About the workshop Whether you're a member of the choir or not, you're welcome to apply for a place at our exciting workshop, Motets and Madrigals of the Renaissance at The Gregg School, Southampton. Over the course of the day, we'll be enjoying the experience of singing in small chamber ensembles, coached by members of the prize-winning ensemble, Stile Antico, and the choir's inspirational musical director, David Gibson. In groups, and without a conductor, we'll be exploring repertoire from the Renaissance era, with an emphasis on developing internal rhythm and ensemble skills. One of the joys of working with this music is the opportunity to explore varying interpretations, since the music was printed in a time before tempo, dynamics or colour were stipulated by the composer. For more information about the repertoire for the workshop, click here. All of the groups will be small in number, but we are also offering participants the opportunity of spending one half-session of the day singing one-to-a-part, coached by a member of Stile Antico - all included in the workshop fee of just £13 (£5 for students). After an introduction and general warm up, we'll divide into our groups for the two morning sessions. During the lunch-break (please bring a packed lunch), you are free to explore the listed garden (which was planned by Gertrude Jekyll and should still be looking good, even in October, thanks to the efforts of the Friends of Townhill Park Gardens). Lunch will be followed by a presentation in the main hall by the members of Stile Antico on the group's repertoire and how they work, after which there will be three further sessions. We'll end the day with informal performances by the workshop groups. To get the most out of this workshop, you'll need at least a very basic ability to sight-read (to the standard of, say, a simple Anglican hymn; click here to see one of the more simple of the pieces we will be looking at for the workshop). Because we want to keep the groups small and give as many participants as possible the option of taking advantage of the one-to-a-part sessions offered, the number of applicants will be limited to 100. We expect demand for places to be high, so please don't delay in submitting your booking form. Click here to read more about Stile Antico. For more information about the workshop, please refer to the leaflet/booking form and the list of pieces (attachments below). Buy recordings by Stile Antico from our Amazon webshop (You pay the standard Amazon price, and the Choir receives commission on your Amazon purchases):
16 years 4 months ago