MAY-JUNE  2022

NEXT MPRO MEETING

The Mid-Peninsula Recorder Orchestra’s next Zoom meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 29 at 7:30 p.m. Admission to the Zoom session will begin at 7:15. See Fred Palmer’s column in this issue for more information.

MPRO’S NEXT SEASON

Our 2022-2023 season, beginning in September, will be our 60th.  (We are the oldest recorder orchestra in North America!)  It is still not clear whether or when we will be able to meet in person.  New variants of the COVID19 virus keep appearing and case numbers have been rising in the Bay Area. As of early June, the space rental web page for Trinity Church in Menlo Park (our usual rehearsal venue) states: “We require all people, including musicians, to be masked at all times indoors.” MPRO’s Board of Directors and music director Fred Palmer will discuss the situation by email this summer, and members and subscribers to the MPRO-interest email list will be informed before September.

COMING EVENTS AND ONLINE RESOURCES

The San Francisco Early Music Society (SFEMS) has announced the dates and performing groups for its 2022-2023 concert season. See the “Concerts”menu at sfems.org. Details are also now available for SFEMS’ summer recorder workshop, scheduled for July 17-23, at: 2022 Recorder Workshop.  This page includes two videos from the 2017 and 2018 workshops.

.

CONDUCTOR’S CORNER

Dear members of the Mid-Peninsula Recorder Orchestra,

        Ray White and I will be co-hosting a virtual MPRO meeting via Zoom on Wednesday, June 29, at 7:30 P.M.  Those attending will be admitted to the meeting starting at 7:15 P.M.  We will be working on the following music:

Purcell:  Suite from The Double Dealer 

I will be sending out the music and PDF files for this selection to all MPRO members, and you can expect to receive these materials soon.  Please remember that I will be conducting this music. This means that the music will not appear on the screen, and those attending will need to read from hard copies they have downloaded when playing along with the sound files.  Ray White will be sending out invitations to all MPRO members with a link to the virtual Zoom meeting and other information.  Please contact him at <rayhwhite@yahoo.com> if you do not receive an invitation.

The orchestra will continue with virtual meetings until the current health situation changes and in person meetings are once again possible.  I look forward to seeing those who will be attending the meeting on June 29.

Sincerely,

Fred Palmer

MORE COMING EVENTS AND ONLINE RESOURCES

The Mountain Collegium has scheduled an online workshop featuring early and folk music for recorder, strings, harp, other instruments and voices, from June 16-19. There will be 32 different classes in 15 individual sessions. The Collegium is physically located in North Carolina and the workshop is on Eastern Time. You can register for up to 15 classes with discounts for multiple classes. There are a number of classes on recorder technique. Themed classes for multiple instruments and voices include: “The Stories Within: Exploring the Cancionero del Palacio,”  “Tunes from The Isles or Celtic Melodies for Whistle and Recorder,” “Emerging Recorder: Arabic Folk Song and Dance” and “Music in Shakespeare’s Plays.” For details see https://www.mountaincollegium.org/mc-online?srh=Mountain+Collegium+Online

The American Recorder Society’s Events Calendar features a variety of virtual workshops and classes in June, July and August, including the Denver Recorder Society’s free “Summer Recorder Sessions in the Rockies”.  Recent issues of the Society’s “ARS NOVA Emag” are available through the “Publications” menu. The May and June issues, under the “Skill builders” headline, focus on “Tuning up a Recorder Ensemble”, and “Developing an Internal Sense of Rhythm.”  See: ARS NOVA e-Mag Archive - American Recorder Society.  

Lark Camp is an annual summer workshop on traditional music and dance, held in Mendocino County.  The organizers have decided not to hold an in-person camp this year.  The website says that there will be a virtual workshop from August 3-7, but no details are available yet.  Interested people should check https://larkcamp.org closer to the dates. Sheet music from past workshops is available at: Lark Camp Music Library

A recent broadcast of the syndicated Harmonia Early Music public radio series featured Renaissance and Baroque music for royal/noble weddings. These included the marriages of Cosimo de Medici and Eleanora di Toledo (1539),  Elizabeth Stuart and Frederick, the future King of Bohemia (1613) and Louis the son of Louis XIV and Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain. You can listen to the entire broadcast and see the Transcript link at this site for more information on the music at: Wedding Bells | Harmonia Early Music - Indiana Public Media.

RECORDINGS OF MPRO’S “NEW” MUSIC

MPRO’s June meeting will focus on incidental music written by Henry Purcell for a Restoration comedy by William Congreve that was first produced in 1693. This Wikipedia article summarizes the plot of the play: The Double Dealer - Wikipedia.  Searching on YouTube leads to several recordings from Purcell’s suite by the Academy of Ancient Music.

Overture: https://youtu.be/uzHUBPwrlew

Hornpipe-Minuet-Air-Hornpipe: https://youtu.be/K4H4B1t_d3I

Minuet-Minuet-Air: https://youtu.be/X2ygFNuygKc

The Board: President: Judith Unsicker; Treasurers: Chantal Moser and Mary Ashley; Recording Secretary: vacant; Membership: Chris Flake and Tom Granvold; Publicity: vacant; Graphics: Mary Ashley; Newsletter Editor: vacant; Workshop Coordinator: vacant; Hospitality: vacant; Music Sales: Laura Gonsalves; Historian: vacant; Webmaster: Dan Chernikoff;  Music Director: Fred Palmer.  MPRO website: http://www.mpro-online.org   

Past Months' Issues: http://www.mpro-online.org/MPROArchives.htm