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Barbara Hopkins, Flutist
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Barbara Hopkins, DMA, GBFA CT State Rep, The Amherst Early Music Festival is an oasis springing up on the campus of Connecticut College for two weeks every summer. Musicians from many levels congregate here, from beginners to very advanced students in the Baroque Academy. The atmosphere is collegial, and professionals can be found at the dinner table with amateurs. I studied there for the first week of classes last summer. Come with me, and we'll take a tour. There are two ways to attend: open enrollment classes or the Baroque Academy, which is by audition only. If you are just getting started on traverso (or recorder), sign up for the beginning classes; very little experience is needed. There are many different levels of accomplishment in the various classes, so if you are very advanced on the modern flute, be prepared to be patient as less advanced students come up to speed. Materials are usually provided for you. Some of the classes, like the French ornamentation class I took, require very little playing, so are appropriate for many levels. Connecticut College has very nice facilities for this festival. Classes are held in a complex of dorms and the music building. This compact arrangement makes walking from class to class easy, but the swipe cards needed to move between sections of the dorm complex are difficult to come by for commuters. The music building has an excellent recital hall. The parking is abundant and free. There were four flutists on the faculty: Janet See, Na'ama Lion, Gwyn Roberts, and Maria Diez-Canedo. Janet, whose recordings I have long admired, teaches advanced students in her master class at the Baroque Academy. Na'ama did a fabulous job teaching private lessons and coaching chamber music. Since she plays modern flute as well as traverso, she can explain things in terms that a modern flutist can relate to. I had some private lessons with her, and really learned a great deal. Gwyn Roberts, who plays flute and recorder, was teaching a German Baroque repertoire class. Through her, we learned about repertoire that has only recently become available in the West, as it was stolen by the Red Army during World War II and has only recently been returned to Germany from Russia. We explored music by composers such as Graupner, Fasch, and Janitsch, which was unfamiliar to this modern flutist. Her enthusiasm is infectious, and I highly recommend any class she is teaching. Maria Diaz-Canedo taught a class on French ornamentation. Curiously, this was listed in the catalog as a class on the Quantz Solfeggi. We worked, however, on Hotteterre’s Principles of the Flute, Recorder, and Oboe and L’Art de Preludier, and Quantz' On Playing the Flute. The pace started out slowly, but it ended up being a very informative class. Maria knows her subject very well, and her many handouts made investing in books in advance unnecessary. Concerts are presented by both students and faculty. The faculty presented two concerts that week, "Amherst Baroque soloists: Virtuosic Music of Germany" and a faculty concert on Saturday night. The faculty squeezes in rehearsal time when not teaching and manages to present wonderful concerts. The faculty is excellent and includes all appropriate strings, winds, harpsichord, and singers, so there are many interesting groupings possible. One of the highlights was Telemann’s Concerto a 7 in A minor for recorder, flute, two oboes, two violins, bassoon, cello and two harpsichords, which is an incredibly virtuosic piece. Julianne Bard brought the house down by singing Jauchzet dem Herren alle Welt by Nicolaus Bruhns. Every year there is a fully staged opera, with singers, dancers, and orchestra. This year's opera was Johann Georg Conradi's "Ariadne." The singers are auditioned in the spring, and arrive early to begin working. This year's voices were incredible. Additional performances included a concert by the group Ciaramella, and "La Bavoroise," a collaboration between the Historical Dance program and the Baroque oboe band. The Festival students give concerts on Saturday afternoon: the Academy students in the early afternoon, and everybody else in the late afternoon. It’s truly a marathon! For those inclined to shop, there is an in-house bookstore run by the Festival and the von Huene workshop. There is also an exhibition that takes place the weekend between the two weeks of classes featuring vendors from outside of the area. You can shop for flutes, recorders, string and keyboard instruments, music, and accessories. On the whole, it is a good place to learn and explore. The faculty is excellent, and the participants are welcoming. Many people come back every year. A few recommendations, however, are in order. * Check with the office about the pitch of the classes you are taking. The website stated that all classes were at A=440 except where noted. However, all the traverso classes were at A=415 and this was not noted on the website. *Check to make sure the classes you registered for are being taught. Classes with low registration are cancelled. The "Baroque Flute for Modern Flutists" workshop which I registered for was cancelled, as I was the only person who registered. While I ended up having a positive experience, I didn't get the workshop which I had intended to take. * Try to get a feel for the level of the class you are taking, and how much playing will be expected. *If you are commuting, make sure you get a swipe card for the dorms (I had to ask for one), where many of the classes are taught. You will need it to get to your classes. *Try to stay for the evening concerts. I needed to leave at dinnertime because of my long commute, and I wish I had been able to hear some of these concerts. *The cafeteria food is rather expensive for the average quality. I hope to see some of you there next year! This article was originally written for the Greater Boston Flute Association Gazette.
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Copyright 2003-2012. All rights reserved. Barbara Hopkins, Flutist
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