June and August meetings are directed by chapter members here at SFRS. Any member is welcome to try their hand at it, we would love to have you bring your favorite selections to conduct. Contact Greta to volunteer!
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| Our Conductors for January: The Oregon Renaissance Band Trio ~ Phil and Gayle Neuman with Laura Kuhlman |
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PLEASE NOTE:
This meeting will be held on THURSDAY, January 20 rather than our usual Wednesday in order to accommodate the schedule of our conductors.
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| (L to R): Laura Kuhlman, Phil Neuman, and Gayle Neuman of the Oregon Renaissance Band |
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GAYLE and PHIL NEUMAN are players and teachers of a wide variety of early wind and string instruments and have received international acclaim for their recordings of ancient and early music including Ensemble De Organographia’s CD Music of the Ancient Greeks and the Norton Scores Recorded Anthology of Western Music, and in numerous films and television programs. They appear in the award-winning film “Buddymoon” and can be heard on the original soundtrack for the recent film version of "Ben-Hur." They have performed in the U.S., Japan, Israel, Turkey, Greece, Canada, Norway, Germany, and for members of the royal family in Jordan.
Gayle and Phil co-founded and co-direct the Oregon Renaissance Band, and have performed with American Bach Soloists, Magnificat, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and the Handel and Haydn Society Orchestra. They teach early music ensemble classes at the Community Music Center in Portland (OR). They have given workshops and presentations at the Smithsonian Institution, Oberlin Conservatory, Rice University, Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Getty Center. They have built over 450 early wind and stringed instruments including douçaines, krummhorns, cornamusen, racketts, and vielles.
LAURA KUHLMAN moved to Portland from Chicago, Illinois, where she has spent many years as a freelance musician. From Bach to Broadway, Laura has enjoyed partnerships with several early music ensembles including the Burgundian Ensemble, Masqued Phoenix, and the Too Early Consort. In 2011, Laura performed with members of Lizodes in Ecuador and in 2012 with members of Piffaro for the Washington DC Revels. Laura has performed with theatre orchestras in the Chicago area, including Pheasant Run, Oak Park & River Forest Stage Productions. Laura is currently music director for the Portland Recorder Society and the Recorder Orchestra of Oregon. She is a past President of the national American Recorder Society. Laura also organizes the Indiana Early Double Reed Workshop and the Whitewater Early Music Festival, and has taught at the Kalamazoo Recorder Workshop and the San Francisco Recorder Workshop. Along with the Oregon Renaissance Band Trio, Laura has performed with Dulcina and the Cascadia Loud Band in Portland, Oregon and Project Zeffiro Reniassance Wind Band in Albany, California.
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Gayle, Phil, and Laura will lead this Zoom playing session of music from 400 years ago in 1622, a year in which music written in the older Renaissance style and the new baroque manner were both published and performed, played in real time on an interesting variety of instruments by the ORB Trio. "1622" will feature music from three sources:
- The Welsh composer Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656) from his "Songs of 3, 4, 5, and 6 parts" of 1622
- Music from "Il quarto libro de varie sonate, sinfonie...1622" by the Mantuan composer Salamone Rossi (c. 1570 – 1630)
- Dance music from Ben Jonson's "The Masque of Augurs" performed at Whitehall Palace in 1622
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Our in-person meetings have remained suspended since March of 2020 due to the pandemic (see our News & Events page). Most of us are getting pretty tired of simply playing along over our electronic devices, no matter how well we've adapted to the technology. We had so hoped to be able to meet in person in August or September, but with the aggressive Delta and Lambda variants (and now the Omicron variant), our best bet is to continue to play it safe and not risk anyone's health and safety.
Our host venue, Christ Church Lutheran, began holding hybrid services (some parishioners in person, others attend online from home) and they have welcomed us back to play to a masked, small congregation. We aim to try such a 'hybrid' SFRS meeting by February via the Zoom Conferencing platform if the safety protocols at that time allow for it, and that would allow our long-distance members to contine to play with us. Our membership for 2021-22 is now at 30, thanks to the continued support and participation of friends from out of the Bay Area. We are very grateful for them!
The Sacramento Recorder Society co-hosted our meetings through last season and we are very pleased to keep that going as long as they wish for of our 2021-22 online dates. It's been great to have their presence and their participation has been a silver lining to our Zoom meetings. Thank you, SRS.
We've been very fortunate to have such a wealth of talented arrangers, presenters, and performers lead us in such interesting and varied repertoire through these online meetings. Conductor locator Lydia Fredkin has been very creative in finding a variety of wonderful teachers for us, as is demonstrated by our January . She reached out to a favorite pair of workshop conductors to direct our January professionals. Along with their colleague Laura Kuhlman, Gayle and Phil Neuman will play live (not recorded) as they present their "1622" program.
Scores will not be shared on the screen as the music plays, so be sure to print or download the music to your e-reader in advance of the meeting.
To participate in the meeting, send an email to Greta and be placed on our invitation list.
NOTE: Be sure to keep your Zoom account up to date (now at version 5.9.1) for the best online experience. Be sure to check your audio settings which may have gone to a Zoom default during any update.
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Although we really miss playing together in person, most of us are either used to attending online music playing events or suffering 'Zoom Fatige.' We had hoped to begin in-person meetings in September but the Delta variant had other plans. As soon as it is possible to meet and play unmasked indoors we will return to meeting at our home Christ Church Lutheran in San Francisco, with a possible hybrid live/streamed format.
We look forward to next season when we hope to play together again in person and have another brilliant slate of professional musicians direct us. Meanwhile, we will do our very best to stay well and keep up our enthusiasm for playing our beloved recorders while staying well ... get vaccinated if you haven't yet and wear your masks to protect yourselves and others.
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| Pied Piper illustration - the top of an old model Mollenhauer recorder box |
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