Category: AMN mentors

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AMN mentors Early Music and Period Instruments Strings: Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass Talking about Music Workshops

Cello mentor Robert Howard on gut strings, sound quality, and the pandemic

“I’m too Baroque for the modern people and too modern for the Baroque people,” says cellist Robert Howard, who has played regularly with both Philharmonia Baroque and San Francisco Symphony, as well as many other ensembles from the Bay Area to Lincoln Center and beyond.

Robert will join us on March 15 to share Bach’s 5th cello suite in our second session of Six Suites in Six Weeks.

Robert’s longtime interest in period instrument performance has informed his playing in many ways, even when he’s playing on modern equipment. By learning how to use the Baroque bow and learning the responsiveness of gut strings, he came to realize how much it’s all about sound quality. “Once you know how it works you can emulate that on any equipment.”

Robert joined AMN founder Lolly Lewis for a Zoom interview recently where he shared his enthusiasm and deep respect for Bach, and he reflected on how Bach sustained him through the pandemic. Take a look and then join us on May 15!

ATTEND ONLINE

Online participants will be part of the conversation, adding questions and comments in real time. And all registered participants will receive a video link to the workshop recording.

$100 for six sessions, $20 for single sessions

DATES, TIMES, AND TOPICS

Tuesday, March 8, 2022 | 5:30 p.m. Pacific

     Suite no. 1 – Oliver Herbert

Tuesday, March 15, 2022 | 5:30 p.m. Pacific

     Suite no. 5 – Robert Howard

Tuesday, March 22, 2022 | 5:30 p.m. Pacific

     Suite no. 2 – Jean-Michel Fonteneau

Tuesday, March 29, 2022 | 5:30 p.m. Pacific

     Suite no. 6 – William Skeen

Tuesday, April 5, 2022 | 5:30 p.m. Pacific

     Suite no. 4 – Bonnie Hampton

Tuesday, April 12, 2022 | 5:30 p.m. Pacific

     Suite no. 3 – Stephen Harrison

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AMN mentors Early Music and Period Instruments Strings: Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass Talking about Music Workshops

Meet Cello Mentor Oliver Herbert

AMN’s Six Suites in Six Weeks series will kick off with Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 and noted soloist Oliver Herbert. This charismatic young artist is taking the world by storm! 

It’s AMN’s great good fortune that Oliver can be in San Francisco on March 8 to bring us his own personal take on the first suite. He has performed all the suites, and coincidentally just performed No. 1 recently at the Lied Center in Lawrence, Kansas. So he’s ready to get into the nuts and bolts of his approach with us at the workshop.

Oliver met with AMN founder Lolly Lewis via Zoom recently, and they talked about his affection for this music and how he has been working to explore it so deeply. Take a look and then join us on May 8!

ATTEND ONLINE

Online participants will be part of the conversation, adding questions and comments in real time. And all registered participants will receive a video link to the workshop recording.

$100 for six sessions, $20 for single sessions

DATES, TIMES, AND TOPICS

Tuesday, March 8, 2022 | 5:30 p.m. Pacific

     Suite no. 1 – Oliver Herbert

Tuesday, March 15, 2022 | 5:30 p.m. Pacific

     Suite no. 5 – Robert Howard

Tuesday, March 22, 2022 | 5:30 p.m. Pacific

     Suite no. 2 – Jean-Michel Fonteneau

Tuesday, March 29, 2022 | 5:30 p.m. Pacific

     Suite no. 6 – William Skeen

Tuesday, April 5, 2022 | 5:30 p.m. Pacific

     Suite no. 4 – Bonnie Hampton

Tuesday, April 12, 2022 | 5:30 p.m. Pacific

     Suite no. 3 – Stephen Harrison

REGISTER NOW
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AMN mentors Vocal and Choral Music Workshops

Meet voice mentor Dashon Burton

Who doesn’t want advice from a GRAMMY® winner! We know we all do, and we’re so thrilled to have the stellar artist Dashon Burton joining in a musical conversation with two local professional singers who will offer their talents in styles that are new to them. We hope that an exploration of new genres will spark a vibrant conversation that we can all learn from.

Dashon won in the Best Classical Solo Vocal Album category, featured as a soloist on the album The Prison, the premiere recording of Ethel Smyth’s (1858–1944) last major work.

In 2013 and 2015 Dashon was nominated as part of the ensemble Roomful of Teeth for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance, winning in 2013 for the album Roomful of Teeth.

Leandra Ramm and Chung-Wai Soong are San Francisco-based professional singers who are channeling their inner amateur to explore music in new styles. They will bring their talents and love of learning to AMN’s master class and conversation with Dashon Burton on February 7, 2022. We look forward to a lively and energizing session together!

REVISIT THE WORKSHOP

AMN founder Lolly Lewis chats with Leandra and Chung-Wai in this preview video.

A video message from Dashon: “What I do as a classical singer.”

Listen to Dashon in performance!

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AMN mentors Strings: Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass Workshops

Meet Violinist Lulu Starr

Growing up in a classical music family in the SF Bay Area, Lulu Starr found a circuitous path to her roots in Eastern European music. 

After spending years playing Romanian, Hungarian and Balkan folk music on the streets of New Orleans, Lulu traveled to Eastern Europe and the Balkans to learn the music she loved, directly from the greatest living folk musicians. Over the years, she and some colleagues formed the band Taraf de Akácfa (pictured) and Lulu eventually settled down in Budapest, Hungary, where she could stay close to the source of the music she was passionate about. 

It was only recently that she found out her great grandparents were from Moldova and Romania! 

Now Lulu wants to share the love of traditional music of Romania with you! Join us for a workshop on January 22 and learn an authentic Geamparale with Lulu Starr!

REVISIT THE WORKSHOP

AMN founder Lolly Lewis chats with Lulu about her path of discovery of this amazing music tradition in this preview video.

Listen to Lulu and Taraf de Akácfa perform the Geamparale.

Categories
AMN mentors Strings: Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass Workshops

Meet Conductor Diana Sáez

Classical music has always risen out of indigenous regional folk music. Although we might not hear it that way now, the music of Haydn, Chopin, Brahms, and so many mainstream classical composers was intimately connected with the folk traditions of Europe and people at the time would have all recognized those influences. But as the centuries have passed, the folk music connection has faded and the classical works seem to stand alone, their indigenous roots buried deep in the background.

Diana Sáez has found those roots much closer to the surface in Latin America. She recalls having two educations: one was a formal study as a composer and choral conductor, which has led her to perform the world over as a guest conductor and leader of the chamber choir Cantigas. But her other education was a path of personal discovery: fascinated by the rhythms and instruments of Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, and all our southern neighbors, she has immersed herself in learning how the choral music of those countries is an extension of the authentic musical voice of local people. Those two streams have come together in a musical life dedicated to increasing awareness of the choral music of the Americas.

Diana will bring these traditions to life in our workshop on November 20. Join us to learn more about the diverse cultures of Latin America as reflected in choral music of yesterday and today.

REVISIT THE WORKSHOP

AMN founder Lolly Lewis chats with Justin about the workshop in this preview video.