Early Music Summer School

The Amsterdam Early Music Summer School is an Early Music course targeting the historically informed performance of Baroque and Classical music. The course is open to participants of all ages (instrumentalists as well as vocalists) and will include private lessons from expert teachers from the Early Music Faculty at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, as well as workshops, masterclasses, lectures, concerts, and lots of chances to play with fellow students from all over the world.

This year’s theme is England & Italy

No two composers better represent the 17th- and 18th-century musical conflict between Italy and England than Henry Purcell and George Frederick Handel. 17th-century Purcell was able to absorb Italian influences without abandoning the strong English tradition he had inherited from composers like John Blow and Matthew Locke. After Purcell’s untimely death in 1695, however, audiences turned to the new sound of Handel’s operas; his fully Italianate opera Rinaldo took London by storm in 1711, opening the floodgates of the Italian style in England.
The 2012 Summer School at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam will offer students the chance to become better acquainted with both styles, by comparing the sunny sweetness and stunning virtuosity of Italy with the eccentricities and bold ‘beastialities’ of England. Vocal and instrumental music by Purcell, and Handel as well as Geminiani, Matteis, Eccles, Galliard, Corelli, Vivaldi and many others will form the core repertoire of the course, with afternoon workshops devoted to Baroque dance and gesture.

Please download the flyer.

Xenia Meijer voice
Rachel Davies-Farr baroque dance
Alfredo Bernardini baroque oboe
Jed Wentz baroque and classical flute
Erik Bosgraaf recorder 
Teunis van der Zwart natural horn
Lidewij van der Voort baroque violin
Wieland Kuijken viola da gamba
Maggie Urquhart violone
Job ter Haar baroque cello 
Benny Aghassi baroque bassoon
Pieter van Dijk organ
Siebe Henstra harpsichord 
Fred Jacobs lute/theorbo
Thérèse de Goede basso continuo
Gerard van Vuuren accompaniment