San Francisco Early Music Society - SFEMS

🙌 We made it to the voting round! 🙌 Vote “Berkeley Festival and Exhibition” for 22. Favorite Festival at SFCV! So many excellent finalists to consider including many SFEMS/BFX musicians and performances:

1. Favorite Opera Singer
👉 Amanda Forsythe

2. Favorite Chamber Ensemble
🌳 Beneath a Tree
🎵 Voices of Music

4. Favorite Early Music/Baroque Ensemble
(I’m gonna stay out of this one. All six please?)
American Bach
Ars Minerva
BFX 👉 Beneath a Tree
BFX 👉 Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
Valley of the Moon Music Festival
BFX 👉 Voices of Music

6. Favorite Orchestra
🎻 Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra

7. Favorite Conductor
🪈 Hanneke van Proosdij, Voices of Music

8. Favorite Instrumental Soloist
🎻 Augusta McKay Lodge (violin)
🪈 Hanneke van Proosdij (harpsichord/recorder)
🎻 Gail Hernández Rosa (violin/viola)

12. Favorite Choral Performance
🕍 Chanticleer, "Machaut — Messe De Nostre Dame"

14. Favorite Early Music/Baroque Performance
🏖 Voices of Music, "Convey Me to Some Peaceful Shore"

18. Favorite Vocal Recital
🗣 Voices of Music, "Voice of the Viol"

20. Favorite Small Venue
⛪ First Congregational Church of Berkeley
⛪ St. Mark's Lutheran Church, San Francisco

22. Favorite Festival
😁😁😁😁😁Berkeley Festival and Exhibition😁😁😁😁😁

Announcing the Finalists for SFCV’s Audience Choice Awards Vote now for your favorite performers and performances of the 2023–2024 season.

📣📣📣 We’re thrilled to announce our 2024-25 season!! 📣📣📣 We warmly welcome you to embark on a musical journey with us in our thrilling 48th concert season, Voyages—An Odyssey in Sound. Join our season-long expedition as a subscriber 🎫 with options for MainStage concerts and added special events—Or, purchase individual tickets 🎟 today with pay-what-you-can pricing.

Our season odyssey begins and ends with two outstanding international ensembles. The French ensemble Les Talens Lyriques, will transport you to the heart of Louis XIV’s Versailles with our season opening, one-night-only special event. Finishing our journey is Montreal-based Ensemble Constantinople, whose performance takes us on a journey through Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

In between, our journey continues with The Boston Camerata’s trailblazing exploration of the American spiritual tradition. We will encounter an uncanny world turned upside down, with Shira Kammen’s In Bocca al Lupo, spend a dramatic evening exploring the musical innovations of the early modern period with renowned ensemble Quicksilver, and then reflect the legacy of migration with Ensemble Affect, exploring the works of composers who traveled from their home countries during the Baroque era.

After a successful season and festival, making Early Music accessible to all, SFEMS will continue our “Pay What You Can” ticketing model! It’s simple: Our website will allow you to choose what you pay for your concert tickets. If you are able to, we ask you to please Pay It Forward, by adding extra money to your ticket or subscription purchase so that we can extend the opportunity to attend live performances to everyone, regardless of ability to pay. It’s a win-win: you can feel great about supporting SFEMS and the future of early music, our artists get a broader audience base, and more people get to enjoy live concerts! Each one of you supports our vision of an inclusive early music community. So join us in promoting historically informed performance and making early music accessible to everyone!

Learn more (and Pay It Forward!) at
https://www.sfems.org/concerts.

This week in Bay Area early music…

SATURDAY JULY 27
🎵Parallax presents: GENESIS | Origins, Paths, and Outgrowths from Baroque to Modern
7 PM, Saint Joseph's Arts Society, San Francisco

🎵American Bach — Viva Vivaldi
7:30 PM, St. Mark's Lutheran Church, San Francisco

SUNDAY JULY 28
🎵American Bach — Theater of Fate
7:30 PM, St. Mark's Lutheran Church, San Francisco

For more information on these featured events, please visit: www.sfems.org/calendar-of-early-music

If you are interested in having your event featured on our calendar, please visit: www.sfems.org/news-and-events

It's that time of year! 🗳 Help SFEMS make it to the voting round for the Bay Area's Favorite Festival! Nominate 🎵Berkeley Festival & Exhibition🎵 at SFCV and consider some other wonderful performances suggested here as well!

🗳 Vote at SFCV:
https://www.sfcv.org/articles/music-news/nominations-are-open-2023-2024-audience-choice-awards

This week in Bay Area early music…

SUNDAY JULY 7
🎵 L'Esprit Baroque with Elysha Massatt, soprano: O Soleil! French Baroque Cantatas for Summer
4:00 PM, University Lutheran Chapel, Berkeley

For more information on these featured events, please visit: www.sfems.org/calendar-of-early-music

If you are interested in having your event featured on our calendar, please visit: www.sfems.org/news-and-events

It’s Cantata night at the SFEMS Baroque Workshop at FCCB–What an ensemble! If you’re curious to get a taste of the workshop experience or you just need a little casual live Baroque music in your week, these events are fun, informal, and free to attend. Check out the remaining events below. We will also have a silent auction over these four days, raising funds to benefit to the Baroque workshop. Come join us!

🎵Thursday, June 27, 7:30 PM — Concerto Night
A second informal & fun non-cert. Think karaoke, but with Bach and Vivaldi! Our participants come front and center for a night of merriment and musicking, complete with King Louie’s House Band.

🎵Friday, June 28, 7:30 PM — Faculty Concert
Join us for a special concert showcasing our distinguished faculty. Donations gratefully accepted.

Saturday, June 29:
🎵3:30 PM: Chamber Ensemble Concert
🎵7:30 PM: Workshop Finale: Large Ensemble + Chamber Ensembles
Cheer on the workshop participants as they showcase their work after an immersive week of workshops!

All events take place at First Church Berkeley UCC (2345 Channing Way, entrance on Dana St.)

The SFEMS Baroque Workshop is underway this week and we invite you to join in on the fun and cheer on our workshop participants and faculty! If you’re curious to get a taste of the workshop experience or you just need a little casual live Baroque music in your week, these events are fun, informal, and free to attend. We will also have a silent auction over these four days, raising funds to benefit to the Baroque workshop. Come join us!

🎵Wednesday, June 26, 7:30 PM — Cantata Night
Our Cantata Night Choir and Big Band will combine into a full orchestra worthy of Lully! This casual Non-cert is open to the public and will be conducted by SFEMS Executive Director, Derek Tam. On the program — J.S. Bach: Jesu, der du meine Seele (BWV 78) &�Jean-Baptiste Lully: Passacaille from Armide, Act V.

🎵Thursday, June 27, 7:30 PM — Concerto Night
A second informal & fun non-cert. Think karaoke, but with Bach and Vivaldi! Our participants come front and center for a night of merriment and musicking, complete with King Louie’s House Band.

🎵Friday, June 28, 7:30 PM — Faculty Concert
Join us for a special concert showcasing our distinguished faculty. Donations gratefully accepted.

Saturday, June 29:
🎵3:30 PM: Chamber Ensemble Concert
🎵7:30 PM: Workshop Finale: Large Ensemble + Chamber Ensembles
Cheer on the workshop participants as they showcase their work after an immersive week of workshops!

All events take place at First Church Berkeley UCC (2345 Channing Way, entrance on Dana St.)

👀 https://www.sfems.org/workshops 👀

Starting next week!
Baroque Workshop: June 24–30
Medieval/Renaissance Workshop: July 14–20
Recorder Workshop: July 21–27
Classical Workshop: July 28–August 3

Why Attend a Summer Workshop? » Early Music America Anne Timberlake, guest editor for this week's E-Notes newsletter, has compiled everything you need to know to get started at an early-music summer workshop. A veteran recorder player and teacher, Timberlake says these workshops are all about making music in community. But what can you expect from th...

It's hard to believe that it's all over!

In some ways, the magnitude of the Festival can be shown through numbers. Over the course of 9 days, there were 25 main stage and special events; 30+ Fringe concerts; and our Exhibition had over 30 vendors.

More importantly, there was an uncountable amount of beauty and joy! So many of you expressed how this year's gathering felt as if we were truly "back." Old relationships were deepened, and new friendships were formed. Some of you expressed how vital the pay-what-you-can model was to your participation. We hope that as we gear up for SFEMS' next season and the 2026 Festival (!), all of us will continue to spread the word about how easy it is to become a part of our early music community.

Finally, we wish to extend our heartfelt gratitude to the colleagues, board members, and volunteers who supported our artists through and through. Words are not enough to describe my awe and appreciation for all of you.

👀 Here is another wonderful preview for BFX from San Francisco Classical Voice by Andrew Gilbert! Antonio Gómez offers insight into Trío Guadalevín’s musical perspective, previewing their June 16 BFX concert, Echos of Diaspora. "Trío Guadalevín’s concept of early music makes time slippery and hard to pin down." Read more at SFCV and get your tickets at https://www.berkeleyfestival.org

🎟 Caîma Yyaî Jesus
Saturday, June 16, 11 AM, St. Mark's Episcopal Church

🎟 Trío Guadalevín – Echos of Diaspora
Sunday, June 16, 2:30 PM, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church

Join the festivities for 8 days—and 8 centuries—of fantastic music with ticket pricing, through June 16.

These Historical Performers Are Redefining Where — and When — Early Music Comes From Trío Guadalevín takes the mainstage at this year’s Berkeley Festival and Exhibition, sharing some of the diverse traditions of Latin America.

Thank you Alam Khan and Victoria Looseleaf of San Francisco Classical Voice for this wonderful preview of Alam & Manik Khan's BFX Debut on June 13! Director of the Ali Akbar College of Music, Khan gives insight into his musical upbringing and more about what we might expect hear at the June 13 concert.

"...we’ll be improvising around composed themes that are based in ragas, which have a very deep structure to them in a way that dictates how we improvise. We learn how to navigate the structure, [and] every choice we make is not preplanned. You never know which way it’s going to go. Every concert is uniquely different than the others, but it’s easier to say that it’s improvised.”

June 13, 9:30 PM
Alam & Manik Khan, with Aarchik Banerjee, tabla
St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Berkeley

Indian Classical Music Arrives at the Berkeley Festival and Exhibition The legacy of one of the Bay Area’s most famous instrumentalists, Ali Akbar Khan, is celebrated in a special performance featuring his sons.

Here we go! BFX is underway with iSing in San Jose! Executive and artistic director, Derek Tam introduces iSing and the BFX orchestra in the gorgeous Cathedral Basilica of San Jose. Catch iSing in Berkeley this Monday, performing Vivaldi’s Gloria and more!

📣 BFX Spotlight! 📣 Trío Guadalevín explores the musical dialogue between Indigenous, European and African cultures which define Latin American identity. With memorable stories and an incredible array of instruments from the Americas, Africa and Europe the trio weaves together a tapestry of music, languages, culture, history and geography. Their music moves seamlessly between the past and present, employing a mix of contemporary, folkloric and historic melodies sung in Spanish, Zapotec and Ladino, which ride on rhythms from the Afro-Indigenous son jarocho to the Italian tarantella and Moroccan shabia. An experience set in musical storytelling, audiences are transported across vast geographies of memory and culture, through lush musical soundscapes, tracing musical roots and branches that braid seemingly different cultures into a single story.

Join Trío Guadalevín in two performances at BFX!
🎟 Saturday, June 15 — with Caîma, Yyaî Jesus
🎟 Sunday June 16 — Trío Guadalevín: Echos of Diaspora

Join the festivities for 8 days—and 8 centuries—of fantastic music with ticket pricing, June 9–16.

Individual tickets and subscription packages available at:
https://www.berkeleyfestival.org

Follow me for more cosplay tips.

📣 BFX Spotlight! 📣 Severall Friends, is a Santa Fe-based consortium of musicians who gather to play a broad spectrum of early music from Machaut to Rameau. Their June 15 BFX performance is a tasting menu of Elizabethan occult practices, exploring the idea of magic, as described by its early practitioners through readings and music. Join Ryland Angel, Shira Kammen, Jonathan Richards, Mark Rimple, and Mary Springfels for a night of magical music, examining creative melancholy, sprites and fairies, seances, and cabalistic practices. 🧚‍♀️🧙‍♀️🪄🍄

🎟 June 15, 9:30 The Shadow of Night: Musical Magic and Mysticism

Join the festivities for 8 days—and 8 centuries—of fantastic music with ticket pricing, June 9–16.

Individual tickets and subscription packages available at:
https://www.berkeleyfestival.org

📣 BFX Spotlight! 📣 The New York-based Viola da gamba quartet Parthenia joins BFX in two not-to-be-missed concerts, bringing a ravishing sound and a remarkable sense of ensemble, animating both ancient and fresh-commissioned repertoire to critical acclaim. Parthenia’s June 15 program, House of Habsburg presents music from the late 15th and 16th centuries, when the habsburg dynasty was at the peak of its prestige and power. And don’t miss out on the festival’s finale on June 16 when Parthenia joins forces with Farallon to present Antiquæ/Novæ: Early and New Works for Recorders and Viols. Just imagine that blend of timbres! 😲 WOW!

🎟 Saturday, June 15, 5 PM — House of Habsburg
🎟 Sunday, June 16, 5 PM — Antiquæ/Novæ w/ Farallon

Join the festivities for 8 days—and 8 centuries—of fantastic music with ticket pricing, June 9–16.

Individual tickets and subscription packages available at:
https://www.berkeleyfestival.org

Question: What’s four times as awesome as one harpsichord? *taps calculator*... Yes! Four harpsichords*! 🎹🎹🎹🎹

In addition to the Main Stage concerts of BFX, you’ll find several special events (concerts and workshops) listed on our website. You’ll hear multiple-harpsichords at both June 12 Events! So if you’re suffering from a harpsichord deficiency we recommend these concerts, followed by a 🫖 Chinese tea tasting with Guqin music by David Wong of Tranquil Resonance Studio.

June 12, 11 AM — My "Opera:" In the Salon of Anne-Louise Brillon de Jouy
June 12, 2 PM — Harpsichordpalooza
June 14, 5 PM — Chinese Tea Tasting with David Wong, guqin

*Other acceptable answers include: One harpsichord with 20 octaves, OR not having to move and tune four harpsichords.

Catch the Berkeley Festival on kiosks throughout Berkeley—do you have your tickets yet?

The San Francisco Early Music Society - SFEMS Recorder Workshop runs from July 21-27 this year, and is held in Berkeley, California.

Registration and more info: https://www.sfems.org/recorder-workshop-2024

See our wonderful faculty in the attached photo, from left to right: Annette Bauer, Greta Haug-Hryciw, Rachel Begley, Anne Timberlake, Daphna Mor, Katherine Heater, and special guest Shira Kammen! The lower portion of the photo are 2023 workshop participants after the final recorder orchestra concert at the end of the week. A fabulous, and very welcoming group of people - come join us this year!

Stunning! 🤩

BFX 2024: Voices of Music & Amanda Forsythe, Handel & Vivaldi, Lee, McKay Lodge, Skeen, van Proosdij Join us for fabulous concerts at the Berkeley Early Music Festival & Exhibition. Our Handel & Vivaldi program will be June 14th, 2024.Soloists: Amanda Forsyt...

📣 BFX Spotlight! 📣 Caîma Yyaî Jesus explores the rich musical life of the Jesuit and Franciscan missions in colonial South America, bringing insight to music’s role in the process of conquest and evangelization from the 16th through the 19th centuries.

Join violinist/director Karin Cuéllar Rendón in a program highlighting performance practice and repertoire from sources including the Chiquitos and Moxos archives from Bolivia, and the Codex Martínez Compañón found in Perú— with tenor David Kurtenbach Rivera, violinist Cynthia Keiko Black, multiinstrumentalist Ellis Montes on recorder, pipe & tabor, cellist Eva Lymenstull, and members of Trio Guadalevín (also performing June 16)!

Join the festivities for 8 days—and 8 centuries—of fantastic music with ticket pricing, June 9–16.

Individual tickets and subscription packages available at:
https://www.berkeleyfestival.org

Also, check out this special opportunity for a preview of the Baroque workshop experience at The Berkeley Festival & Exhibition: Thursday, June 13, 10 AM, Lindsey Strand-Polyak and Eva Lymenstull will lead a Baroque Workshop play-in at St. Mark's. Learn more at: https://www.berkeleyfestival.org/baroque-workshop-play-in

There is still time to register for the San Francisco Early Music Society - SFEMS's Baroque Workshop. Registration closes June 10, and limited financial aid is available thanks to some generous donors. The Workshop is directed by Fall Festival artist Lindsey Strand-Polyak and features Pacific Northwest musicians Anna Marsh and Curtis Foster. Learn more and register at https://sfems.vbotickets.com/event/2024_SFEMS_Baroque_Workshop_Cantata_Night/127073

From Lindsey:

I’m very proud of the fact that the workshop welcomes all levels of age and experience, (from 14-94!) in a supportive non-competitive environment, a perfect place to develop and try out new skills and repertoire. Best of all— no audition necessary! Particularly for students, semi and even professional musicians, I know that sounds impossible, but the SFEMS workshop is a place to learn without worrying about impressing a contractor, graduate school, etc. Just a safe and friendly place to explore and musick!

Registration is open now, though housing reservations close on June 10th (at UC Berkeley Dorms, literally right next door to where the workshop takes place!). Participants can of course stay with friend or arrange their own housing if they register later on. Our theme this year is “Pardon my French!”— all about exploring both French Music and those who imitated it.

I am thrilled with the phenomenal faculty that we have lined up this year including Anna Marsh (bassoon/recorder) and Curtis Foster (oboe/recorder), as well the newest cellist/gambist of Philharmonia Baroque, Eva Lymenstull. David Wilson, who translated Georg Muffat’s treatises, is teaching violin/viola. Clea Galhano is teaching recorder and Lars Johannesson on traverso round out the wind faculty. Rita Lilly is teaching voice and leading the choral ensemble and Peter Sykes (Juilliard) is teaching keyboards. Last and not least- Jennifer Meller will be offering daily baroque dance classes to learn French music in the best way possible: through our feet! I’m leading the orchestra and teaching as well as directing the workshop.

All the facilities are within one block in Berkeley. We also have a new 'Cantata Night' planned featuring Bach’s Cantata BWV 78 and Lully’s Passacaille from Armide. Even if players can’t attend the full workshop, Cantata Night is open to all!

The calm before the storm! With BFX just over a week away, our weekly roundup will be on pause — There is just too much to share in one post! Between the Berkeley Festival Mainstage events, Special Events, and Fringe performances, over 55 early music concerts will take place in Berkeley between June 8-16. 5️⃣5️⃣!!🤯 Be sure to check out berkeleyfestival.org to see all that's happening. And until then...

This week in Bay Area early music…

SUNDAY JUNE 2
🎵Resmiranda Ensemble presents Love Me to Death
4:00 PM, University Lutheran Chapel, Berkeley

TUESDAY JUNE 4
🎵Berkeley Baroque Strings Presents British Ayers and Dances
7:30 PM, St. Clement's Episcopal Church, Berkeley

THURSDAY JUNE 6
🎵the Peralta Consort: "the Reign in Spain"
7:00 PM, Museum of American Heritage, Palo Alto

For more information on these featured events, please visit: www.sfems.org/calendar-of-early-music

If you are interested in having your event featured on our calendar, please visit: www.sfems.org/news-and-events