Program for our monthly meeting: In the four years since its founding, the Recorder Orchestra of Puget Sound has become an institution. This year Vicki Boeckman and I share the directing duties, and with a membership of 27, it is the largest orchestra we have presented. Works to be performed are several movements each from Muffat’s Eusebius (an orchestra suite from Florilegium Musicum) and Grieg’s Holberg Suite, as well as a large passacaglia by Pez and a setting of the American pop ballad Tenderly. Each of the works has presented the orchestra with a set of stylistic challenges. We look forward to performing for you.
The playing session to follow will be devoted to my new Yosemite Suite, which was commissioned by the American Recorder Orchestra of the West. They have asked me to conduct the work on April 19 in Berkeley. Prior to my trip, I wanted to share the work with the Seattle Recorder Society as a read-through, although we will not have a great deal of time to perfect this five-movement, 12½ minute work. While I conduct the new work, Vicki Boeckman will lead the Beginning Ensemble, and Ellen Seibert will lead the viol consort.
Summer Workshop news: The SRS has produced the Port Townsend Early Music Workshop at Fort Worden in alternate years since 1983, and it has become one of the most successful workshops for recorders and viols. Over the years, many SRS members have attended this week-long event, and they have been joined by participants from across North America as well as from Europe, Japan, and Australia. I directed the first ten workshops (1983 – 2001) and was assisted during this period by a succession of administrators including Alice Smith, Barbara Chasan, David Lawrence, and Ellen Seibert. Without the help of these dedicated, hard-working people the workshops would never have happened. After the 2001 workshop, Ellen and I stepped down from our respective positions, and Margriet Tindemans became director with the assistance of administrator Ann Stickney. Producing the workshop is a major undertaking and requires a commitment that consumes much of the free time in the lives of those who run it. Following the 2007 Port Townsend workshop, both Margriet Tindemans and Ann Stickney resigned their posts. At the August 2007 meeting, the SRS board established a committee to consider how to proceed.
In November, while the committee was considering the issue of personnel, Fort Worden sent notification that they could no longer accommodate our workshop. The news came as quite a shock to the committee and to the SRS board. Centrum Foundation has offices on the Fort Worden campus and has first call on available time slots. It has regularly expanded the number of programs offered, increasing the demand on Fort Worden facilities. There simply was no more room for outside groups like the Seattle Recorder Society to run programs there during the prime summer months in 2009. The SRS committee now was challenged to find a new administrative team and a new venue. After much work and discussion the committee has the following to announce:
- The next workshop will be at the University of Puget Sound from July 12 – 18, 2009. (The working title will be the Puget Sound Early Music Workshop.) The university has been used in 2004 and again in 2007 by the Viola da Gamba Society of America for their annual Conclave (i.e., national workshop). It will also be the site of the Pacific Northwest Viol Workshop in July this year. Ellen and I have both attended the Conclave there and found the campus to be attractive and convenient and were impressed by the services provided.
- Cathy Palmer has been appointed administrative director of the workshop. Cathy comes to us with a strong administrative background. One of her current positions is administrator for the Medieval Women’s Choir. She will also serve as administrator of the forthcoming viol workshop at the University of Puget Sound this summer. That will provide her with valuable background as administrative director for our workshop there in 2009.
- Tish Berlin and Frances Blaker will share the duties of music director. Tish and Frances each have years of experience running both non-residential and residential workshops and are popular teachers and directors. As members of the Port Townsend faculty for over a decade, they feel a strong commitment to perpetuating the climate established at the Port Townsend workshop and will seek to maintain that feeling at the new Puget Sound Early Music Workshop.
Members Night: At our “May” meeting, on April 25th this year, any member or ensemble that includes SRS members is welcome to perform for up to five minutes (counting any introductory comments). President-elect Susan Burris will coordinate the program. Members Night forms will be available at the March 28 meeting on which to sign up for a slot on the program. Her phone number and e-mail address are available in our newsletter.
