Music from another time

Music enthusiasts will get the rare opportunity to hear masterpieces by Bach and Handel in their original sound this weekend at the Bloomington Early Music Festival, where musicians will play instruments from or modeled after earlier times.\nThe BLEMF attracts musicians and early music fans from around the world. The 11-day festival offers a variety of opportunities for students and Bloomington residents to see early music performed on its original instruments in several different venues across the city. \nDedicated to reconstructing music to its original sound quality, early music is a field that has been around for about 30 years, said BLEMF Executive Director Alain Barker. \n"Musicians realized that the way they were doing it was different than the way the music was meant to be performed," Barker said. "When they play music on modern instruments, they get a little frustrated because they feel it's not the real thing. When you pick up the instrument that was played during that time, it just feels right."\nUsing earlier instruments reconstructs the music to sound as it did in the past.\n"In the case of a violin, it makes the sound less, but it's richer and has more color and warmth," said graduate student Gesa Kordes who teaches violin at IU's Early Music Institute and will perform at the festival. "You couldn't play it in Carnegie Hall because the sound doesn't carry well, but it's perfect for a place like Auer Hall which is just what it was designed for."\nThe instruments' older, distinct tone quality gives the music a different sound than what many contemporary listeners are used to, but Barker said this is what those who study early music crave. \n"We involved with the festival think it sounds more beautiful that way," he said.\nKordes was involved in selecting which groups would perform at this year's festival. She said the BLEMF committee received over 90 applications with demo tapes from around the world, but only had eight or nine slots to fill for artists outside Bloomington. The group chose entertainers based on the quality of their music and tried to bring as many diverse performance types as possible.\n"We're hoping to offer something for everyone," Kordes said. "I think we have enough variety of everything to attract everyone to this festival." \nPerformances at the BLEMF range from the wind ensemble of "Ciaramella," which uses bagpipes built based on 15th century paintings, recorders and renaissance styled oboes called shawms, to Handel's oratorio, or divine opera, "Solomon". \nIn the two years since its creation, "Ciaramella" has won competitions and recently obtained a recording contract with international recording studio Naxos. The group will be traveling to Toronto later this year to cut their first album.\n"A lot of what we do is very visual so doing the CD is a whole other matter," said "Ciaramella" co-founder Rotem Gilbert.\nAll of "Ciaramella's" members are doctoral students now scattered across the country. They perform throughout the United States and Europe, but have limited practice time. Gilbert said the first couple days of every trip are packed with rehearsal time and that members of the group learn the music on their own at home. \n"There are a few pluses to having connections in different states," Gilbert said. \nShe explained that each member of the group is able to make contacts in his or her part of the country with instrument manufacturers and venues.\nBarker said the highlight of each BLEMF was the opera. Usually the opera is fully costumed and staged with an early music orchestra playing the accompaniment. However, this year the BLEMF features an oratorio instead of a full opera. Oratorios are divine operas based on Biblical text and are performed with stationary choruses and full orchestras. \nThis year's performance of Handel's "Solomon" combines the talents of the Lafayette-based Bach Chorale Singers with the BLEMF Orchestra. \n"It's a big piece similar to Handel's "Messiah" which was performed here earlier this year," Kordes said. "There are a lot of big choral movements in this piece. It's really impressive." \nFor the first time in BLEMF history, performances will take place outside of Bloomington. "Solomon" will also be performed in Lafayette and Indianapolis.\nIn addition to the wide variety of concerts that will be performed, the festival also hosts an educational instrument exhibition at Wylie House. Throughout the event, the public can visit the house to view early instruments and learn how they work. The public can also learn more about early music at a variety of discussion panels and talks that will be given throughout the festival. A special children's demonstration in instrument building will be given at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 29 at the John Waldron Arts Center. For more information about any of the events, visit the BLEMF Web site at www.blemf.org.\nKordes said the variety of activities provided during the BLEMF offers something for everyone in the IU and Bloomington community and that she is proud of the way Bloomington and IU were able to work together to make the festival possible.\n"I'm hoping that this is a symbol of what a community can do when university and non-university forces combine together," she said.\n-- Contact arts editor Jenica Schultz at jwschult@indiana.edu.