Prof. BYRON KNUTSON
(Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, Komische Oper Berlin)
DEBORAH YORK
(Concertgebouw, London Symphony Orchestra, Semperoper Dresden, Glyndebourne, Royal Opera House, Bayerische Staatsoper, Staatsoper Berlin, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin)
(Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, Komische Oper Berlin)
DEBORAH YORK
(Concertgebouw, London Symphony Orchestra, Semperoper Dresden, Glyndebourne, Royal Opera House, Bayerische Staatsoper, Staatsoper Berlin, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin)
with
SOFIA CHEKALINA, BAROQUE CELLO
IASON MARMARAS, HARPSICHORD
SOFIA CHEKALINA, BAROQUE CELLO
IASON MARMARAS, HARPSICHORD
ANASTASIA NIKOLOV, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
JULIE WYMA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
JULIE WYMA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
THE PROGRAM WILL ACCEPT UP TO 10 SINGERS, 1 HARPSICHORD PLAYER AND 1 CELLIST.
This five-day, intensive workshop will focus on operatic repertoire from Monteverdi to Handel, plus a class on Mozart recitatives and ornamentation.
Featured lectures and coachings include:
Participants will take part in:
SINGER:
HARPSICHORD PLAYER/CELLIST:
The program will use two harpsichords (German and Italian instruments), and it will culminate in a public concert with continuo (harpsichord + cello). Participants will receive a recording of the final performance free of charge.
Featured lectures and coachings include:
- Late-Renaissance and Baroque ornamentation
- Secco recitativo - style and practice
- Vocal technique for early music
- Marketing oneself as an early music performer
Participants will take part in:
SINGER:
- Daily musical coachings
- Voice coachings
- Recitative work
- Vocal ornamentation masterclass
- Style and performance practice masterclasses
- Q & A sessions with industry professionals
- Work with continuo
HARPSICHORD PLAYER/CELLIST:
- Daily musical coachings
- Harpsichord lessons (harpsichord player only)
- Recitative work
- Ornamentation work
- Style and performance practice masterclasses
- Q & A sessions with industry professionals
The program will use two harpsichords (German and Italian instruments), and it will culminate in a public concert with continuo (harpsichord + cello). Participants will receive a recording of the final performance free of charge.
FACULTY
DEBORAH YORK
Deborah York was born and educated in Sheffield and graduated in musicology from Manchester University with a first class honours degree. She has gone on to enjoy a distinguished international career working with musicians of the highest calibre across a wide spectrum of musical styles and genres.
The recording of Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress” with John Eliot Gardiner and the London Symphony Orchestra for Deutsche Grammophon in which she sang the role of Anne Truelove won a Grammy Award for best opera category. She subsequently performed the role at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, in Tel Aviv and at the Semperoper in Dresden. Her recording of Mendelssohn Bartholdy's “Midsummer Night's Dream” with Claudio Abbado and the Berliner Philharmoniker Orchestra The Last Concert won the orchestral category of the 2017 International Classical Music Awards.
Deborah has sung with orchestras including the Concertgebouw, Deutsche Symphonie,Scottish Chamber, Bilbao Sinfonikoa,Ulster, Mahler Chamber, London Philharmonic, National des Pays de la Loire, Liverpool Philharmonic, Hallé, Bremen and Dresdener Philharmoniker, City of Birmingham and Aalborg Symphonies and Estonian National as well as the Camerata Salzburg,Royal Northern Sinfonia, RIAS Kammerchor, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Dresdner Kreuzchor and orquesta nacional de Madrid. She has also appeared in concert as guest soloist with the Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band.
Deborah’s extensive discography includes over 40 cds and dvds for in concert and opera, live and in the studio.
She has performed as soprano soloist in over 60 cantatas by J.S.Bach, some of which were recorded with Philippe Herreweghe for Harmonia Mundi and Ton Koopman for Erato. She also sang first soprano in the pioneering recorded solo version of “Matthäus Passion” for Deutsche Grammophon with the Gabrieli Consort.
Renowned for her work singing baroque, classical and romantic repertoire, Deborah forged her early career performing regularly and travelling the world with the finest historically informed ensembles such asConcerto Italiano, Talens Lyriques, Freiburger Barockorchester, Accademia Bizantina, King’s Consort, Musica Aeterna, Le Concert Spirituel, La Risonanza, Monteverdi Choir, Divino Sospiro, English Concert, Musica Antiqua Roma, La Fenice, Musica Viva, L’Arpeggiata, Theatre of Early Music and Ensemble Delirio in concert halls around the world including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Musikverein, Philharmonie, L’Auditorio Verdi, Tonhalle, Salle Pleyel, de Singel, Konzerthaus, Mozarteum, Tchaikowsky Hall, Palau de la Musica and the Lincoln Center and at festivals in Beaune, Saintes, Utrecht, Halle, Warsaw, Lisbon, Naples, Schwetzingen, Innsbruck, Hong Kong, Aix-en Provence, Melbourne, 3 Choirs, Tanglewood, Copenhagen and Ambronay.
Her operatic career began at Glyndebourne Opera where she sang the role of Servilia in Mozart's “La Clemenza di Tito”. This led to further engagements singing Mozart and Donizetti at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden with Bernard Haitink,Evelino Pidò and Harmut Haennchen.
She created the role of Mirror in Harrison Birtwistle’s “Second Mrs Kong” at Glyndebourne conducted by Elgar Howarth and was a regular guest at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin and the Netherlands Opera in operas by Mozart, Gluck, Handel, Britten, Monteverdi, Telemann and Purcell.
Deborah sang Belinda in a contemporary dance production of Purcell's “Dido and Aeneas” with Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and Sasha Walz and Guests which travelled to Berlin, London, Luxemburg, Aarhus, Lyons, Barcelona, Buenos Aires and Rome.
A passionate exponent of vocal chamber music, Deborah has long collaborated on solo programmes. Her winter solstice programme with organist Jeremy Joseph “An evening hymn – Old English tunes for a long winter’s eve” premiered in the Radialsystem in Berlin was widely acclaimed. The two musicians subsequently formed a trio The BlueShed Collective with cornettist Lambert Colson to experiment with the implications of baroque improvisation and the idea of music as speech for music making today, moving into the area of free improvisation and spontaneous composition using text. They have performed together at the International Organ Week in Nürnberg and the Silbermann Tage Festival in Pfaffroda.
Conducting engagements include with the ensemble B’Rock in a new commission by composer Reza Namawar for the contemporary music festivals TRANSIT in Leuven and November Music in den Bosch.
She has given masterclasses and courses in Siena, Handel Akademie Karlsruhe, Royal College London, Boshoi Theatre and Tchaikowsky Conservatoire Moscow and at Geddai University in Tokyo.
Deborah York is Professor of Singing at the Universität der Künste in Berlin.
Deborah York was born and educated in Sheffield and graduated in musicology from Manchester University with a first class honours degree. She has gone on to enjoy a distinguished international career working with musicians of the highest calibre across a wide spectrum of musical styles and genres.
The recording of Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress” with John Eliot Gardiner and the London Symphony Orchestra for Deutsche Grammophon in which she sang the role of Anne Truelove won a Grammy Award for best opera category. She subsequently performed the role at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, in Tel Aviv and at the Semperoper in Dresden. Her recording of Mendelssohn Bartholdy's “Midsummer Night's Dream” with Claudio Abbado and the Berliner Philharmoniker Orchestra The Last Concert won the orchestral category of the 2017 International Classical Music Awards.
Deborah has sung with orchestras including the Concertgebouw, Deutsche Symphonie,Scottish Chamber, Bilbao Sinfonikoa,Ulster, Mahler Chamber, London Philharmonic, National des Pays de la Loire, Liverpool Philharmonic, Hallé, Bremen and Dresdener Philharmoniker, City of Birmingham and Aalborg Symphonies and Estonian National as well as the Camerata Salzburg,Royal Northern Sinfonia, RIAS Kammerchor, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Dresdner Kreuzchor and orquesta nacional de Madrid. She has also appeared in concert as guest soloist with the Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band.
Deborah’s extensive discography includes over 40 cds and dvds for in concert and opera, live and in the studio.
She has performed as soprano soloist in over 60 cantatas by J.S.Bach, some of which were recorded with Philippe Herreweghe for Harmonia Mundi and Ton Koopman for Erato. She also sang first soprano in the pioneering recorded solo version of “Matthäus Passion” for Deutsche Grammophon with the Gabrieli Consort.
Renowned for her work singing baroque, classical and romantic repertoire, Deborah forged her early career performing regularly and travelling the world with the finest historically informed ensembles such asConcerto Italiano, Talens Lyriques, Freiburger Barockorchester, Accademia Bizantina, King’s Consort, Musica Aeterna, Le Concert Spirituel, La Risonanza, Monteverdi Choir, Divino Sospiro, English Concert, Musica Antiqua Roma, La Fenice, Musica Viva, L’Arpeggiata, Theatre of Early Music and Ensemble Delirio in concert halls around the world including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Musikverein, Philharmonie, L’Auditorio Verdi, Tonhalle, Salle Pleyel, de Singel, Konzerthaus, Mozarteum, Tchaikowsky Hall, Palau de la Musica and the Lincoln Center and at festivals in Beaune, Saintes, Utrecht, Halle, Warsaw, Lisbon, Naples, Schwetzingen, Innsbruck, Hong Kong, Aix-en Provence, Melbourne, 3 Choirs, Tanglewood, Copenhagen and Ambronay.
Her operatic career began at Glyndebourne Opera where she sang the role of Servilia in Mozart's “La Clemenza di Tito”. This led to further engagements singing Mozart and Donizetti at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden with Bernard Haitink,Evelino Pidò and Harmut Haennchen.
She created the role of Mirror in Harrison Birtwistle’s “Second Mrs Kong” at Glyndebourne conducted by Elgar Howarth and was a regular guest at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin and the Netherlands Opera in operas by Mozart, Gluck, Handel, Britten, Monteverdi, Telemann and Purcell.
Deborah sang Belinda in a contemporary dance production of Purcell's “Dido and Aeneas” with Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and Sasha Walz and Guests which travelled to Berlin, London, Luxemburg, Aarhus, Lyons, Barcelona, Buenos Aires and Rome.
A passionate exponent of vocal chamber music, Deborah has long collaborated on solo programmes. Her winter solstice programme with organist Jeremy Joseph “An evening hymn – Old English tunes for a long winter’s eve” premiered in the Radialsystem in Berlin was widely acclaimed. The two musicians subsequently formed a trio The BlueShed Collective with cornettist Lambert Colson to experiment with the implications of baroque improvisation and the idea of music as speech for music making today, moving into the area of free improvisation and spontaneous composition using text. They have performed together at the International Organ Week in Nürnberg and the Silbermann Tage Festival in Pfaffroda.
Conducting engagements include with the ensemble B’Rock in a new commission by composer Reza Namawar for the contemporary music festivals TRANSIT in Leuven and November Music in den Bosch.
She has given masterclasses and courses in Siena, Handel Akademie Karlsruhe, Royal College London, Boshoi Theatre and Tchaikowsky Conservatoire Moscow and at Geddai University in Tokyo.
Deborah York is Professor of Singing at the Universität der Künste in Berlin.
PROF. BYRON KNUTSON
Byron Knutson studied piano, conducting, composition and acting in his hometown of Winnipeg, Canada, and in the United States. After completing the Artist Diploma in Opera Coaching at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, he was appointed Visiting Professor of Song Interpretation at Albion College in Michigan.
In 1999, Mr. Knutson moved to Germany, where until 2010 he worked in the opera houses in Kiel, Halle and Augsburg, conducting operatic repertoire from baroque to contemporary, including operetta, musicals and ballet.
In 2010, Mr. Knutson took over the musical direction of the young artist program at the Komische Oper Berlin. While at the KOB, Mr. Knutson conducted works by Handel, Mozart, Weill, Ginastera and a critically acclaimed production of Phlip Glass’ Les enfants terribles directed by Felix Seiler.
Mr. Knutson’s has worked with conductors such as Paolo Arrivabeni (Bellini’s La Straniera; Theater an der Wien), Friedemann Layer (Der Rosenkavalier) Johannes Kalitzke (World Premiere, Olga Neuwirth’s American Lulu), Patrick Lange (Rigoletto), Carl St. Clair (Aribert Reimann’s Lear), Sebastian Lang-Lessing (Der Rosenkavalier, National Center for the Performing Arts, Beijing), Christian Curnyn (Castor et Pollux), Lü Jia (Tannhäuser, Beijing). Mr. Knutson has also prepared the casts of Reimann’s Lear and DieGespenstersonate for productions at Theater an der Wien and in Tokyo.
Mr. Knutson frequently gives Masterclasses in North America, Europe and China.
In 2015 Mr. Knutson was appointed Professor of Operatic Studies at the Hanns Eisler Conservatory in Berlin. He is also currently music director of the Berlin Wagner Gruppe.
Byron Knutson studied piano, conducting, composition and acting in his hometown of Winnipeg, Canada, and in the United States. After completing the Artist Diploma in Opera Coaching at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, he was appointed Visiting Professor of Song Interpretation at Albion College in Michigan.
In 1999, Mr. Knutson moved to Germany, where until 2010 he worked in the opera houses in Kiel, Halle and Augsburg, conducting operatic repertoire from baroque to contemporary, including operetta, musicals and ballet.
In 2010, Mr. Knutson took over the musical direction of the young artist program at the Komische Oper Berlin. While at the KOB, Mr. Knutson conducted works by Handel, Mozart, Weill, Ginastera and a critically acclaimed production of Phlip Glass’ Les enfants terribles directed by Felix Seiler.
Mr. Knutson’s has worked with conductors such as Paolo Arrivabeni (Bellini’s La Straniera; Theater an der Wien), Friedemann Layer (Der Rosenkavalier) Johannes Kalitzke (World Premiere, Olga Neuwirth’s American Lulu), Patrick Lange (Rigoletto), Carl St. Clair (Aribert Reimann’s Lear), Sebastian Lang-Lessing (Der Rosenkavalier, National Center for the Performing Arts, Beijing), Christian Curnyn (Castor et Pollux), Lü Jia (Tannhäuser, Beijing). Mr. Knutson has also prepared the casts of Reimann’s Lear and DieGespenstersonate for productions at Theater an der Wien and in Tokyo.
Mr. Knutson frequently gives Masterclasses in North America, Europe and China.
In 2015 Mr. Knutson was appointed Professor of Operatic Studies at the Hanns Eisler Conservatory in Berlin. He is also currently music director of the Berlin Wagner Gruppe.
SOFIA CHEKALINA
Cellist, gambist and conductor Sofia Chekalina hails from Kharkov, Ukraine. She started cello and piano studies at the age of six. Ms. Chekalina studied cello in Saint-Petersburg with Sergey Roldugin, after which she continued her education in Dresden with Danjulo Ishizaka and Berlin with Eberhard Feltz at the HfM Hanns Eisler.
Ms. Chekalina studied Baroque cello and viola da gamba with Thomas Grosche in Dresden and Jan Freiheit in Berlin. She was part of the prestigious Staatskapelle Dresden Akademie.
Cellist, gambist and conductor Sofia Chekalina hails from Kharkov, Ukraine. She started cello and piano studies at the age of six. Ms. Chekalina studied cello in Saint-Petersburg with Sergey Roldugin, after which she continued her education in Dresden with Danjulo Ishizaka and Berlin with Eberhard Feltz at the HfM Hanns Eisler.
Ms. Chekalina studied Baroque cello and viola da gamba with Thomas Grosche in Dresden and Jan Freiheit in Berlin. She was part of the prestigious Staatskapelle Dresden Akademie.
IASON MARMARAS, HARPSICHORD
Iason Marmaras is a keyboard player, singer, and the founder and leader of the ensemble os orphicum. He was awarded a Master’s degree on Harpsichord (2012) under Fabio Bonizzoni and Ton Koopman; and a Bachelor’s degree in Early Music Singing (2011) under Barbara Pearson, Kees Jan de Koning, Jill Feldman, Michael Chance and Peter Kooij; at the Royal Conservatoire in Den Haag, the Netherlands.
Iason has performed as a continuo player, singing soloist, ensemble- and choir-singer under such musicians as Jos van Veldhoven, Jos Vermunt, Peter van Heyghen, Charles Toet, Jan Kleinbussink, Jaap ter Linden, Peter Kooij, Harry van der Kamp and Fabio Bonizzoni. In 2009 he sang Lesbo in Handel’s Agrippina under Hernán Schvartzman, and in 2011 he sang Amor in Monteverdi’s l’Incoronazione di Poppea under Markellos Chrysikopoulos. He is also an increasingly sought-after vocal coach, and the regular accompanist of soprano Stefanie True and counter-tenor Jan Kullmann.
Even before his formal acquaintance with the harpsichord, he was an avid continuo-player and improviser on the piano, and he still regards continuo-playing and improvisation as vital though largely neglected parts of musicianship today. His universal love for music has led to his avid (and increasing) interest in ensemble-leading and direction, and he has organised and directed numerous concerts during the years of his study, also following instruction in conducting with Hernán Schvartzman and Marine Fribourg.
Iason Marmaras is a keyboard player, singer, and the founder and leader of the ensemble os orphicum. He was awarded a Master’s degree on Harpsichord (2012) under Fabio Bonizzoni and Ton Koopman; and a Bachelor’s degree in Early Music Singing (2011) under Barbara Pearson, Kees Jan de Koning, Jill Feldman, Michael Chance and Peter Kooij; at the Royal Conservatoire in Den Haag, the Netherlands.
Iason has performed as a continuo player, singing soloist, ensemble- and choir-singer under such musicians as Jos van Veldhoven, Jos Vermunt, Peter van Heyghen, Charles Toet, Jan Kleinbussink, Jaap ter Linden, Peter Kooij, Harry van der Kamp and Fabio Bonizzoni. In 2009 he sang Lesbo in Handel’s Agrippina under Hernán Schvartzman, and in 2011 he sang Amor in Monteverdi’s l’Incoronazione di Poppea under Markellos Chrysikopoulos. He is also an increasingly sought-after vocal coach, and the regular accompanist of soprano Stefanie True and counter-tenor Jan Kullmann.
Even before his formal acquaintance with the harpsichord, he was an avid continuo-player and improviser on the piano, and he still regards continuo-playing and improvisation as vital though largely neglected parts of musicianship today. His universal love for music has led to his avid (and increasing) interest in ensemble-leading and direction, and he has organised and directed numerous concerts during the years of his study, also following instruction in conducting with Hernán Schvartzman and Marine Fribourg.