Denman Island Baroque Music Workshop & Festival
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Baroque Music Festival Launches on Denman Island. To most people, the sleepy west-coast community of Denman Island, known for quiet beaches, mossy forests, and picturesque farms, may seem an unlikely place for an eight-day celebration of baroque music and culture. But when this idea first crossed the mind of Denman resident and musician Andrew Fyson during a trip to Poland two years ago, he thought it made perfect sense. “I love showing off Denman. This would be a way not just to get people listening to classical and baroque music, but also to spread the word to people from afar that Denman is a wonderful place with a very welcoming community,” says Fyson. “We have so many talented people, and so much interest in volunteering.”
Thus was born Denman Island’s first Baroque Music Workshop and Festival, May 6 -14, a multi-faceted extravaganza that includes an eight-day workshop, three guest instructors from Europe, multiple concerts, period dance and costumes, a companion art exhibit, poetry, and more. The event is modelled after workshops that Fyson, a singer, and his partner, a violinist, attended in Europe. “You take about 20 advanced amateurs, half of them singers, half instrumentalists. You put them under the instruction of world-class maestros. You all work very hard for a week and then hold a concert for the public.” But that simple format didn’t seem quite enough for Denman Islanders or for people from neighbouring Vancouver Island communities interested in exploring the Baroque period.
Fyson decided to mix in dance, poetry and costume, and to add a series of guest performances, which turned it into a festival. “It’s going to be a novel event,” he says. “There’s nothing quite like it.” The program includes both afternoon and evening concerts by the workshop instructors (Marco Vitale, Enrique Gomes-Cabrera Fernandez, and Romeo Ciuffa), members of the Victoria Baroque Players, and internationally-recognized harpsichordist and virginals player Colin Tilney. The finale concert features the workshop participants performing Henry Purcell’s short opera Dido and Aeneas, as well as parts of The Fairy Queen and other English 17th-century works.
Fyson welcomes people who are not converted fans of classical music. “Baroque is very accessible and easy to listen to. And for people who think they don’t enjoy opera, Dido and Aeneas is a great choice. It’s only 50 minutes long, and it’s in English, so people can actually make out the lyrics.” The festival comes at an exciting time in the world of Baroque music.
“Baroque music has always been popular, because there’s a lot of potential to express yourself, and musicians can ad lib. It’s a lot like jazz that way. But it’s only in the last 20 or 30 years that we have discovered, based on research, how the music was played at the time it was created. Marco, our artistic director, is very keen on using the authentic style, doing things as they were done back then. So there’s more improvisation, more ornaments the soloist can add. And we’ll be playing at a lower pitch, because the instruments were different back then,” says Fyson.
The festival has garnered attention from all over the world – the workshop is almost full, with participants from BC, Eastern Canada, California and Poland. As Fyson predicted, interest is high on Denman: dozens of people have already volunteered to help, the local ballet class has been learning baroque period dances, and a Denman fabric artist has made historically detailed costumes.
More information on the Denman Island Baroque Music Workshop and Festival, May 6 – 14, at www.denmanbaroque.com / [email protected], 250-335-9047.
| Cost: |
Adult: $20 |
Category: |
Arts | Entertainment Dance (Performance) Opera Talks | Lectures Workshops (Arts) Concerts | Music Classical Festivals |
| Location: |
Denman Island Community Hall
1196 NorthWest Road, Denman Island |
This event is for Everyone | |
| More Info: |
Andrew Fyson [email protected] 250-335-9047 Event Website |
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