Academy Curriculum

Overview

The program is designed to offer an intensive and personalized program of mentorship to a small number of participants.

Participant/Faculty ratios will average less than 4:1.

Public performances are kept to a minimum to ensure optimal focus on individual studies. One “Academy-in-Action Marathon” and one final full Academy concert will be scheduled.

Individual Instruction and Studio Classes

A key element of the program — in fact, the most significant component — is that each participant will have daily lessons with the Academy's faculty, one on one, in the presence of other members of that studio, enabling multiple pathways of learning. This quasi-group setting of 3-hour studio classes becomes a defining experience of the ABS Academy.

Collaborative Sessions

Ensemble work takes place in “Collaborative Sessions” which are meant to be opportunities for participants to rehearse music within a forum that allows them to share knowledge and musical ideas with each other. In collaboration with faculty, we will provide a list of suggested works that participants can opt in to play. Those works will include the “top” pieces for each instrument type — important sonatas and chamber works vs. more obscure compositions — and will include some of the most challenging Bach obbligato arias for instruments and singers. All ensembles may participate in the “Academy-in-Action Marathon” at the end of the Academy. Whereas faculty members will offer assistance and, at the very least, an additional pair of ears, the focus should remain on the collegial processes of discovery and collaboration among the participants. 

Public Master Classes

During Week Two, each major studio type division will present a Public Masterclass:
     • Upper Strings
     • Lower Strings
     • Harpsichord
     • Winds
     • Voices

Seminars & Lectures

Monday through Friday of each week, faculty members will present 45-minute seminars and lectures. These will cover a wide range of topics related to performance practice, musicology, and career development. Those scheduled for Week Two will be open to the public.

Full Ensemble

The Full Ensemble meetings at the end of each day (afternoons during Week One and early evenings during Week Two) are a consistent opportunity for the entire assembly to collaborate.

Works Performed at Previous Academies

2023 - Bach: Magnificat, Trauerode, and Jesu der du meine Seele
2019 - Bach: Trauerode; Lotti: Missa in A Major; Handel: Terpsicore
2018 - Handel: Semele
2017 - Purcell: King Arthur
2016 – Handel: Parnasso in festa (American premiere)
2015 – Marais: Sémélé (first performances outside Europe)
2014 – Handel: L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato
2013 – Handel: Esther & Biber: Missa Salisburgensis (North American premiere)
2012 – Rameau: Pygmalion / Purcell: Dido and Aeneas
2011 – Handel: Ariodante
2010 – Handel: La Resurrezione

Address

182 Howard Street, #536
San Francisco, CA 94105

Contacts

Email: academy@americanbach.org 
Phone: +1 (415) 621 7900 
Fax: +1 (415) 621 7920