The Washington Early Music Society is pleased to present a new event this summer for lovers of early music, dance and visual arts - the inaugural Washington Early Music Festival. It will be held during the first 3 weekends in June: June 6, 11-13, and 17-20. Each year the Festival will focus on one nation's culture that has made a significant contribution to the music composed before 1750. For this first festival, England will be featured.
This will be the first early music festival of its kind in the Washington DC area, offering instrumental and vocal early music, dance and visual arts. It is organized and hosted by the newly formed Washington Early Music Society, comprised of the Directors of several of the leading Washington area early music groups. The Society has had enthusiastic response about this project from our area's early music community, and as it grows it looks forward to the involvement of other major performing groups based in the Washington DC area.
The Society has modeled this festival upon such major festivals as the Boston Early Music Festival, albeit the inaugural year will be on a scale consistent with a fiscally prudent approach. WEMS looks forward to increasing yearly in size and scope and to continue to draw more audiences from afar as well as locally. It's plan is to focus the Festival in the heart of Washington close to the museums, restaurants, shops, and other attractions and to have events accessible by public transport.
The Society is collaborating with the directors of 12 professional early music ensembles and soloists in the Washington area to include a diverse range of early English music, from the medieval period to the Baroque. The first weekend Chantry and Modern Musick will perform music for the Coronation of George II. On the second weekend participants can join in an all day dance workshop and early instrument demonstration directed by historical dance scholar Cheryl Stafford, and attend concerts by Early Music Youth and the Suspicious Cheese Lords. The third weekend, with all events being held at St. Mark's Episcopal Church on Capitol Hill, will feature several concerts by ensembles and individuals, including Armonia Nova, Carmina, Chesapeake Viol Consort, Ensemble Gaudior, Modern Musick, Washington Cornett & Sackbutt Ensemble and a closing ceremony concert by Scott Reiss of Hesperus with Ronn McFarlane.
Between the 13 ensembles and soloists, virtually all of the more important English composers will covered, including Henry Purcell, Thomas Tallis, Christopher Tye, William Byrd, John Blow, Henry VIII, John Dowland, John Dunstable, and some anonymous medieval English composers. Also featured will be composers of foreign origin who made significant contributions to English musical life, such as George Frederic Händel. The event will certainly also serve to highlight some unfamiliar composers who definitely deserve further consideration. These include Thomas Simpson, Matthew Locke and William and Henry Lawes. The festival will also highlight unfamiliar periods of music, providing a rare opportunity to explore the remote yet remarkably beautiful music of the 12th-14th centuries and its transition into the unique English Renaissance sound. Another unique addition to the festival will be a workshop and performance called "Early Music Youth," an educational program geared toward bringing together musicians and dancers. The workshop is for musicians of any level ages 8-25 to spend a day exploring dance, song and historical instruments. They will also have the opportunity to participate in a concert with professional musicians. For the visual arts lover, St. Mark's on Capitol Hill is planning a fiber arts show in conjunction with the Festival events held there during June 17-20.
The Washington Early Music Society (WEMS) was formed in 2003 by several leading early music groups in the Washington DC area to promote and publicize early music in the Washington DC area and to develop early music projects of mutual interest. It's first major project is to create a festival of early music in the Washington DC area - to provide an opportunity for members of our community to experience the excitement of live performances of several centuries of beautiful but often neglected music. One of its goals is to make this music widely accessible by pricing tickets affordably and selecting venues that are easy to get to and near other things of interest such as restaurants, museums, and shops. The Society hopes to make this festival a tradition in the Washington area. Founding member organizations are: Armonia Nova, Constance Whiteside Director; Chantry, David Taylor director; Orchestra of the 17th Century, Michael Holmes director; Stylus Luxurians; and Washington Cornett & Sackbutt Ensemble, Michael Holmes director.
More information about the Festival and the Society can be found at www.earlymusicdc.org
Constance Whiteside, co-founder of the Washington Early Music Society and Festival, is a highly knowledgeable specialist, scholar and performer on historical harps. She has performed at the Berkeley and Boston Early Music Festivals, with such acclaimed groups as Chanticleer, and will be performing with her medieval/Renaissance ensemble Armonia Nova at the Festival on June 19. Dr. Whiteside, a physician and graduate of Stanford University, and former tenured faculty in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of California Davis, is a former Chair of the Historical Harp Survey, and former Editor of the Historical Harp Society Journal.
