American Bach Academy - Curriculum

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 Showcase” 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.

Academy Showcase

At the end of the Academy week, each participant will be presented in solo or chamber works of their own choosing. In some cases, this will involve collaboration with fellow Academy participants or with American Bach musicians.

Public Master Classes

On each day, Monday through Friday, all Academy participants and faculty will meet together for multi-disciplinary master classes which are open to the public.

Seminars & Lectures

Monday through Friday, 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. These are also open to the public.

Full Ensemble

Each day, full ensemble rehearsals are opportunities for the entire assembly to collaborate on a program of music by Bach. Instrumentalists will rehearse and perform "side-by-side" with faculty and American Bach Artists-in-Residence, and Academy singers will perform the vocal roles in programmed works.

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

Links

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American Bach Web Site
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