be premiered at our September 12 Donor Thank-You Luncheon (for donors who contributed $100 or more last year - contact us to be included if you intend to become a donor next season). Not attending? Let us know if you wish to receive our new 2010 brochure or season info email announcement following the luncheon (you know, Mozart aka Trazom liked reading backwards): moc.noomyab\a\euqorabcs

Our most recent event was the well-attended Boomeria Extravaganza in mid-July. Here are some pictures from that afternoon.

Going back one month further, for those of you who have not seen them yet, here is the picture gallery for Lux Musica's voyage to Washington, D.C. (Photos courtesy of Lars Johannesson).

More about baroque voyages is coming up really soon. . . .

Garden Tour 2009 PHOTOS!

Last month's 11th annual Music in the Gardens Tour was a great success. Here are some photos from Garden 3, in the Seabright area in Santa Cruz with mandolin and guitar music by Irene Herrmann and Paul Rangell (also known as The Seabright Serenaders. . .). Click on the photos below to view the complete gallery for this garden.

Lux Musica at the Smithsonian this week!

SCBF's resident period-instrument ensemble, Lux Musica (Lars Johannesson, flute; David Wilson, violin; Linda Burman-Hall, harpsichord; Amy Brodo, viola da gamba) along with guitarist Mesut Özgen have been invited to perform a concert of their 2000 production "Cantemir: Music in Istanbul and Ottoman Europe around 1700" at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

This performance was originally staged together with Turkish musician Ihsan Özgen (kemençe, tanbur, co-director) on November 12, 2000 under the auspices of the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival, in co-production with Arts & Lectures, and the released on CD through Golden Horn records in 2004. The program presents some of the finest works of the Prince Dimitrie Cantemir (1673-1723) in the varied contexts of his cultural world -- a world which arises in the crossroads of Western and Eastern thought, in the collision of Europe with the Ottoman Empire, and at the junction of Byzantine culture with Islamic theology.

Cantemir was a royal Moldavian linguist-encyclopaedist-composer who through curious fate spent 22 years as a diplomatic guest of the Ottoman Court. But Cantemir clearly preferred music to politics, and was sufficiently gifted to play his way to fame as the greatest of classical Turkish musicians. Lux Musica performs Cantemir's Classical Ottoman compositions preceded by taksim preludes, a new improvisational genre in his time; and where appropriate modal relationships are explored in collective taksim improvisations as well, a contemporary experiment in preluding pioneered by Ihsan Özgen. In addition to Cantemir's compositions, the concert also includes traditional Moldavian tunes such as he might have heard back home at his wedding, and European alla Turca reflections of Ottoman music played in Baroque style.

Finally, works by Yalçin Tura and Lou Harrison show Cantemir's continuing impact on Eurasian composition and performance in our time. Linda Burman-Hall and Lux Musica look forward to reviving this unique production in Washington, D.C.

An article about this unique collaboration and Lux Musica's upcoming travel to the nation's capitol has appeared on the UC Santa Cruz News website:
http://www.ucsc.edu/news_events/text.asp?pid=3011