On October 1st Baroque Band is presenting the first of our International Baroque Master class series. This is a new initiative that we have put together for this season and we are honored that Monica Huggett, one of the foremost exponents of the modern-day period-instrument movement, has agreed to inaugurate this series.
One of our objectives at Baroque Band is to encourage the music students of today to become more curious about the music, instruments, and techniques of the Classical, Baroque, and pre-Baroque periods, and to give them opportunities to explore these sounds through historically informed performance practice, or HIPP for short.
Much of the training of today’s young musicians revolves around the great 19th and 20th century concertos and sonatas and students rank themselves, and each other, as to which concerto they are playing; Mendelssohn or Sibelius, Tchaikovsky or Berg. While chamber music, particularly for string players, does have a good grounding in the Classical period it never seems to venture back from there and orchestral repertoire, despite occasional forays towards Mozart and Haydn, begins somewhere around Beethoven. Approaching the solo repertoire of Bach is often seen as a study of technical prowess rather than a musical adventure.
Even for those not going on to be ‘specialists’ we at Baroque Band feel that delving into the musical aesthetic of earlier periods can inform and enlighten a musicians approach to music from any era. Over the past twelve months, I, and other musicians from Baroque Band, have worked with students at the Music Institute of Chicago, Roosevelt University, and the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra all of whom have embraced the opportunity to consider another approach to music from the Baroque and Classical eras.
Many years ago, as a student of HIPP in London, I was lucky enough to gain much from performing in a master class for Monica and then from working with her as a colleague. She is an inspirational musician, a warm and generous person, a dedicated teacher, and she has a way of communicating her skill and enthusiasm with wit and meaningful insight. I know that today’s young musicians will gain as much inspiration from Ms. Huggett as I did and I invite everyone to come and support them on their musical adventure.
This master class, the first in a series of four classes, takes place at the Music Institute of Chicago’s Evanston Campus on Wednesday, October 1 at 6:30 p.m. and is free to observe.
Ms. Huggett will also be performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with Baroque Band on September 30, October 2, and October 3. For further information go to www.baroqueband.org or call (312) 235-2368
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