Early Music Festival takes the stage

In its ninth year, the Bloomington Early Music Festival explodes with more talent, diversity and precision than ever before, attempting to strengthen and enlighten the Bloomington community. The festival lasts ten days and includes 15 concerts. The festivities combine local, national and international artists, as well as 4th and 5th grade Bloomington children. Workshops, discussions and films also help the festival in completing its mission.\n"Our mission is to support emerging artists in the (early music) field," Alain Barker, executive director of the Early Music Associates, Inc. said.\nFrom May 17 until May 27, the Bloomington Early Music Festival will try to enlighten the community by showcasing the talents and intelligence of an array of artists. The festival makes history exciting through the mediums of song, dance, film and discussion.\n"It is the most important cultural activity happening in Bloomington during the 10-day period," Barker said, "This festival is a very grassroots community celebration of what we have here on our doorsteps." \nThe festival has typically included a majority of local artists, yet it is not restricted to them. Since 1994, the festival has expanded to include more artists from abroad. \n"We have a special project this Friday. A classical clarinetist, using only music from the 18th century, came all the way from Australia," Barker said.\nThe Spanish ensemble, Mudejar, will be performing music that sprang from the Christian, Jewish and Muslim religions. \nThe festival's art has improved this year both in quantity and quality.\n"We have expanded the scope of the festival. It is better and a greater effort is put in to being more diverse," Barker said.\nThe festival kicks off on Friday, May 17 with Classical Quintets for Piano and Winds at 8 p.m. at Auer Hall. The many other festivities include a piano recital by IU faculty member Edmund Battersby, an unaccompanied Bach workshop featuring Stanley Ritchie, a baroque violinist and a rendition of Henry Purcell's opera "King Arthur."\n"King Arthur is the centerpiece of the…festival, which brings together performers from around the world to celebrate baroque, renaissance and medieval music and drama," Production Manager, Micheal Forbes, said. "To present Purcell's music as authentically as possible, the orchestra, composed of IU-trained early music instrumentalists, will be playing on period instruments."\nStudents from the IU Music School provide the talent necessary for the singing portions of the opera, while talking and dancing portions involve members of the community.\n"King Arthur combines such themes as courtly love, warfare and magic into a story where good triumphs over evil, but true love triumphs over all," Forbes said. \nIU faculty member, Edmund Battersby will perform in the festival for his third time. Battersby's performance will present the progress made in piano building during Beethoven's lifetime. He will play the same Beethoven selection first on a 1790s replica of a Viennese piano, and secondly on a Viennese instrument from two decades later. \n"Following the Beethoven, I will play works of Chopin which form a natural "pianistic progression" from the Beethoven works and the development of the piano," Battersby said.\nBattersby feels the festival brings a lot to the Bloomington community.\n"Like most music events in Bloomington, this festival brings cutting edge performances and the best ideals of early Music and period Instruments to the community," he said. "Any major city in the world would be privileged to host such a unique series of events."\nAnother performance, "Joyful Noyse: A Renaissance Festival" is the children's portion of the festival that will be repeated after a successful first year.\n"We invite children from local schools to perform and to learn the music and the dances that go along with this music from the Renaissance, it is for both children and parents, and is a free event," Barker said.\nYoung IU Recorder Players Program members, along with students from 33 different area schools and also members of the IU Early Music Institute come together in one performance. They will perform three dance tunes from the Renaissance period.\n"We call it a "Joyeous Noyse" and it is just that; lots of good music and fun actually doing the steps to the dances," Marie-Louise Smith, Director of Young IU Recorder Players Program, said. "It has a bit of an improvisational feel, because it is basically assembled on the spot." \nThe performance is the first time the three groups of musicians will play together. \n"After the music is in place, the students and audience will be taught simple steps to the dances and take turns playing and dancing," Smith said.\nThere are three different techniques the Early Music Associates Inc. uses in finding artists to include in the festival. They give invitations to certain artists, they accept proposals, and also hold auditions for the opera production. This year the association received more than 40 proposals from performers, requesting the right to perform in the festival.\n"From the outside, people don't realize that this is a labor of love for a lot of people that live in our country," Barker said. "We use well over one hundred musicians. We use a lot of other artists and administrators. Something that makes me feel very excited, is that so many people are very involved."\nTickets for the festival can be purchased up to one hour before each festival performance. The tickets range in price from $6 to $15. A festival pass can be purchased, that will admit you into all of the events for $60 (for general admission) or $55 (for a student or senior). For more information, and a complete festival events calendar visit the BLEMF web site at www.BLEMF.org, or call 812-331-1263.