Music In and Around Cinque Sorelle
This small enclave in the middle of Tuscany has a lively classical music scene. The world’s only harpsichord performance school with summer Master Classes is located in Montisi. And a world-famous tiny workshop where hand-made harpsichords are created is located in Castelmuzio.
For many years summer has meant a series of small concerts featuring artists from across Europe. These concertsw are generally held during July these concerts take place in the small churches throughout the area and the large duomo in Asciano.
Read on to learn more about all of this and to hear some of the music for which Cinque Sorelle is becoming known.
Concert Series
Piccola Accademia di Montisi:
Music Festival Summer 2009
The Montisi Festival: July 10, 11 and 12
The Piccola Accademia’s annual festival allows us to share with a wider audience our passion for musical excellence and historic performance practice. The harpsichord is at the heart of our festival but we also present ensembles who highlight composers whose music incorporates or was informed by the instrument.
This year’s festival starts out with an evening performance by Capriccio Stravagante and harpsichordist Skip Sempé. Following are three harpsichord recitals. Our artists range from distinguished exponents of historic performance to rising young stars, all offering a special musical experience.
July 10 - Evening Concert - Montisi
21:00 - S.S. Annunziata
Capriccio Stravagante with Doron Sherwin
Doron Sherwin, cornetto
Julien Martin, recorder
Josh Cheatham, viola da gamba
Skip Sempé, harpsichord
Antico / Moderno
• Tickets at the door 15.-, 25.- and 50.- €
July 11 - Noon Harpsichord Recital - Montisi
12:00 - S.S. Annunziata
Gustav Leonhardt
L. Couperin, G. Böhm, Fischer, Pachelbel, A, Forqueray
• Tickets at the door 15.-, 25.- €
July 11 - Evening Harpsichord Recital - Castelmuzio
21:00 - Pieve di Santo Stefano
Pierre Hantai
Byrd, Gibbons, J.S. Bach
• Tickets at the door 15.-, 25.- and 50.- €
July 12 - Noon Harpsichord Recital - Castelmuzio
12:00 - Pieve di Santo Stefano
Mahan Esfahani
Bach, Scarlatti
• Tickets at the door 15.-, 25.- €
To see photos of last year’s, 2008, events to get a sense, http://www.piccolaaccademia.org/content/festival_photos.html” title=“pictures of the festival”>click here.
A personal story:
In the height of the summer in 2008, I received an invitation to attend an evening concert. It was held at a castle, southeast of Pienza. The performance was to be held in the inner courtyard, open to the sky. The castle is set on a hilltop, surrounded by lovely gardens. It is reached by a relatively narrow unpaved road through oak forest.
We sat in folding chairs so close to the musicians that we could see the details of their expressions as they moved through the music, created the magic. They played all 5 of Beethoven’s sonatas for cello and piano. The courtyard was transformed by the lilting and at times dramatic dance between these two instruments. The summer air was soft and the starry sky above the surrounding castle walls was bright. This cannot be explained by a novice listener, aside from saying not only was the night transformed, so was this listener.
The Piccola Accademia di Montisi A newly founded music non-profit.
Most recently, Montisi has become home to the Piccola Accademia di Montisi. Located in a hilltop medieval village in southern Tuscany, the Piccola Accademia di Montisi has been founded to provide a center of inspiration for musicians worldwide who have an interest in the harpsichord, its repertoire and its history.
In the past 50 years, interest in 16th-18th century music has flourished and the number of musicians exploring performance practices on original instruments has grown dramatically. Unfortunately, while interest in the harpsichord and its role in the musical life of Europe has greatly expanded, access to the original instruments for which the composers of that time wrote is rapidly diminishing. Most institutions have withdrawn access to their instrument collections, treating them as historic ‘documents’, to be seen but not heard. The consequence of this approach to preservation is that the authentic sound of these instruments and the musical insights that they provide are being lost to future generations.
In response, the Piccola Accademia is creating a world-class collection of harpsichords, including both original antiques and historic copies from leading modern makers to serve the musical community at large. The Accademia’s instrument collection will include examples of each national school that allow the entire harpsichord repertoire to be played on the historic style of instrument for which each composer wrote.
However a collection that is not played would simply be a museum, so instruments will be brought to life through master classes given by many internationally renowned teachers, professors and performers of the harpsichord. In 2007, we began with a pilot program of five one-week master-classes. In 2009 we will offer the same, all classes being tuition free for qualified students. The collection will also feature an annual music festival that will include both important established artists and emerging new talents, incorporating both solo and ensemble performances that will be held in the historic chapels, churches and monasteries within Montisi and its environs.
The Accademia will continuously build a music library spanning the full range of the harpsichord repertoire with a focus on original manuscripts and authentic editions, all to be available in digitized formats for on-site and remote use. The creation of state-of-the-art recording facilities are also under development, making good use the Accademia’s instrument collection, the local church venues and the special quiet of the Tuscan countryside.
Piccola Accademia is committed to providing access to exceptional instruments, teaching and recording facilities to the musical community, as well more broadly raising the profile of quality historic performance and appreciation of the harpsichord through regular performances, festivals, community events and communications.
Master classes for Students from All over the World
One of the Piccola Accademia’s most important activities is to provide students and recent graduates with access to exceptional teachers and teaching of historical performance. The combination of our instrument collection, the quality of teaching at Piccola Accademia, and the inviting and relaxed nature of life in the Tuscan countryside, creates a special environment in which to study and be inspired.
This summer, 2009, the Piccola Accademia will offer a program of six courses free of tuition fees to eligible students. However, this year a non-refundable 100 EUR registration fee is required for each course.
The Summer 2009 Masterclasses will be given on:
• Italian single-manual, de Zentis, Rome 1658
• German double-manual, Kennedy, Amsterdam 1991
• Flemish double-manual. Kennedy, Castelmuzio 2008
• German Clavichord after Hass, Geert Karman, Amsterdam 1989
• Italian single-manual, Kennedy, Castelmuzio 2005
To qualify, students must be presently enrolled in a university level music study or be recently graduated. Students are requested to correspond directly with the course instructor for acceptance via the e-mail addresses provided in each of the course descriptions below.
• Courses will be limited to ten students
• Application deadline : June 30
Local harpsichord workshop
Castelmuzio is the home of Kennedy Harpsichords. Kennedy Harpsichords is a small workshop in Tuscany, Italy building harpsichords and clavichords after 17th and 18th Century historical models.
Originally, Kennedy Harpsichords opened its doors 23 years ago in the Swiss Alps (Chateau d’Oex-Gstaad) where the shop gained its first international recognition by 1985. The workshop became known for producing its distinctive sound, in part, because of the novel use of 17th and 18th C. aged wood for the soundboards. As the demand for our instruments for concerts and recordings abroad increased, particularly in the Netherlands, the shop moved to Amsterdam in 1990 where it remained for the next 12 years. During these years more than 140 harpsichords and clavichords were produced and sent worldwide. They can be found throughout Europe, Scandinavia, the Far East, U.S.A., and South America with many of today’s professional players and renowned musical institutions.
They also have the distinction of being chosen as their performance harpsichord by more finalists in the Brugge International Harpsichord Competition than any other maker in the last twenty years.
After a two year sabbatical from making instruments and the restoration of a fine old Tuscan property, the doors of the Kennedy workshop are once again open to the public. For those keenly interested in the instrument or in the wood-working process to create a harpsichord, a visit can be accommodated by appointment.
www.kennedyharpsichords.com