INTERNATIONAL EASTER COURSE OF ENSEMBLE RECORDER PLAYING 2007

Dear Friends,

The following is the preliminary announcement of the Fifth Edition of our International Easter Course of Ensemble Recorder playing.

This will be four (4) days long and will take place in the week before Easter 2007, i.e. from Wednesday 4th of April 2007 to Saturday 7th of April 2007, inclusive. For your reference, Easter is on 8th of April 2007.

We are going to have António Carrilho, Celestino Dionisi and Petr Zejfart for tutors .

António Carrilho lives in Portugal, where he has performed Concerts on national radio and television. He has developed an intense career as a soloist, both in Portugal and abroad, in a repertory that spans from the Middle Age to our days. He teaches at Coimbra's National Music Conservatory as well as at the Conservatory of Music of Caldas da Rainha. He also teaches every year in a number of residential Courses and Master Classes

Celestino Dionisi has been teaching amateurs for 20++ years at Urbino's Summer School, and in many other Courses and Seminars. He founded the Italian Recorder Orchestra in year 2000, a growing group of amateurs and professional musicians, meeting regularly, and giving concerts in many Italian venues.

Petr Zejfart was born in Prague, but has been living in Italy for more than 20 years now. He has played as a soloist for some of the finest national and European baroque groups. Many of his best performances have been released on Compact Disks published by Philips, Virgin and Supraphon, and other leading firms. He teaches at Parma's National Music Conservatory. He directs and teaches every year in a number of residential Courses both in Italy and in the Czech Republic.

The idea behind our course was to blend the best of different national ways of teaching Recorder music to amateurs, and to reunite players from the Italian- and English-speaking areas. In fact in the previous Editions we ended up using three different languages, as we also had a good many course members from our German-speaking South-Tyrol. Most of our Tutors are fluent in at least two major European Languages.

The first day of the Course will be a Seminar of Recorder Ensemble Playing, directed by Petr Zejfart.

Music will be chosen amongst transcriptions from works by J.S. Bach,G.F. Haendel, A. Vivaldi and other baroque masters. Participants will be led into Ensemble playing in a beginner-friendly way. No previous experience is required. Just bring your recorders and enjoy !! All the scores / parts for these Seminars will be provided to participants free of charge. Music will be chosen and gauged keeping in mind the lower end of the Course members' abilities too.

The following three days will be aimed at the personal musical development of each Course Member. Participants will receive individual lessons by António Carrilho and Celestino Dionisi, and will have a chance to deal with any kind or recorder repertoire in the friendly and relaxed atmosphere of one-to-one classes.
Tutors will be delighted to accompany students if needed. Recorder Trios / Quartet / Ensembles are also welcome. Participants shall bring their own scores / parts, including of course all the continuo / accompaniment parts. An skeleton timetable will be issued later in the year, and will then be adjusted during the Course, to allow for the teaching needs of members.

The Course is meant for amateur players with abilities ranging from Lower Intermediate to Advanced. We would like you to focus the choice of scores on the Baroque / Late Renaissance periods, but modern recorder music is also welcome.

New Features of this Edition

* We have a new Course venue this year, which is far easier to reach than the previous year's Casermetta, with thorough heating, and much better parking for motorists. This new venue also has a couple of spare rooms, which will be available for musical practice, upon previous agreement. Full details will be provided in the Final Announcement.

*On the second day of the Course Petr Zejfart will hold an Open Seminar on Recorder Orchestra playing which will be available to all Course Members.

* If possible we would like to organize an informal Concert session, with a recital of Tutors, and also of those Course members who are happy to perform. This will take place during one of the Course Evenings.

* While there will certainly be plenty of musical activities for everyone, we regret we have to restrict the admission to Antonio Carrilho's Master Class to 14 pupils only this year. Admissions will be accepted by the date of their reception, provided that the Course fees are paid in full. All other Course activities will be open to all Members, without any further limitation.

*we are planning a Final Concert session, together with members of the Italian Recorder Orchestra (also directed by Celestino Dionisi), which will be held in the afternoon of Saturday 7th of April 2007.

* Finally... we are also preparing a number of other nice side activities (and festivities...) for the Course members. :-))

You may have perceived that what we are planning is something rather different from other residential courses. It is in fact our great luck to be based in Lucca, in the very heart of Tuscany. This is why we are planning a flexible timetable for most of the Course, so as to leave lots of spare time for personal activities, and of course for playing individually or in locally formed groups.

Indeed, we thought that it would be a shame to be living for nearly a week next to so many natural and historical beauties without having the chance for some sightseeing !!

We chose Lucca as the venue of the Course for many reasons. This fine Tuscan city is very easily reached by car , train or plane and is situated in a lovely valley, close to many well-loved resorts of the Tuscan Riviera.

The city itself is a miniature gem , and at the moment is largely unspoiled by mass tourist business. Therefore it is much quieter than many other better-known Tuscan cities, and is also moderately priced, and with a wide range of accommodations to suit most budgets and purses. Food in Lucca is incredibly nice, and quite addictive.
Florence, Pisa and other charming places are very easily reached from Lucca, even on a day-trip basis, and due to gentle hills and slopes, the place is a paradise for those having a bicycle, or hiring one locally. Such a huge range of tourist attractions at hand might also encourage members to combine their Course with a rather inexpensive way of visiting Tuscany, and perhaps to bring someone from their families too.... This is the reason why our Course does not offer a residential accommodation to members, who may choose whatever suit their needs.

Needless to say we will provide a list of local hotels, bed & breakfast, hostels, etc.

We are trying to keep enrolment fees to a minimum, well below the ones of other similar courses, in the range of 130 - 180 Euro per person for the musical activities of the four days. Another good point is that people from Lucca are considered the thriftiest of Tuscany, and prices are much more affordable there than in any other Tuscan city.

Lucca is also ideal before Easter, as a more accommodations are then available to suit all purses. In fact the big tourist business starts *after* Easter, and hotel rooms, etc. are less expensive and easier to find the week before Easter, when we are in fact planning our Course.

We need a minimum number of enrolments to be able to actually start the Course, and we would be very grateful to you if you could help us by passing the news to any person of your group to which it might be of interest.

If you are interested, would you please send an email to my address i.e. pavolo59@yahoo.it

You are not committing yourself in any way, and you do not need to send any money now.

We need this preliminary contact to have an estimate of the feasibility and probable attendance of the Course. Ideally we would like to have a group from 10 to 25 members. In December a final announcement and program will be released, and those who are actually interested in attending the Course will be requested to finalize their enrolments, and to pay their fees.

Arrivederci a Lucca !!

Paolo Faeti