Updated: October,
2004
RECORDER ORCHESTRAS OF THE WORLD
Postal & Email Contacts ~Websites ~ Biographical Information ~ CDs ~ Articles ~ Objectives
Researched & Compiled by Richard Geisler, Dir. American Recorder Orchestra of the West (June, 2002)
( Read CRITERIA for inclusion in this listing on last page; also see NOTE about composition & instrumentation )
= New Entry * = Updated Entry
AUSTRALIA
MELBOURNE RECORDER ORCHESTRA, Kara Ciezki, Conductor. Approx. 21 members.
Contact: John Buxton-Rella: buxton_rella@primus.com.au Postal address: 83 Ormond Esplanade, Elwood, Victoria 3184
PDF file: bio info on Ciezki & program info: www.ma.rmit.edu.au/kepler/young_performers/2000/july2000.pdf
BRITAIN
*HAMPSHIRE RECORDER SINFONIA (HRS), Christopher Burgess, Musical Director, West Hoe Farmhouse, West Hoe Lane, Bishops Waltham, Hants SO32 ; phone: 01489 891873 Founded: 1995. Approx. 30 members. Weekly meetings. 4 concerts/yr.
Contact: Jane Taussik, jane@taussik.u-net.com, 4 Langstone Ave., Havant, Hants P09 1RU, United Kingdom
WEBSITE: www.hants.gov.uk/hrs/hrs.html
2 CDs recorded: Hampshire Recorder Sinfonia (1997); A Very English Sound (2001)
The Hampshire Recorder Sinfonia is one of 10 recorder orchestras that rehearse and perform regularly in the UK. HRS consists of 30 players of all ages from Hampshire and West Sussex playing the entire family of recorders from sopranino to contrabass. Some of its younger players also play for the National Youth Recorder Orchestra (NYRO) (See NYRO entry). HRS meets weekly under the leadership of its musical director, Christopher Burgess, & performs 4 concerts/yr., including a traditional Christmas concert in its own town of Havant with its training group, the Havant Recorder Ensemble. It has developed an international exchange program with the Dutch recorder orchestra, Blokfluitensemble Praetorius and welcomes opportunities to extend this type of experience. HRS supports young players in Romania through the Elgar Society. It commissions new music for recorder orchestra and has played other new pieces written and arranged for it, including some by its own members.
HEART OF ENGLAND RECORDER ORCHESTRA (HERO)
contact Beryl Craven (Secretary): ContactHERO@aol.com; Telephone 01455 553703
musab@snow.csv.warwick.ac.uk Founded: 1992. Approx. 35 members. 10-12 rehearsals/yr. 2 concerts/yr. HERO has a minimum standard (roughly equivalent to JK grade 8), but what is important is people’s playing, not whether they have taken formal exams. The orchestra is a mixture of amateurs, music students and recorder and music teachers. The age range is from student to senior citizen. A wide geographical area is represented.
WEBSITE: http://homepage.dtn.ntl.com/gerry.cooper/hero.htm
LONDON RECORDER ORCHESTRA, Denis Bloodworth, Composer/Conductor, 18 Pandora Court., South Bank, Surbiton, Surrey Kt6 6DJ; phone: (020) 8399-8459 Founded: 1988. Membership: 35-40. Rehearsals: monthly, 10 per yr. Annual concert. Public concerts are recorded on CDs which are made available primarily to audience and members.
Denis Bloodworth, the director/arranger Denis Bloodworth is the director of the London Recorder Orchestra - he is also a remarkable arranger of music for recorder orchestra much of it forming part of the core repertoire of recorder orchestras around the world. Some of it has been recorded - all of it is of an extraordinary high standard as well as showing Denis' cosmopolitan taste in music. Certainly, it is never ever dull, nor on the whole, beyond the reach of all but the most elementary player. The Hampshire Recorder Sinfonia, Dir. Chris Burgess, has recorded several of Bloodworth’s arrangements for recorder orchestra on its two CDs, Hampshire Recorder Sinfonia and A Very English Sound: White Christmas, by Irving Berlin; A Suite of Early English Keyboard Music; English Folksong Suite, by Ralph Vaughn Williams, Moths and Butterflies, by Edward Elgar; A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, by Manning Sherwin.
*MANCHESTER RECORDER ORCHESTRA (MRO), Dennis Bamforth, Composer/Conductor 41 Grosvenor Road, Sale, Cheshire M33 1WL; phone: 0161-973-2050 Contact: Mike Shearing: mike.shearing@lineone.net
BRITISH RECORDER ORCHESTRAS, cont. – MANCHESTER RECORDER ORCHESTRA
WEBSITE: http://www.manchester_recorder_orchestra.cwc.net/
MRO was founded in January 1981. Rehearsasl: monthly. Membership: 67 players mainly from the Greater Manchester conurbation but as many as 20% travel long distances to take part. Instrumenation: 2 Sopraninos, 8 Descants, 12 Trebles, 12 Tenors, 12 Basses, 10 Great Basses and 6 Contra Basses. The descants, trebles and tenors are further divided into two sections each; basses are also divided occasionally. Each section has a principal who is responsible for solo work.
The Orchestra's repertoire is consists of both original compositions and arrangements. Many of these are by Dennis Bamforth. These include five symphonies as well as concertante items for piano, clarinet and saxophone. There are also a considerable number of arrangements ranging from Handel opera overtures to ballades of the 1960s. Other modern pieces include works by Colin Touchin, Ian Farquhar, Michael Sammons and Paul Clark. There are some hundred and sixty titles in the library.
For each concert the orchestra invites a soloist to play with them. This offers valuable contrast to the recorder sound. The choice of soloists has been to give experience to young performers as well as more established local players. Among the instruments used have been violin, viola, cello, flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, French horn, tuba, tenor and soprano singers, piano and organ. Five choirs have also been associated with the orchestra.
Under Bamforth’s direction, MRO has premiered several works composed or arranged for solo instrument accompanied by recorder orchestra. To mark the tenth anniversary of the Orchestra in 1991, Colin Touchin wrote a work for Clarinet and Recorder Orchestra in which he performed as soloist. A new and unusual work was premiered at in 1994 – Three American Cities for Tuba and Orchestra by Michael Sammons; In 1997, MRO premiered Bamforth’s Sinfonia Concertante for Saxophone and Recorder Orchestra, Op 47. In 1998 an arrangement of the Horn Concerto in E flat, K 495, by Mozart was performed.
Dennis Bamforth, the director/arranger/composer:
Dennis Bamforth was born and educated in Huddersfield where he studied piano and violin. He entered the University of Wales at Cardiff to read Music and has since been employed as a teacher in Secondary education. Mr Bamforth began his recorder activities in 1960 and has built an enviable reputation in England and America for his work. In 1966, working with Mr. Colin Martin, he founded the Northern Recorder Course. In 1969, he founded and became Principal of the Stockport Recorder College. At the Northern Recorder Course in 1973 Mr. Bamforth put together the first Recorder Orchestra. As a result from this beginning, the country now has six recorder orchestras playing concerts on a regular basis. {See his article on the history of rec. orch., pp.9-12}
In America Mr.Bamforth set up seven week long Workshops held in the Seattle area on the West Coast. Working with Peter Seibert, Dir. of the Seattle Recorder Society (See Seattle Recorder Society entry), he introduced the idea of the Recorder Orchestra; in 1982 he was invited back to run a weekend workshop devoted to the “Recorder Orchestra”. This trip followed a lecture given to the International Musical Society on the subject of recorder orchestras at their annual International Conference held in Bristol, England.
Mr. Bamforth has been active in composing and arranging music for recorder - the recorder orchestra in particular - and in encouraging other composers to write - again, especially for the orchestral ensemble. His works include six symphonies, works for solo instrument with orchestra, and independent pieces, forming a list of some twenty odd works. In addition there are a selection of his solo and chamber works for recorders published together with arrangements published here by Schott, of London and in America by Hargail, New York.
NATIONAL YOUTH
RECORDER ORCHESTRA,
Colin Touchin, Music Director Contact:
Helen Beare: email nyropr@srp.org.uk - tel: 01539-621339 Nether Bainbridge, Sedbergh, Cumbria LA10 5HX
The Society of Recorder Players founded the National Youth Recorder Orchestra
in 2002. It is a
fully-constituted,
orchestrally-organised, professionally-conducted ensemble for advanced young recorder players of sopranino, descant, treble, tenor, bass, great bass and contrabass, playing fully-scored music specifically written for Recorder Orchestra. It is a pinnacle of excellence, to which young players can aspire.
After a successful inauguration in 2002 with a course in Malvern and concert in Birmingham, there was a second week-long course in 2003 in Hertfordshire with the concert at the Royal College of Music, London.
Colin Touchin, the director/composer: For a decade, Colin Touchin has been Director of Music at the University of Warwick. Previously he was Head of Composition at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester, where he conducted the Classical Orchestra and founded and conducted the Symphonic Wind Orchestra, as well as teaching clarinet, recorder, analysis, rock, jazz and electronic music. He has conducted the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Great Britain three times - including the première of his own symphony Our Hopes, like Towering Falcons. In 1992 he also founded the Midlands Wind Orchestra which continues to give exciting performances of the modern wind repertoire alongside lighter selections. In 1994 he conducted the Birmingham Schools' Wind Orchestra in America, and the Birmingham
BRITISH RECORDER ORCHESTRAS, cont. – NATIONAL YOUTH RECORDER ORCHESTRA
Conservatoire Junior School Symphony Orchestra to a Highly Commended Award in the Music for Youth Festival in London in his own Sinfonietta No.2. He has also conducted ensembles in Russia and Ireland and the Luxembourg Youth Wind Band on their first British tour in 1997. He served as BASBWE (British Association of Symphonic Bands and Wind Ensembles) Chairman in 1996/7. He founded the British Universities Honours Band in 1996. In June 1998 he gave workshops and conducted bands, orchestras and choirs in Singapore, China and Hong Kong, and returned to Hong Kong in November to direct a choral extravaganza entitled Mighty Mouth! In August 1999 and in 2000 he was one of the International Adjudicators for the New Zealand Wind Band Festivals, and conducted ensembles in Australia and New Zealand.
Mr. Touchin has composed several works for recorder orchestra. Among them are: Prelude, Chorale & Fugue, O. 16; Sinfonia Aquilonia; A Further Diversion; Showpiece; Antifonia
THE NORTHEAST RECORDER ORCHESTRA (NERCO), John Hawkes, Conductor/Composer: johnhawkes@tiscali.co.uk, Phone: 01661-822909; 11 Tudor Court, Ponteland, Newcastle upon
Tyne NE20 9PJ, UK
Flora Pitt, secretary: mpitt580@aol.com, phone: 0191-3841029
Inaugural meeting, January, 2004
WEBSITE: www.nerco.org.uk.
The North East Recorder Orchestra, the newest in the UK, had its inaugural meeting in January, 2004 in the hall of Christchurch, Shieldfield, Newcastle upon Tyne where meetings continue to be held on the 4th Saturday in each month (except August and December) from 10am to 1pm. Presently the orchestra has about 25 members ranging in age from 14-70. The premiere concert is planned for 2005.
Standards required: There are no auditions; however the orchestra is not suitable for beginners. Potential members should be of grade 6 standard or higher, preferably having had some experience of what is required in an orchestral environment (though this is not essential). Members of the orchestra will be assigned to a particular instrumental section (e.g. tenor 1) and will generally remain there (though some movement between sections is inevitable in the long run).
Instrumentation: The conventional sections within a recorder
orchestra are as follows:
Sopranino 1 (sometimes1 & 2), Descants 1 & 2, Trebles 1 & 2, Tenors
1 & 2, Basses 1 & 2, Great Bass in C, Contra Bass in F. It is hoped
that the orchestra will eventually have a membership of between 30 and 40
players.
Repertoire: The repertoire available to the recorder orchestra is now very wide, ranging from 'early music' through arrangements of 'classical' works to present-day pieces written especially for the recorder orchestra. It is the policy of NERCO to explore as much of this repertoire as possible.
The conductor, John Hawkes (see www.johnhawkes.co.uk) was born in 1942 and started composing in his early teens. Although a physics researcher and lecturer by profession, music was never far behind and he continued to compose and play flute and oboe in a number of amateur orchestras. He took early retirement in 1997 and in December 2001, after two years of part time study, was awarded the degree of MMus in composition (with merit) at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He has written several pieces for recorder orchestra and recently has done a number of arrangements.
PEREGRINE RECORDER ORCHESTRA, Ian Farquhar, Composer/Conductor. barbarian@farqu.freeserve.co.uk;
ian-2004@peregrine-recorder-orchestra.org.uk, 20 Caldecote Rd., Ickwell, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire SG18 9EH; phone: 01767-627665. Contact: Lorna Ford - lorna@peregrine-recorder-orchestra.org.uk
Founded in 1985. Approx. 20 members. aged 13-70. Rehearsals every 2 weeks. 3 concerts/yr.
WEBSITE: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/martiniuk/peregrine.htm
The music played covers a wide range of styles from the renaissance period to the present day The orchestra uses the entire family of recorders from garklein to contra bass. Its constitution is 1 sopranino, 1 soprano, then 2 each of altos 1 & 2, tenors 1 & 2 and basses 1 & 2; the low end of the orchestra is represented by 2 great basses and 3 contra basses. Guest soloists are invited to add variety and interest to the concerts.
Ian Farquhar, the director/composer/arranger:
Mr. Farquhar arranges or composes almost all the music the Peregrine Recorder Orchestra plays. His Symphony No.1 in C (1979) has been published by Recorder Music Mail and has been performed by several of the other English recorder orchestras. Farquhar has several more works, unpublished at this time: Symphony No.2 in E minor, Symphony No.3 in D, Overture "The Late Arrivals", Suite for a Joyous Occasion, The Steadfast Oak, Flavour of the Andes. His latest pieces are Four Guernsey Landscapes and Bohemian Crystals which was inspired by a family vaction in the Czech Republic. Contact Mr. Farquhar for information about these unpublished symphonies and many other works he has composed.
BRITISH RECORDER ORCHESTRAS, continued:
PHOENIX RECORDER ORCHESTRA, Pam Smith, Conductor: pam@10woodgate.fsnet.co.uk Contact: Steve Marshall: steve@steveandann.fsworld.co.uk
WEBSITE: http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/phoenixrecorder
The Phoenix Recorder Orchestra was formed at the end of 2003. Our centre of gravity is somewhere on Highway M5 between Bristol and Gloucester, with members coming from up to a hundred miles to play. Membership of the orchestra is currently by invitation. The Phoenix plays music from the 12th century right up to the present day, using the entire recorder family, from garklein to contrabass.
We have a considerable bias towards modern music, much of which is provided by resident composer Steve Marshall, who publishes his own work as May Hill Edition (http://www.mayhill.co.uk/). Examples of the more modern repertoire are…
Concerto in F, a three movement concerto by Steve Marshall for the unusual combination of treble recorder soloist and recorder orchestra. It has plenty of the characteristics of Steve's music - jazz-like rhythmic vitality sitting side-by-side with strong, singable melodies.
The Wind In The Pine Tree, a traditional Japanese
story where a narrator tells the story and the orchestra plays music with a
distinctly Japanese flavour.
24 Steps, a fascinating contemporary piece, originally for the unusual
combination of narrator and accordion, but with the help and help and advice of
the composer, Paul Burnell, now rearranged into a piece for narrator &
recorder orchestra.
THE SCOTTISH
RECORDER ORCHESTRA, Eileen Silcocks,
conductor Email: info@eileensilcocks.co.uk - 01495 636246 - 79 Albert Rd., Gourock, Renfrewshire, PA19 1NJ
Email Valerie Flook: chair@sro.org.uk, phone: 01224-868965 or 680907; Ardoe, Aberdeen AB12 5XT
The orchestra was founded in 2002. It currently has about 40 members playing sopranino, descant, treble, tenor, bass, great bass and contrabass recorders. New members are welcome. A good standard of playing and sight-reading is necessary, but auditions are not held. Rehearsals are usually on the second Sunday of most months, 2.30 to 5.00 p.m.
Provisional dates for the 2004-2005 season
2004: Sept 12th, Oct 3rd, Nov 14th, Dec 10- 12 - 2005: Jan 9th, Feb 13th, Mar 13th, Apr 10th May 8th, June 12th.
Music rehearsed in 2003-2004
Les Indes Galantes, Rameau -Våren, Grieg -The Old Castle, Mussorgsky -Fantasy Nr.1, Lawes - Hebridean Suite, Margery Gibb
The director, Eileen Silcocks studied recorder & early music practice in The Netherlands from 1976-1988 under Ku Ebbinge, Ricardo Kanji, Frans Bruggen & Wim ten Have. She then lived, taught & performed in Wales & Iceland where she was principal cellist of the North Icelandic Symphony Orchestra. Now in Scotland, Silcocks performs with a baroque ensemble, Banquet of Music, and a recorder quartet, Flauti Animati Scotica. Besides founding and conducting The Scottish Rec. Orch., she continues to teache recorder & viol courses in Europe and Great Britain.
WIRRAL RECORDER ORCHESTRAS, Diane Barton & Colin Martin, Conductors
Contact: DianeBarton@musiceducation.freeserve.co.uk, 2A Slatey Rd., Prenton, Merseyside CH43 1TA
Founded: 1998. Approx. 50 members. Monthly rehearsals. 2 concerts/yr.
WEBSITE: http://www.wirralrecorderorchestra.org
Colin Martin, the director:
Conductor Colin Martin studied music at Cardiff University for 7 years. Besides his degrees, he holds diplomas in both piano and recorder playing. He was a senior lecturer in music at Padgate College of Higher Education and now teaches people of all ages at music centres around Manchester. Colin is an examiner for music at A Level G.C.E. Together with Dennis Bamforth, he founded the Northern Recorder Course, which has run since 1966. He has made 14 visits to the U.S.A. teaching at summer schools and does similar work in this country. He is also musical adviser to the Manchester Society of Recorder Players.
The Wirral Training Recorder Orchestra was founded in September 1999 by Diane Barton, for players who have not had the opportunity to play with others, and those who wish to learn a different sized recorder from the one they are used to playing. Rehearsals are held monthly on Saturday afternoons at the Hamilton Memorial U.R.C.
FRANCE
ENSEMBLE FLÙTES A BEC DE LYON, a youth recorder orchestra. Madame Madeleine Mirocourt, Conductor, MUSIQUE-AMITIE, 7 rue Henri IV, F-69002 LYON; phone: 04-78-42-77-41 Email contact: francoisduplay@aol.com
Founded: 1970. 25-50 youth, aged 12-25, many of them medalled students at the Conservatoire National de Region de Lyon.
10-20 concerts/yr. 51 concerts in foreign countries.
1 CD recorded: L’Air du Temps
Madeleine Mirocourt, the director:
I am very glad to see how important is the interest aroused all over the world by the Recorder. I was one of the first to introduce it in France and to {have it recognized as a bonifide musical instrument} by the Conservatory of Lyon with the approval of the its former director, Mr. Bertholon. In 1967 I was allowed to create the first class of recorder {at the conservatory} In parallel with the conservatory, I have created my own recorder school: MUSIQUE AMITIE (Music & Friendship) and an Ensemble which has gathered about 100 pupils. {Since its inception in 1969 Mirocourt has taken EFBL on many tours to several western and eastern European countries, also England, Denmark, Mexico and the U.S.A. } During a televised presentation at the Maurice Ravel Auditorium of Lyon, Jacques Martin, a French media star, baptized it “L’ENSEMBLE DE FLUTES A BEC DE LYON”. Many French and foreign composers were interested in my formation and composed music for us. Many other works {from all musical periods} have been transcribed.
GERMANY
DAS BLOCKFLÖTENCONSORT DORTMUND (BCD), Dietrich Schnabel, Dir., dietrichschnabel@t-online.de www.dietrich-schnabel.de - Address: Trift 8, D-34281 Gudensberg, Germany
Contact: Sven Hoja: Hoja@ib.wesemann.de
WEBSITE: www.blockfloetenconsort.de
BCD was founded in 1994. It grew out of a workshop Mr. Schnabel conducted, “Tage fur Kirchenmusik”, for singers brass instruments and recorders. The enthusiasm engendered among recorder players who wanted to continue to meet regularly led to “Das Blockflötenconsort Dortmund” The 50+ players in DBC range in age from 25-75 years. The entire orchestra meets monthly on Saturday. Approximately 20 of the more advanced players also meet again on Sunday. The entire family of recorders is represented, even the garklein on occasion. Nearly all players can play bass; the orchestra has as many as 20 great basses & 10 contrabasses. Members are encouraged to master the basic quartet: SATB.
The music: Director Schnabel prefers to conduct music originally composed for recorder ensemble. Original works have been specially composed for BCD by arranger/composers Allan Rosenheck, Siegfried Rath & Hans Hütten. He is very selective in choosing pieces arranged for recorders and prefers not to perform music from periods of musical history in which no music was composed for recorders.
DBC performs 1-4 concerts/yr. which are well attended by audiences that number as many as 300.
The director: Dietrich Schnabel, b. Dec. 19, 1968, studied conducting in Weimar. He has conducted choirs since 1986 and began working with recorder orchestras in 1991. He teaches courses throughout Germany. In 1998, Mr. Schnabel founded Blockflötenensemble Garbsen (BEG), also as a result of a course he led near Hanover. BEG numbers 21 players, aged 35-78. BEG rehearses monthy and performs 1-4 concerts/yr.
ITALY
ORCHESTRA
ITALIANA DI FLAUTI DOLCI (OIFD),
Celestino Dionisi, Director
M° Celestino Dionisi, Piazza dei Malcontenti , 1 - I 55100 LUCCA - Italia
contact: Paolo Faeti, e-mail: pavolo59@yahoo.it
WEBSITE: http://www.educatieve-media.nl/blokfluit/index-oifd.htm
OIFD was founded in 2000 by the director from a core group of
former Urbino Summer School Course students. The orchestra, comprised of both
professional and amateur players, varies between 25-45+ members who range in
age from 25-75 years. Beginners are welcome as apprentice members. The entire
recorder family is employed from sopranino to contrabass. When called for,
other instruments or soloists are included in performances: cello, gamba,
bassoon, harpsichord. OIFD presents concerts in several Italian venues.
The Orchestra’s activities & announcements are regularly posted both to the Yahoo! Recorder and Fautodolce Mailing Lists.
The director: Celestino Dionisi has been also teaching amateurs for more than 20 years at Urbino's Summer School, and in many other courses and seminars.
JAPAN
The 12 recorder orchestras listed below are all conducted by Minoru Yoshizawa: minor777@blue.ocn.ne.jp
Contact: Dr. Rie Masho: masho@ceis.or.jp - address: 2-4-5 Nishiohi Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, Japan 140-0015; ph: 03-3777-7719; fax: 03-3777-7827
WEBSITE:: http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~mino/
Education and experience in Europe: In 1976, Yoshizawa completed a course in the methods of music teaching at the Orff Institute in Salzburg. The course involved the study and training of musical expression with words, and music with physical movement. Further studies,in modern and historical dance forms, were funded by a scholarship from the German Government. Yoshizawa then attended The Mozarteum Academy of Music and Performance,in Salzburgand there he studied Early Music Performance and Musicology under the internationally acclaimed conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt; and the recorder and flute under the celebrated teachers, Felicitas Keldorfer and Helmut Zangaleat respectively.
Yoshizawa’s music career in Japan: In 1980 Yoshizawa formed the early music group Musica Antiqua Tokyo. He has also conducted numerous music workshops, festivals, and teaches a select group of amateur and professional players. In addition he maintains a busy schedule of public performances of virtuoso recorder music ranging from the Renaissance period to contemporary works. By 1985 Yoshizawa's reputation as a performer led to an invitation by NHK (Japan's national broadcaster) to host the music program The Recorder Sings. This program was broadcast nation-wide on the education channel of NHK from 1986 to 1997.
Currently, Yoshizawa holds teaching posts in the music departments at Yokohama National University, the University of Tsuru and the University of Shizuoka. He is also Guest Lecturer at the College of Music and Performance Arts in Vienna, Austria; and at the Mozarteum Academy of Music and Performance in Salzburg, Austria. These academic posts have led to the publication of many scripts, books, videos, and compact discs; and his role as advisor and consultant to the Ministry of Education, and to NHK's Education Television Programs.
AOI RECORDER ORCHESTRA, Shizuoka City Cultural Foundation, AOI Kurogane-cho Shizuoka-shi, Shizuoka-ken, Japan 420-8691; phone: 054-251-2200; fax: 054-253-3322; email: aoinet@chabashire.cojp Founded: 1995. Membership: 36
Meetings: twice monthly. 3+ concerts/yr.
*MINO-YOSHIZAWA RECORDER ORCHESTRA TOKYO, Doctor Masho, Yamaha Ginza; phone: Yamaha 03-3572-3716; fax: 03-3574-8574; email: masho@ceis.or.jp Founded: 1999. Membership: 52. 2+ concerts/yr.
*CONSORT MINORE, Mrs. Kokeguchi, Aobadai Yokohama; phone: 045-983-3492; email: fmkoke@ay.catv.ne.jp Founded: 1993. Membership: 40. 2+ concerts/yr.
*SHIBUYA
RECORDER ENSEMBLE,
Shibuya-ku Board of Education; phone: 03-3467-8061
Founded: 1980. Membership: 16. Meetings: weekly. 3+
concert/yr.
KOIDEGOU RECORDER ORCHESTRA, Koudegou Cultural Foundation; phone: 02579-8811; fax: 02579-6776; email: kode-go@mail.uonuma.ne.jp Founded: 1996. Membership: 45 Meetings: 3 times/month. 3+ concerts/yr.
MRC
MINATO MIRAI RECORDER ORCHESTRA,
NHK Culture Center Yokohama City ; phone: 045-224-1100; fax:
045-224-1109; email: nishida-miho@nhkcul.co.jp
Founded: 1996. Membership: 45 Meetings: 3 times/month. 3+
concerts/yr.
YAMAHA GINNZA RECORDER ORCHESTRA
YAMAHA Music Foundation, 7-9-14 Ginza Chuoku Tokyo Japan 104-0061 - phone: 03-3572-3134 ; fax: 03-3574-8574
Founded: 2003. Membership: 35 Meetings: twice monthly. 2+ concerts/yr.
WEBSITE: http://www.yamaha.ginza.co.jp
ENSEMBLE MARDI
YAMAHA Music Foundation, 7-9-14 Ginza Chuoku Tokyo Japan 104-0061
phone: 03-3572-3134 ; fax: 03-3574-8574; email: http://www.yamaha.ginza.co.jp Founded: 2003. Membership: 17 Meetings: twice monthly. 2+ concerts/yr.
YAMAHA RECORDER ORCHESTRA YOKOHAMA
YAMAHA Music Foundation, ; phone: 045-311-1204 ; fax: 045-313-4687;
email: m-avenue@yamaha-yokohama.co.jp, HGF00627@nifty.ne.jp
Founded: 2002. Membership: 37 Meetings: twice monthly. 2+ concerts/yr.
JAPANESE RECORDER ORCHESTRAS, cont.
PAN RECORDER
ORCHESTRA
Mrs.Etsuko
Shibuya ; phone: 045-766-5010; fax: 0045-766-5010; email:
s-ekko@luck.ocn.ne.jp Founded: 2000. Membership: 42 Meetings:
times/month.2+ concerts/yr.
FILIAN CLUB
Yokohama
City Cultural Foundation; phone: 045-974-24701; fax: 045-974-2470; email: myyikeda@d02.itscom.net
Founded: 2000. Membership: 12 Meetings: times/month.2+ concerts/yr.
MINO-YOSHIZAWA RECORDER ENSEMBLE BUNKYO
Bunkyoku Cultural Foundation; phone: Mr.(J Cornell 03-3945-9016; fax: 03-3945-9132; email: kumic@gol.com Founded: 2002. Membership: 15 Meetings: times/month.1+ concerts/yr.
THE NETHERLANDS
*BLOKFLUITENSEMBLE PRAETORIUS, Norbert Kunst, Dir. norbert@praetorius.nl
Home address: L. Wilkensstraat 31, NL-47 WD TIEL, NETHERLANDS
Further contact for Praetorius: Lodewijk de Jonge: info@praetorius.nl; lodewijk@praetorius.nl
Founded: 1964. Membership: 24. Meetings: weekly. 10 concerts/yr.
WEBSITE: http://www.come.to/praetorius 2 CDs recorded: Van Byrd Tot Badings (1994); De Vier Elementen (1999)
Norbert Kunst, the director: I studied recorder and double bass at the Conservatory Utrecht. During my study I got interested in recorder making. After a couple of years I took up the bassoon and later specialized in early bassoons. I played in and worked with several ensembles and chamber groups, participated in concert tours and recorded 4 CDs. In 1996, after the death of my father Piet Kunst who founded and conducted Praetorius, I took over the leadership of the recorder orchestra.
Additional information of interest: The members of Blokfluitensemble Praetorius all play fine wood recorders made by one Dutch recorder maker. Mr. Kunst himself went to the factory to supervise the tuning of the recorders. The individual members do not own these instruments. They are loaned to the members, each member playing only the one recorder assigned to him. In choosing music for the orchestra to play, Mr. Kunst generally prefers to use altos as the high voice.
Total Art: Die Vier Elementen (The Four Elements), the CD B.P. recorded in 1999 under Mr. Kunst’s directorship, was first presented as a public concert. For the performance, Mr. Kunst commissioned 4 large paintings to be hung behind the orchestra, each one representing one of the four elements: earth, air, fire, water. In the performance of the contemporary works, an ensemble of dancers gave graphic interpretation of the music in movement. During the performance fans at the rear of the auditorium wafted earthy, airy, fiery or watery odors over the audience.
*IT FRYSK RECORDER ORCHESTRA, (formerly IT ORKEST), Dinie Goedhart, Dir. DinieGoedhart.FlautoNuovo@12move.nl; Postal address: Kolkreed 1, 9154 AS Foudgum, The Netherlands, Ph: +31519-296219 founded 2003 ( It Orkest founded 1994): 56 members. Meetings: weekly, 38/yr. Concerts: 4-5/yr.
WEBSITE: http://www.flautonuovo.nl
2 CDs recorded: Bach in Dokkum (2000), celebrating the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death: orchestra of 100+ recorders.
Vivaldi in Dokkum (2002), music of Vivaldi: orchestra of 100+ recorders.
Dinie Goedhart, the director:
Dinie Goedhart (28 september 1947, Dordrecht) taught recorder at music schools in Dordrecht and Alkmaar. In 1988 she graduated with a major in recorder from the conservatory in Leeuwarden. For years she took lessons from Karel van Steenhoven, member of the well known Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet. In 1990 she established the Flauto Nuovo, Instituut for Recorder Education in Friesland (Netherlands). Since 1996 she has been the department head for “Recorder” for General Music Education at the regional school of music, De Wâldsang, in Buitenpost. She is regularly invited to be guest lecturer at the conservatory of Groningen. In 1998, music publisher 'De Haske' in Heerenveen asked her to write music books with play along CD's. This resulted in the publication of Ik Speel Nu al Solo, ( Je suis un grand soliste, Mein erstes solo, etc.) Also in 1998 she was awarded first place for the best recorder arrangement at the Open Nederlandse Blokfluitdagen (Open Dutch Recorder Competition) in Utrecht. In 2003 She founded It Frysk Recorder Orchestra at De Wâldsang music school in Damwoude en Buitenpost. The orchestra, consisting of SATB recorders performed an all Telemann concert in Oct., 2004.
NEW ZEALAND
*CHRISTCHURCH YOUTH RECORDER ORCHESTRA (CYRE), Neville Forsythe, Dir. forclift@ihug.co.nz
Postal contact: The Christchurch Youth Recorder Ensemble c/o Christchurch School of Music, 140 Barbadoes St., PO Box 22-245, Christchurch, NZ. Ph +64 3 366 1711- Fax +64 3 366 1742
Founded: 1976. Membership: approx.15 (aged 11-22). Meetings: weekly. 3-5 concerts/yr. + participation in several other programs.
WEBSITE: http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~forclift/cyre.html - Forsyth info: http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~forclift/index.html
2 CDs recorded: Connections: Eight Centuries of Recorder Music (1998); A String of Pearls (2002)
The Christchurch Youth Recorder Ensemble, a performing ensemble of The Christchurch School of Music, celebrated twenty five years of music making in 2001. Over the years the ensemble has appeared at six International Recorder Weeks held in Armidale Australia(2000), Auckland (1986), Wellington (1990 & 1996), Nelson (1999), and Christchurch (2002) New Zealand.
In 1996, the group performed the 2 hour Opening Concert for Recorder Week in Wellington and a one hour programme for the Youth Ensembles Concert at Armidale Australia 2000. Each event led to the release of a CD.
CYRE is highly regarded by visiting tutors & performers from Japan, Britain and USA. We welcome contact with similar ensembles.
Neville Forsythe, the director: Mr. Forsythe, of Scots, Irish and English descent, born in 1949 in Ashburton New Zealand, is a fourth generation New Zealander. He has lived in Christchurch since 1967. Initially a primary school teacher with a specialist interest in Music, he taught at primary & intermediate schools in Christchurch for 12 years before following his talents in woodwind playing and teaching into secondary school service. His principal performance instruments are Bassoon (20 years principal in Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, ending in 1992) and Recorder. He also plays and teaches flute, clarinet, & saxophone. He developed interest in early music through playing recorder and this has extended to include Renaissance instruments: crumhorn, shawm, dulcian, gemshorn, cornetto, three-holed pipe, baroque flageolet, a variety of simple keyed flutes, clarinets & French bassoons.
He conducts a variety of ensembles, the two principal ones being part of the Christchurch School of Music : Christchurch Youth Recorder Ensemble & Christchurch School of Music Sinfonia
During his career Mr. Forsythe has received numerous accolades, awards, certificates, including Winner of Best Recorder Arrangement at the 1993 NZ Recorder Week & the University of Canterbury’s Vernon Griffiths Prize in Musical Leadership, 1996/7.
Over the twenty years he as led CYRE he has been instrumental in ensuring that the full musical potential of the recorder has been developed by his students and recognized by the public. More biographical info: http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~forclift/index.html
UNITED STATES
CALIFORNIA
*AMERICAN RECORDER ORCHESTRA OF THE WEST (AROW), Richard Geisler, Dir. richgeis@jps.net 15181 Ballantree Ln., Grass Valley, CA 95949. Phone: 530/477-2293. Greta Hryciw, co-director: hryciw@pacbell.net, 415/377-4444, PO Box 370069, Montara, CA 94037-0069.
WEBSITE: www.schweter.com/arow-about.html
Founded: 2000. Membership by invitation: approx. 25. Meetings: 5 monthly rehearsals Sept.-Nov., Jan.-Feb., 1 annual concert program performed in 4-5 N. Calif. cities, Mar.-May. AROW is an affiliate of the San Francisco Early Music Society (SFEMS), also a Consort affiliate of the American Recorder Society (ARS). AROW aims to promote the individual’s mastery of the recorder, sensitivity in ensemble playing, an appreciation for good music in its multitude of forms and to give expression to these in programs designed to entertain, educate and enthuse audiences.
In 2000, as a result of Geisler’s contacts with leaders of recorder orchestras in England, France, Germany, Holland, Japan, New Zealand and New York, Geisler founded the American Recorder Orchestra of the West (AROW) which draws its members from the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento and several other cities and suburbs in central northern California. A further consequence of these contacts led to Geisler’s organizing a concert/sightseeing tour of Northern California in Feb., 2002 for Ensemble Flutes a Bec de Lyon, a French youth recorder orchestra directed by Madeleine Mirocourt (See separate listing for EFBL). EFBL & AROW joined together to present an all French concert, “The French Spirit”, in Sacramento on the last day of the tour.
AMERICAN RECORDER ORCHESTRA OF THE WEST, cont.
2 CDs recorded: “The French Spirit” (live concert with Ensemble Flutes a Bec de Lyon, March 2002; “A Medieval Pilgrimage”, May, 2004 .
Richard Geisler, director/arranger:
founded the Village & Early Music Society of Nevada County in 1984. VEMS grew into an informal confederation of local amateur and professional musicians whose interests include ethnic as well as “early” music”. Besides offering instruction and ensemble playing on recorders, VEMS includes performance ensembles: The Village Folk Orkestra & the Krakojak Kvartet play folkdance music from around the world; Dorfmusikanten (Town Musicians) is a German-style folk band; the Blue Oak Consort is a semi-professional recorder ensemble. The repertoire of BOC includes a wide variety of early & ethnic music, old-time popular music, contemporary music & Christmas and festive music from many countries. Geisler transcribes or arranges much of the music these ensembles play. The Blue Oak Consort has recorded one CD: “Christmas at the Castle” (2000).
Under the VEMS name, Geisler publishes his wide-ranging transcriptions and arrangements, now including several compositions for recorder orchestra in “The Grandioso Edition”. His other catalog listings are titled “Accent on Early Music”, “Americana Edition”, “The Folk Recorder” & “Jubilo Edition” of Christmas & festive music. The motto that accompanies publications by The Village & Early Music Society is “Publication & Performance of Early & Ethnic Music”.
Greta Hyrciw, co-director: Ms. Hryciw’s interest in the recorder began in 1973 playing in ensembles of the San Francisco branch of the New York Recorder Workshop. In 2004, she accepted Mr. Geisler’s invitation to co-direct AROW. She also sings soprano with The Loose Canons, a women’s world song ensemble in S.F, and teaches private recorder lessons. She recently formed and directs SDQ, an ensemble comprised of recorder players and singers. Hryciw has also been music director for the Coastal Repertory Theatre in Half Moon Bay, California, arranging and orchestrating pieces for recorders for some productions.
LOS ANGELES RECORDER ORCHESTRA (LARO)
Conductor & contact: Thomas Axworthy: scemc@earthlink.net; 562/946-4001; 11657 Valley View Dr., Whittier, CA 90604
Founder: Lia Starer Levin: Liastarlev18@aol.com; 323/935-6072
Founded in the summer of 2004, LARO has approx. 32-35 members. Rehearsals are twice monthly. LARO plans two concerts/ yr. with its premiere performance scheduled for January, 2005. The orchestra was formed in order to promote interest in recorder
playing in Southern California. Membership is consists of high intermediate, advanced & semi-professional players from the area.
LARO aims to make connections with other tax-free organizations in the early music movement in Southern California. In November, 2004, Matthias Maute, the Dutch-born performer/composer who conducts the newly founded Manhattan Recorder Orchestra, led a workshop for LARO members.
The conductor: Mr. Axworthy is an active performer in many ethnic, speciality and classical chamber music groups. His early instruments have been heard in numerous film and TV soundtracks as well as on recordings for Musical Heritage Society, Nonesuch, Dargason, Titanic and Word Records. He has appeared as a shawm and recorder soloist with the LA Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Andre Previn. He has recorded music (playing shawm and recorders) for Disney's 1996 animated feature “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, and appeared in and recorded music for Warner Brother’s TV show “Gilmore Girls”. He has also
arranged two compositions for LARO, Smiles and Chuckles and Opening Oriental. Both of these pieces were written originally for the Brown Brothers Saxophone Sextet in the 1920s.
*MID-PENINSULA RECORDER ORCHESTRA (MPRO), Fred Palmer, Composer/Conductor. Email: fpalmer@csuhayward.edu - Home: 415/591-3648; Work: 510/885-3115 MPRO Board President Anthony Jackson ahj1034@aol.com 1034 Middlefield Road, Berkeley, CA 94708. 510-845-8229. Affiliate member of San Francisco Early Music Society (SFEMS); Consort affiliate of American Recorder Society (ARS)
WEBSITE: http://www.sfems.org/mpro/
Founded by William Barnhart: 1962. Membership: 25-40. Meetings: bi-monthly The Mid-Peninsula recorder Orchestra was formed in 1962 and has had a long and successful history of service to its members and the community. It meets twice monthly and presents two concerts annually as well as performing regularly at various schools and community centers. The MPRO supports the creation of new music for the recorder and has given premieres of works by several Bay Area composers.
Frederic Palmer, the director/composer/arranger: The Mid-Peninsula Recorder Orchestra has been under the direction of Frederic Palmer since 1989. Palmer has an M.A. in Early Music from Stanford University, and has studied under Bernard Krainis, George Houle, and Michel Piguet. He has directed recorder workshops throughout the U.S., and is currently on the staff of the Music Department at the California State University, Hayward. In addition to performing both early and contemporary music, Palmer is a published editor, arranger, and composer. He was awarded first prize in the American Recorder Society's Erich Katz Memorial Fund Composition Contest for an original composition for recorder ensemble.
U.S. RECORDER ORCHESTRAS, cont.
COLORADO
FRONT RANGE RECORDER ORCHESTRA (FRRO), Rose Terrada, Dir., rjterada@earthlink.net 303/666-4307; fax: 303/666-4322. 797 Nighthawk Cr., Louisville, CO 80027
FRRO was formed in the summer of 2004. Its members are from the three “front-range” (of the Rocky Mountains) ARS chapters: Boulder, Denver, and Fort Collins. The goal of the ensemble is to perform at the Fall Festival of Early Music, sponsored by Early Music Colorado. The ensemble hopes to get other recorder players interested in the organization and encourage attendance at local meetings. There are 5 rehearsals planned before the 1st performance on October 23, 2004, in Boulder, Colorado. We hope that the ensemble will become an annual activity for our ARS chapters. Front Range is first recorder orchestra formed in Colorado.
The first director, Rose Marie Terada:
After retiring from a 26 year career as a public school music educator, Ms Terada has become an active music educator and performer in early and modern music. She teaches piano and recorder privately and performs on recorder and harpsichord with La Belle Musique, Trio de Quattre, Fipple Folk, and Sinfonia. She received her Bachelor of Music Education degree from Oklahoma State University, her Master’s degree in Music Education from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She also has Orff-Schulwerk Certification from the University of Denver. Ms. Terada is currently president of the Boulder Chapter of the American Recorder Society and is an active member of Early Music Colorado.
CONNECTICUT
CONNECTICUT RECORDER ORCHESTRA (CRO), Ken Andresen, Dir., Kandresen@aol.com
POB 7, Colebrook, CT
06021
The director: Ken Andresen is a former president of the
American Recorder Society. He founded the Recorder Orchestra of New York (RONY)
in 1994 and the Connecticut Recorder Orchestra (CRO) in 2002. Andresen
publishes music for recorder orchestras with his own publishing company,
Polyphonic Publications. As a recorder and trombone player he has recorded
several cd's. No further information is available at this
time
NEW JERSEY
*HIGHLAND PARK
RECORDER SOCIETY & GARDEN STATE SINFONIA
John Eisenhauer, conductor &
artistic director
Founder & president: Donna Messer: recorderdonna@hotmail.com.
732/828-7421
WEBSITE: Highland
Park Recorder Society: http://www.hprecorder.org.
The Highland Park Recorder Society (HPRS)
is an educational not-for-profit organization founded in 1987 by Donna Messer
as a chapter of the American Recorder Society (ARS). The Highland Park Recorder
Society's purpose is to foster an appreciation of the recorder in art, history
& literature and to raise the level of proficiency in its
performance. HPRS also aims to enhance public awareness of the richness
and beauty of Early Music.
Membership in HPRS is open. The Society has approximately 10 to 15 recorder players, including amateurs, semi-professionals and professionals. It is joined by professional players of strings, harpsichord, flute, oboes and percussion as needed. When performing as a chamber orchestra, we are the Garden State Sinfonia.
The Highland Park Recorder Society
rehearses weekly from mid-September to the time of its annual spring
concert. Our most recent performance, "Soft and Suite," (2004)
featured music for recorder orchestra, including all the entire recorder family
ranging from sopranino to contrabass. The program included Midsummer Meadow
Suite by Lyndon Hilling, and Suite of Early English Keyboard Music,
arranged by Denis Bloodworth. The HPRS is preparing a concert of British music
for it spring, 2005 concert.
CDs of concerts recorded live:
”Minstrel, Minnesinger, Musiker” (1998); “The Age of Josquin and The Grand
Tour” (2000); “Pastime With Good Company” (2000); "Suites and
Concertos." (2002); ”Soft and Suite” (2004)
Conductor and artistic director, John Eisenhauer, earned his Master of
Music in Choral Conducting from Mason Gross School of the Arts of Rutgers
University.
In recognition of its artistic caliber and service, HPRS has received grants
and is partly funded by a grant from the Middlesex county Cultural and Heritage
Commission /Board of Chosen Freeholders, thru funding in part by the New
Jersey State Council on the
Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the
Arts.
U.S. RECORDER ORCHESTRAS, cont.
NEW YORK
ADIRONDACK RECORDER BAND and MINING COMPANY (ARB), Richie Henzler, Conductor
Richie Henzler: richieh@usadatanet.net Courtly Music: richie@courtlymusicunlimited.com
The ADIRONDACK RECORDER BAND consists of 10-25 players (depending on the performance requirements). They rehearse once a week all year round and perform numerous times throughout the year. The ARB rehearses in Glens Falls, NY with members coming to participate from as far away as NYC and Saranac Lake, NY. During the past year it was felt that the core members of the ARB had reached a high enough level of musical ensemble skills that Elaine and Richie play as members of the group with no need for a conductor. The group draws on a large repertoire of Renaissance through Contemporary music.
The retail part of Courtly Music Unlimited has given it access to a wide array of published works which has given its concerts a broad appeal.
Co-directors: Richie and Elaine Henzler
Richie and Elaine Henzler are proprietors of COURTLY MUSIC UNLIMITED the mail order/web that sells recorders, music and accessories to customers around the world. Richie began conducting recorder orchestras in the early 1980s. As a result of his dedication, energy and passion as a conductor, he has received mention over the years on National Public Radio, in the New York Times, American Recorder Magazine and recently in the Glens Falls Post Star.
MANHATTAN RECORDER ORCHESTRA (MRO), Matthias Maute, composer/director Founded September, 2003 by Amanda Pond, president/administrator Contact: Amanda Pond, amandapond@earthlink.net, (203) 874-5548, 198 West River Street, Milford, CT 06460
WEBSITE: www.ensemblecaprice.com/festi04bio.html#man
The Manhattan Recorder Orchestra consists of 19 experienced recorder players, including professionals and semi-professionals, most of whom reside in or close to New York City. Instruments range from sopranino to contrabass. MRO’s rehearsal schedule varies; it presently performs 3 concerts/yr. MRO made its concert début in January 2004 at St. John's in the Village Episcopal Church in Greenwich Village. Since then MRO has performed at the Montreal Recorder Festival in September 2004 and the first New York Early Music Celebration in New York City on October 9th, 2004. The orchestra's repertoire consists of early music, arrangements of
classical, romantic and twentieth century music, also of contemporary works specifically composed for recorder orchestra -- new music which demonstrates the little-known versatility of the recorder. MRO's concert in Montreal included the world premiere of a piece composed by its conductor Matthias Maute and entitled "Ten Times Tenor".
Matthias Maute was born in Germany in 1963. He studied the recorder in Freiburg and at the Utrecht Conservatory, where his teachers included Baldrick Deerenberg and Marion Verbruggen. In 1990, he participated in the prestigious Ancient Music Competition in Bruges, Belgium, where his talent as a performer was acknowledged by taking First Prize in the soloist category. He devotes his creative energy to the Ensemble Caprice and his own arrangements and compositions. He tours regularly in Europe and the United States with the New York Rebel Ensemble as a recorder and flute soloist. He is active as a composer of music for recorder and other instruments, and several works have been published (Ascolta, Mieroprint and Moeck).
*RECORDER ORCHESTRA OF NEW YORK (RONY), Deborah Booth, dir. RONY was founded by Ken Andresen in 1994. Membership: 24 players. Meetings: weekly for 6-8 weeks, then 2-3 performances per season. 1 CD recorded: “First Impressions” (2000)
WEBSITE: http://www.geocities.com/ronyorch
The Orchestra is fortunate to have been awarded two New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization Awards, which it has used to commission new works for recorder orchestra by David Tcimpidis and Pete Rose. Recently, a commissioned work by Pete Rose, Mega RONY, was premiered during a performance given at the Riverside Church in New York City as part of the New York Early Music Celebration.
Deborah Booth is a flute and recorder specialist in New York City. She performs on Renaissance, Baroque, and modern flutes as well as all the recorders. She has studied in Amsterdam with Marion Verbruggen and Maarten Root, and in New York with Jean Pierre Rampal, Thomas Nyfinger, and Sandra Miller. Performing credits include the Louisville Orchestra, the North Carolina Symphony, the orchestra of St Lukes', the Gotham City Baroque Orchestra, The Bach Vespers Period Instrument Ensemble, the Handel/Haydn Society, and BREVE. Ms. Booth teaches and conducts ensembles and workshops nationally and internationally. She has taught each summer at the Amherst Early Music Festival.
U.S. RECORDER ORCHESTRAS, cont.
WASHINGTON
*SEATTLE RECORDER SOCIETY (SRS), Peter Seibert, Conductor/Composer. Email: pseibert@qwest.net 1815 Federal Ave. E., Seattle, WA 98102. Phone: 206/329-2774. Monthly meetings: Oct.- May
WEBSITE: http://www.seattle-recorder.org/
Peter Seibert, the director/composer/arranger:
Mr. Seibert holds music degrees from Amherst, Harvard and Rutgers. He studied recorder in depth with Hans Martin Linde, but the strongest influences about the potential of large recorder ensembles came Dennis Bamforth ( See Manchester Recorder Orchestra)
and Colin Martin as well as the late Walter Bergmann. Seibert has taught at early music workshops throughout the western U.S. and
Canada as well as England since 1968. In 1970, he assumed musical directorship of the Seattle Recorder Society; in 1983 he founded the Port Townsend Early Music Workshop. Seibert’s compositions for recorder orchestra include: Allegro Con Brio,
Downtown Blues, Terpsichore Fantasia, Almain, Divertissement, Ten Bass Hit, Three Pieces for Recorder Orchestra, & SHORT (and) SUITE. His arrangements for recorder orchestra include: Mozart, Divertimenti Nos. 8 & 14, Handel, Concerti Grossi Op. 3, No. 4 and Op. 6, No. 1, Water Music Suites No. 1 and No. 2; & Music for the Royal Fireworks; Tschaikovsky, Nutcracker Suite (4 movements); Muffat, Dances from Eusebia; Corelli, Concerto Grosso Op. 6, No. 8 (“Christmas Concerto”); Strauss, Emperor Waltz.
Sounds Become Man and Man Becomes Sounds Essay by Minoru Yosizawa Excerpted from “Recorder Home Page Japan”: http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~mino/emenu.html
If you try to listen with your eyes closed for a little while, you can hear various kinds of sounds coming out of your body incessantly. Breathing, pulse, sounds made by slight moves of your neck, waist, arms, hands, legs, and even internal organs. When you put your palm on your heart gently, you may feel the sounds of your warm body through it.
Those sounds are so warm that they remind me of my mother's tenderness I felt when I was a child. They are not just parts of a whole but the elements indispensable for forming the whole and the deed of making sounds itself is a proof of our living. Whenever I see something beautiful, eat something tasty, touch something nostalgic, or smell good scents, I always wish my mother were alive and could share my feeling. When she was alive, I did not experience this kind of emotion so often and even when I did, not this strong . As time passes, her memory is becoming clearer and clearer, strange as it may sound.
Sounds are uttered, heard, felt and then lost. All musical performances will be gone. But the fact that sounds have to die out affects us so strongly that they come back to our ears so many times. Man is also destined to die. That makes his memories much dearer and we miss him all the more often.
Out of all the sounds made by our bodies, voices would be the clearest. Using voices we can make songs and words. We use words such as "songs" or "singing", but it is not that simple and actually we have more than seven Chinese characters to express these
human vocal activities. Some of them have English equivalents, such as chants, ballads, and poems. We might as well say the human voice is the mother of all the musical instruments that man has developed through our long history.
Yukio Mishima described the tune of a stone pipe as follows: nobody but he who has ever heard the tune of a stone pipe could appreciate it. It has such a divine tune as shakes our hearts and souls. It sounds extremely clear but at the same time has a warm and opaque pool like a jewel stone in the depth. It pierces our inmost hearts......" He stares at the tune firmly with his mind's eye. Among numerous descriptions about sounds are Jun Takami's "the sounds do not go up to the sky but creep low on the ground", or Motojirou Yokoi's "a sound as if wrapped in cotton".
A cry of "Ah", too short to be a word, could convey various kinds of human emotions such as surprise, sorrow, disappointment, accusation, anger, awe, fear, grief, and joy. Limitless possibilities for improvision lie behind this simple "Ah" sound. The same possibilities are in one music note in a staff notations.
Five senses gather at one point in the heart and the tuition inspired out of this crossover stimulates our creativity , which then produces sounds. Man catches sounds with his five senses and utters sounds using his intuition. Briefly speaking, to utter sounds is to live, and to live is to create.
According to the concept of European music in the Middle Ages, there existed a special dimension where we could hear inaudible sounds of Musica Mundana and Musica Humana through audible Musica Instrumentalis . We think the same way about art, seeing things hidden behind the works. Some may find the similar philosophy in Chinese Reiraku thought. And this is where we are moved most.
We utter sounds, feel sounds, play with sounds, create sounds, express ourselves with sounds, and live with sounds. Because being alive means being with sounds. We live and create sounds. Sounds become man, and man becomes sounds.
CRITERIA FOR RESEARCH ON RECORDER ORCHESTRAS
Richard
Geisler, Dir. of the Village & Early Music Society of Nevada County,
California & conductor of the American Recorder Orchestra of the West
(AROW) would like to contact leaders of large recorder ensembles which employ
the entire family of recorders from sopranino to contrabass and have rehearsed
and performed instrumental and/or choral works in formal concert to a public
audiences in their communities.
Please respond to Richard Geisler if you meet the following criteria:
1. The orchestra is comprised of at least 15 recorderists but also MAY include other instruments and possibly singers: e.g. string quartet, organ, harpsichord, chorus.
2. The orchestra presents concerts periodically: e.g. once, twice, thrice annually, etc.
3. The orchestra is rehearsed and conducted by one or more professional leaders.
4. Concerts are performed for a public audience drawn from the immediate community.
5. Concerts are 1 hour or longer and may involve other local amateur and/or professional musicians and ensembles.
6. Concerts MAY be recorded with cassettes/CDs of performances made available to participants and audience or other interested people.
Mr. Geisler is seeking contact with leaders and groups that have moved the recorder more into the public eye and ear, according to the criteria listed above. You may write Mr. Geisler at: richgeis@jps.net. Village & Early Music Society, 15181 Ballantree Ln., Grass Valley, CA 95949 phone: 530/477-2293
NOTE: Composition & Instrumentation
In the course of working on this survey of Recorder Orchestras of the World, I have learned that the “English formula” put forward by Edgar Hunt for composing works for recorder orchestra specifies compositions with a minimum of 11 parts according to the following: sopranino, soprano 1 & 2, alto 1 & 2, tenor 1 & 2, bass 1 & 2, great bass, contra bass. The Hampshire Recorder Sinfonia assigns these 11parts as follows: 1 Si, 2 S1, 2 S2, 4 A1, 4 A2, 4 T1, 4 T2, 2 B1, 2B2, 2 Gb, 2 Cb for a total of 29 player (as indicated on its 2nd CD, A Very English Sound). In the much larger Manchester Recorder Orchetra (67 players) Dennis Bamforth divides his players according to the same 11 part scheme: 2 Sopraninos, 8 Descants, 12 Trebles, 12 Tenors, 12 Basses, 10 Great Basses and 6 Contra Basses. The descants, trebles and tenors are further divided into two sections each; basses are also divided occasionally. Each section has a principal who is responsible for solo work.