Early Music America Summer 2013 - (Page 5)

soundbytes Compiled by Mark Longaker Scoring Grants Schenkman will step down at Minnesota harpsichordist and composer Asako Hirabayashi recently Hirabayashi received a 2012-2013 Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board in the amount of $10,000 to cover the cost of her local performances. She was also awarded $8,250 from the 2012 Jerome Fund for New Music from the American Composers Forum to write an opera, which is scheduled to premiere in January next year. This January, she performed her own composition, a concerto for four harpsichords and strings, with Texas-based Baroque ensemble La Folia. the end of the current season. Celebrating their 20 years of leadership will be a main feature of the annual Seattle Early Music Guild Gala Dinner and Auction to be held on June 1. The Early Music Guild has launched a search for new artistic leadership for the orchestra, whose directors and members are assisting in the effort. Seattle-based Pacific Music- Gotham Early Music Scene (GEMS) and its education program, S’Cool Sounds, both received matching grants for $10,000—GEMS from an anonymous donor through the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisor, and S’Cool Sounds from the Freygish Foundation. GEMS, an early music presenter and promoter directed by Gene Murrow in New York City, announced that both campaigns have now met their goals. Comings & Goings Seattle Baroque Orchestra founding directors Ingrid Matthews and Byron Public Radio (jazz and classical) and as a classical music critic for the Philadelphia utive director. She replaces Inquirer. Matthew White, who has The Handel and Haydn become the associate artistic Society in Boston has director of Early Music Vancouver. Brookes was formerly appointed Bill Pappazisis to the communications and mar- the position of assistant direcketing director of a large K-12 tor of education. The former school in Glasgow, Scotland. director of ﬁne and performBefore that, she was a ing arts for the Belmont Pubwriter/editor/project manager lic Schools, Pappazisis brings in Philadelphia, where she more than 25 years of experiworked at Temple University ence in public school arts Works recently welcomed Karin Brookes as its new exec- “Bach in the Subways Day” Draws Record Turnout Musicians in New York, Boston, and Montreal took to the subways to celebrate Bach’s 328th birthday on March 21 in an event called “Bach in the Subways Day.” Above-ground performances of his music also took place in public spaces in Cincinnati and Miami. In all, the annual event drew 45 musicians this year, up from 14 last year and four the year before, the ﬁrst time it was held. Of these musicians, three performed on early instruments, all in New York. Baroque oboist Kristin Olson joined Baroque cellist Paul Dwyer on the 57th-Street platform near Carnegie Hall around 10:30 p.m. to play a program that included several oboe sinfonias, a movement from a ﬂute sonata, and movements from the cello suites. “Despite the chilling temperatures, we brought warmth to an ever-changing, intimate crowd of surprised, delighted, and smiling subway travelers,” said Olson. “We’ll do it again next year, if not sooner!” They were almost prevented from playing by a subway booth attendant who refused to grant them permission, although Olson had played in the same spot last year. The attendant wouldn’t Paul Dwyer and Kristin Olson even look at the postcards they had been given by the event’s organizer, cellist Dale Henderson, to put on their music stands so passersby could learn about the event. The cards also instructed listeners to refrain from giving donations to the musicians, who performed solely for their love of Bach. “We simply entered on the other side and set up down near the train tracks where [the attendant] couldn’t stop us from spreading the music,” said Olson, who graduated from Juilliard’s Historical Performance program last year and recently formed the Baroque chamber ensemble Sacro Profano in Seattle. Dwyer is a graduate student in Juilliard’s Historical Performance program and a founding member of the ensemble Musical Oratory in San Diego. No nay-saying attendants were in evidence when Baroque cellist Mohit Mansukhani set up on the platform at the 51st-Street subway station around 2 p.m. A third-year student at Stony Brook University, he played the ﬁrst three cello suites. “I was pleased with the amount of attention some of the people paid,” said Mansukhani, who has played with the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra and the Stony Brook Baroque Players. “In New York everybody is busy and always in a rush. However, some people took the time to listen to the music.”—ML Early Music America Summer 2013 5

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Early Music America Summer 2013

Editor's Note
Reader Forum
Sound Bytes
Profile: Christopher Jackson
Musings: When the Music Becomes Ours
Recording Reviews
Early Music, 21st-Century Style
The Indigenous Musicians of Cuzco
Bird Quills, the Art of Touch, and Other Pleasures
Pallade Musica: A Swift Rise, All'Italiana
Book Reviews
Ad Index
In Conclusion: Finding "Local Content" in the Music of New Spain

Early Music America Summer 2013