Music workshops, singing and playing events

INVITATION: 4eme Festival Dizannais de Gilbert & Sullivan

Thu, 19 Jan 2017 20:18:25 GMT

Posted by: sunflowerinrain

It may be small by global standards, but the Gilbert and Sullivan weekend at Musatelier is the biggest G&S event in this area. As G&S is bewildering to most French locals, we rely on people coming from elsewhere - mainly from England.

This year we are having a bash at Yeomen of the Guard.

The plan is:
Friday evening sort-out music and parts, eat together.
Saturday practices and a little sight-seeing; evening meal is either out at La Daugaterie or pizza delivery.
Sunday run-through twice, the second time with a small audience of friends and neighbours.

Visitors are welcome to arrive before and stay after. There is a limited amount of sleeping-space in the house and rooms with helpful neighbours; people who prefer/can afford plusher accommodation have a choice of nearby chambres d'hôtes and gîtes.

Some of the solos are taken, but we're short of baritones. Chorus are very welcome. You'll have to find a score, but it is possible to download one.

It won't be staged, and we don't expect people to learn the parts off by heart (though that would be especially good!) but some attempt at costumes would be appreciated.

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Iolanthe in April

Sat, 05 Dec 2015 18:49:14 GMT

Posted by: sunflowerinrain

Plans for the G&S Weekend next year are coming along faster than expected!

Date: 23-24 April

Place: Musatelier, St Dizant du Gua, Charente Maritime

Roles not yet taken:

Strephon, Shepherd high baritone
Celia, Fairy soprano (possibly taken)
Leila, Fairy mezzo-soprano (possibly taken)
Phyllis, Shepherdess soprano (asking someone)
Fleta, Fairy speaking role

Anyone want to sing Strephon?

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Mikado in Charente Maritime

Mon, 21 Sep 2015 13:42:57 GMT

Posted by: sunflowerinrain

After a shaky time of people being unable to make the dates after all, people dropping out, illness, accidents, and family emergencies, the Mikado Weekend finally went ahead. It was splendid in spite of not having enough people for the number of rôles.

We had rehearsals, note-bashing, and divinding up of parts. The final sing-through went very well with the use of hats to denote which rôle one was singing. The Mikado had to double as Pish-tush for three bits and is now known as Pishado. The one-and-only tenor is really a high baritone so he made an excellent Ko-Ko (with a real sword lent by Pishado, who was dressed up in white tie and Masonic regalia for Mikado). Katisha (normally a high soprano, revelling in a very dramatic mezzo-soprano) and Yum-Yum and Ko-Ko shared Nanki-Poo between them, depending on how high it was and with whom he was duetting.

There was even dancing! Ko-Ko and Katisha danced a polka, and Pitti-Sing led some of the chorus in a brief display of footwork.

Accompanist Roy's hands are almost falling off from playing all practices and performance plus the Saturday evening accompaniments of various arias, and then some more today.

For the soirée musicale, French friends brought a couple of chorus songs and canons as well as their performance pieces. Mike did some fabulous comic songs. He and Elizabeth sang a beautifully harmonised Wild Mountain Thyme with extra harmonies supplied by the Anglos. To the bemusement of the French, the Anglo immigrants produced a gleeful Hippopotamus Song. We sang Berkeley Square and Daisy Bell too, and though the rest of the French crowd looked politely puzzled, Cécile's elderly mother was in tears of joy because it brought back memories of surreptitious listening to BBC radio during WWII. Apparently it was a gleam of light during the occupation.

And all agreed there were none like we, and we'll do another in the spring. Iolanthe? Gondoliers? Pirates? (Pitti-Sing is going to teach the police-and-pirate choruses to the tenors and basses of her group, and there is a supply of costumes.)

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Mikado Weekend 19 - 20th September

Wed, 05 Aug 2015 11:49:37 GMT

Posted by: sunflowerinrain

Date finalised.

Saturday

10:30 Coffee/tea and sorting out of parts

12:30 Picnic lunch

14:00 Run-through

20:00 Music-sharing, singalong, performances (bring your own), classical karaoke, and pizza delivery (buy your own or get someone to buy your dinner)

Sunday

10:30 Run-through

14:30 Full sing-through, with spoken parts

We have a Katisha and a Pooh-bah; other parts waiting for responses.

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Mikado in Charente Maritime

Sat, 04 Jul 2015 13:10:50 GMT

Posted by: sunflowerinrain

The Ruddigore sing-through was a success, and people are still asking for another. It's been suggested that a weekend would be better than one day, giving us chance to work on it a little (and opportunity for some sight-seeing).

A weekend of Mikado

Where: Musatelier, St-Dizant-du-Gua http://www.musatelier.eu

When: Possibly 19 - 20 September 2015

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Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 10:04:03 GMT

Posted by: musatelier

Run-through of Ruddigore
Saturday 29 September at Musatelier, Charente-Maritime, France.

For singers, instrumentalists (especially pianists), helpers, and people who just want to come for the weekend or the barbecue.

Singers may be of any standard, but must prepare the music in advance.

Practice in the morning, followed by picnic lunch. Run-through starting about 2pm.
Barbecue from 6pm.

Everyone will need their own score (free scores available from the Petrucci Music Library).

Chorus, nine solo singing parts and some speaking parts.

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16 June - Schütz day in Suffolk, UK

Sat, 09 Jun 2012 11:14:12 GMT

Posted by: musatelier

Unser Gott ist im Himmel

A workshop for singers and instrumentalists on the music of Heinrich Schütz.
With Peter Syrus, tutor in historical studies at the Royal Northern College of Music

Heinrich Schütz is one of the great names from the early German Baroque, and this workshop contrasts music from two of his most important collections, Psalmen Davids of 1619 and Geistliche Chor-Music of 1648.

Saturday 16 June, at the Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate Street, Bury St. Edmunds IP33 1RH

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First event

Sat, 09 Jun 2012 10:59:27 GMT

Posted by: musatelier

The first event planned for the newly-floortiled practice/concert space at Musatelier will be a sing-through of Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore in September, on one of the following Saturdays (depending on the majority vote): 15th, 22nd, or 29th.

There will be a barbecue after the sing-through, and accommodation for non-locals. Contributions to the food and accommodation can be in money or kind.

Musatelier is near St-Dizant-du-Gua in Charente-Maritime on the Gironde estuary (Atlantic coast of France). Nearest airports are Bordeaux and La Rochelle; TGV trains run to Angoulême. A10 junction 37 is 10 miles away.

More applicants needed!

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