SCHEDULE

To be placed on the mailing list for Sheli’s upcoming performances and events, click here.

Schedule 2010:

JANE CHAPMAN
HARPSICHORD – VOYAGE IN THE 20TH AND 21ST CENTURIES VIA BACH

MUSIC SOURCES, a boutique music museum located at 1000 The Alameda, directly across the street from the fire station, is an amazing little gem. And best of all, everyone can touch the beautiful instruments there and play them. The concert is only 1 hour long and there is a lovely reception afterward. British harpsichordist Jane Chapman is professor at the Royal College of Music and is devoted to contemporary works for harpsichord. She attracts a new and young audience with her supreme musicianship and flawless technique. She is awesome. What she does is she chooses a Bach piece to pair with a contemporary piece. (She is playing a piece of mine in the program!!!) The concert is at 5. AT 4 PM, she is going to give a pre-concert lecture about how she chooses to match contemporary and Bach pieces. The concert is $20.00 for adults and $15.00 for seniors, students and teachers. I would like to suggest that my students and friends attend the lecture beforehand. That is an extra $5.00 and will be well worth it. She is quite something. Again- checks made out to Music Sources can be sent to me here and I will get them to the right place. 

WHO:    JANE CHAPMAN
WHEN: March 28, 2010, Sunday, 4 pm Lecture, 5 pm Concert
WHAT:  HARPSICHORD – VOYAGE IN THE 20TH AND 21ST CENTURIES VIA BACH
WHERE: Music Sources
                 1000 The Alameda
                  Berkeley, CA
TICKET INFORMATION: $20.00 for adults and $15.00 for seniors, students and teachers (See information above).

The ARIEL STRING QUARTET
STRING QUARTET FOR THE 21st CENTURY

The Ariel String Quartet will feature the premiere of "STRING QUARTET FOR THE 21st CENTURY" on their programs in Davis and Sacramento May 22nd and May 23rd. For more information go to: www.cmssacto.org.

WHO:    The ARIEL STRING QUARTET
WHEN: MAY 22 - 23, 2010 7:30pm
WHAT:  STRING QUARTET FOR THE 21st CENTURY
WHERE: DAVIS (MAY 22), SACRAMENTO (MAY 23)
TICKET INFORMATION: www.cmssacto.org (click here)
                                             Phone: (916) 443-2908

SHELI NAN
THE MUSICAL WORLD OF SHELI NAN

This is a free concert, please invite all your friends, and it will include the premiere of my latest work, “String quartet for the 21st Century” performed by The Ariel Quartet – Bill Barbini director (The NY Philharmonic), Absinthe avec mes amis – a duet for violin and keyboard that will be choreographer and dancer Aviva Nan-Tabachnik, the marvelous baritone Zachary Gordin, who will be singing quite few pieces as well as music I have specifically composed for him. I HOPE you all can come out.

The SAN FRANCISCO COMPOSER’S CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

The SAN FRANCISCO COMPOSER’S CHAMBER ORCHESTRA will be performing a piece by me on June 12th at 8pm at Old First Church, Van Ness Street, San Francisco . The tickets (I believe) are $12.00 each and feature living composers.

WHO:   The SAN FRANCISCO COMPOSER’S CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
WHEN:  JUNE 12, 2010 8pm
WHAT:  Performance of a Sheli Nan piece
WHERE: OLD FIRST CHURCH
                 1751 Sacrmento Street
                  San Francisco, CA
TICKET INFORMATION: Contact Old First Concerts (click here)

Previous events: 2009

OPERA WORKSHOPS

SAN FRANCISCO CABARET OPERA will present 2 identical concerts on May 24th, with many different work-shopped pieces of operas from different composers that are currently in process, with the exception of my work. I will feature different pieces in each of the concerts.
The earlier concert, at 4pm, will feature the last 2 arias from act 2 of SAGA-PORTRAIT OF A 21ST CENTURY CHILD, entitled, "Meditation on Home" and "On the Run". These two intense arias have such famous lines as "They will put her on TV - she will be a TV personality" , and in "On the Run" there is a madrigal contained within the aria.
The 2nd concert, at 7pm, will have the first two (of 3 ) arias from act 3, the last act. They are: "Together Again", which is sung by the parents, and "Sneaking in" which is sung by the girl.
The awesome singers for both concerts are : Jo Vincent Parks, Meghan Dibble, and Eliza O'Malley.
All four arias are designed to keep you on the edge of your sea

WHO:     Goat Hall Productions, a San Francisco-based nonprofit opera company performing as San Francisco Cabaret Opera, now in its 11th year, dedicated to premiering new music theater in intimate venues through a collaborative process with composers, librettists and singers. Harriet March Page, Artistic Director; Mark Alburger, Music Director; Alexander Katsman, Pianist.
                Bay Area Composers: Jean Ahn, Mark Alburger, Gary Friedman, Sheli Nan, Chris Pratorius, Cynthia Weyuker
                Composers beyond the Bay Area: Greg Bartholomew, Warren Gooch, David Heuser, Edward Knight,
                Veronika Krausas, Lan-chee LAM, Robinson McClellan, Paul Siskind, Nolan Stolz, Stefan Weisman
WHEN:   May 24 Sunday 2009, 3 pm and 7:30 pm
WHAT:  FRESH VOICES IX FESTIVAL OF NEW WORKS: FOUR EVENINGS IN HELL: OR IS IT HEAVEN?
                SAN FRANCISCO CABARET OPERA presents ten one-act or excerpted chamber operas and six dramatic song                         cycles exploring themes of "Rash Acts and Their Consequences: Murder, Mayhem, Deceit"; and "Yearning to Touch                     Someone: Dead or Alive!"
WHERE: The Community Music Center
                  544 Capp Street
                  San Francisco
TICKET INFORMATION:
              Harriet March Page
              Phone: 707-451-8396
              hartmpage@aol.com

THE PREMIERE OF “SIGNATURES IN TIME AND PLACE”

WHO:     THE SAN FRANCISCO COMPOSERS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
WHEN:   NOVEMBER 8, 2008 8PM
WHAT:   The premiere of “SIGNATURES IN TIME AND PLACE” by SHELI NAN in a program entitled, “Moving Targets”                             featuring  world premieres of works by Harry Bernstein, Gary Friedman, Loren Jones, Lisa Scola Prosek, Martha                  Stoddard, Clare Twohy and Davide Verotta.
                 SIGNATURES IN TIME AND PLACE is a symphony that addresses the intersection between music and architecture
                 The first movement, “Romanesque”calls for an early classical orchestra composed of instruments of the time of                  Haydn. The geometric ornamentation bespeaks a massive energy and directional movement that is illustrated both                  by the bourree and by the fugue.
                 In the second movement, “The Corinthian Order”, we have stepped back in time to an architectural wonder more                  closely associated with the Greeks. And in direct contrast, the orchestra has now assumed a more modern                                 instrumental mantle. This is illustrated by the varied and lively approach musically that constantly ornaments and                  returns and ornaments again the columns fluted structure.
WHERE: OLD FIRST CHURCH
                  1725 Sacramento Street (at Van Vess)
                  San Francisco, CA.
TICKET INFORMATION:
                 Cost: $15 general, $12 students and seniors.
                 Tickets are available through the Old First Church Box Office at (415) 474-1608 and at the door.
                 For more  information, please contact:
                 Old First Church Box Office at (415) 474-1608
                 website: www.oldfirstconcerts.org
                 or
                 The San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra at (707) 451-0714
                 website: www.sfcco.org
            Addtional Links to the show:
                 www.ticketweb.com 
                 myspace.com/sfcco
                 markalburgerevents.blogspot.com

HORSEWOMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

WHEN:   April 19th - War and all related effects - political, economic and domestic
                 May 9th - Famine, plague, or any disaster including traffic and the weather
                 These concerts focus on themes about women
WHAT:    San Francisco Cabaret Opera is producing two concerts that feature the music of Sheli Nan . The April 19th concert                  will feature 3 arias from the first act of “SAGA - Portrait of a 21st Century Child”, and the May 9th concert will feature                  (and premiere) 3 arias from the 2nd act of “SAGA – Portrait of a 21st Century Child”
WHERE: St. Gregory's Church
                 500 De Haro St @ Mariposa
                 San Francisco, CA
COST:     Single tickets $20.
                 Cabaret tables $25.
                 Seniors - $15
INFO:      Reservations 415-289-6877

THE BERKELEY BAROQUE AND BEYOND EXPERIENCE
JUNE 13TH  
2008
 
*****WORLD PREMIERES******
 
        A NEW violin and harpsichord sonata
 “Absinthe avec mes amis – jour un”    
Andrew Fouts  - Baroque Violin ( Chatham Baroque)
Jonathan Davis – Harpsichord (Passamezzo Moderno)
 
“Journey the Song Cycle”
 for baritone,  virginals and piano
Zachary Gordin – Baritone
(Internationally Acclaimed Opera Singer)
Sheli Nan – keyboards
 (published by PRB Productions and Screaming Mary Music)

 A NEW  Baroque Guitar Duet
 “!Fandango Ardiente!”
Nationally Known Guitarists

 NEW Arias from the Opera for our Time
 *SAGA – Portrait of a 21st Century Child”
All star cast including
Jonathan Davis, Andrew Fouts, Zachary Gordin, Ayelet Cohen, and Meghan Dibble
 
All words and music by Sheli Nan
 
 What people are writing about the music of Sheli Nan
 
“Modern Scents in Antique Vials” -  Pedro Tesone,
 Buenos Aires, Argentina
 
“For long periods I was thinking that the music could have been written at various different historical periods… “SAGA – Portrait of a 21st Century Child” – the subject for so many Americans is about as close to home as a head-on collision out on the Interstate, or maybe a heart attack. The artistic concept held together like a Puccini opera, seamless in personality from start to finish… I never suspected that she could produce such a thing of monumental concept as this opera. “
 Willard Martin – Music Historian and Master Builder
 
“The guitar duets… were easily comprehended as evocations of Renaissance and Baroque forms… also notable was the skillful use of a wide range of guitar color and attack.
Randall Love – Associate Professor of Music, Duke University
                    

 If Bach returned to life today he would say……….
 
“Take me to meet the composers”!!!!!
 
June 12th and 13th 2008
 At the intimate and aesthetic Georgi Gallery
2911 Claremont Avenue (begind Peet’s) Berkeley, CA 94704
Doors open at 7:30
Concert begins at 8:00pm
 
$35.00 general
$25.00 musicians and students
tickets include a cd and a glass of wine
 
SEATING IS LIMITED
 
To purchase tickets, please send a check, along with a number where you can be reached, with the appropriate amount to:
 
The Music Studio
P.O. Box 5173
Berkeley, Ca. 94705
 
Your name will be at the door unless you are otherwise notified. Your check will not be cashed until the day of the performance

 
Further info: (510) 919-4493
www.shelinan.com

WHEN:   February 10th, 2007 5:00pm
WHAT:   THE SPANISH INFANTA MARIA BARBARA DE BRAGANZA
                The Queen of Spain, portrayed by actress,
                author and composer Sheli Nan, and her favorite 
                court musician, Signor Domingo Escarlatte
                (Domenico Scarlatti), portrayed by a surprise guest,
                pair up in this entertaining romp through the Royal Palace.
WHERE:  Music Sources
                  Center for Historically Informed Performance
                  1000 The Alameda
                  Berkeley, Ca. 94707
COST:       $18.00 non-members, $15.00 members, seniors and students
INFO:        Reservations and questions 510-528-1685

When:    June 8, 2006     8pm
What:     BAROQUE CABARET - masks, candles, fear and rapture!
                premieres and world premieres
                the velvet virgin on the virtuous virginals
                Johann's hidden hollow - baroque violin
                selections from the new opera "SAGA"
                no host bar
Where:   Berkeley City Club
                2315 Durant Ave
                Berkeley, CA
Cost: $25.00 general
                $20.00 professional musicians
Info:        Sheli Nan and the musicians angelic
                510-919-4493

When: October 21, 22, 23, 2005
What: L’evocative musique moderne:
Come hear music that will move you –original – inventive – provocative - the harmonies of today composed for early and contemporary instruments.
Sheli Nan: early and contemporary keyboards
Autris Paige: baritone voice
Elaine Kreston: cello
During the weekend of October 21, and 23, 2005, Sheli Nan (early and contemporary keyboards), Autris Paige (baritone voice) and Elaine Kreston (cello) will present three programs that will include a special afternoon family program. They will premiere Sheli’s newest composition for cello and voice, “Johann’s Hidden Hollow.” Sheli and Autris will perform “Journey - The Song Cycle,” published in 2004, and all three musicians will perform Sheli’s haunting “The Last Gesture,” premiered in 2003.
Nan's music is published by Peter Ballinger - PRB Productions of Albany, Ca. She has been invited to perform in Cuba, Spain, Mexico and Argentina. Elaine Kreston has appeared in recital halls throughout the United States and Europe. Autris Paige sang with the prestigious Metropolitan Opera Chorus in New York City before moving to the Bay Area. This trio is unique to the Bay Area, with music composed in the Bay Area and performed by three musicians who have chosen and made the Bay Area their home.
Info: The performance on Friday will be at The Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar Street, Berkeley, CA at 8pm.The cost is $10.00 for members of the Hillside Club and professional musicians and $15.00 for all others.
For further information call 510-701-1787

When: June 17, 2005 2:00pm
What: New Music for Early Instruments
Where: Boston Early Music Festival, Radisson Hotel - Zuckermann Room
FREE
Info: click here for info

When: May 22, 2005    2:00pm
What: Euologies for Laurette Goldberg
Where: Music Sources, 1000 The Alameda, Berkeley, Ca.
Info: 510-528-1685
 
When: February 26, 2005
What: New Music for Early Instruments
Where: Park Avenue Salon Concert Series, NYC
Info: click here for info

When: December 18, 2004
What: La Musica Nos Cuenta Una Historia
Where: Buenos Aires, Argentina

When: June 10, 2004
What: New Music for Early Keyboards
Where: The Music Studio, Berkeley Ca.

When: March 14, 2004
What: The Los Angeles Jewish Symphony performs "Sarah and Hagar" by Sheli Nan
Where: Ventura, California

When: January 11, 2004
What: Sheli Nan and Kathy Macintosh in Concert - Contemporary Music for Harpsichord
Where: Music Sources, 1000 The Alameda, Berkeley, Ca.

When: November 23, 2003
What: A Concert of Original and Latin Music for Harpsichord by Sheli Nan
Where: El Gran Teatro de La Habana, Cuba

Return to top

SERVICES

As a music consultant, Sheli Nan presents educational workshops at public and private schools for both classroom and music teachers. In these hands-on workshops, teachers learn musical skills. These skills can
then be applied to the academic curriculum both enriching the subject matter and giving the teachers more tools.

Sheli shows how to use music to enhance concentration and listening skills, encourage cooperation, and raise self-esteem.

The workshops address child development and academic needs. The workshops are entertaining and playful. Teachers learn the basics of the RHYTHMTWISTERS Program and have a good time, too!
Sheli offers half day and full day programs.

Sheli does teacher training for studio teachers. These six week sessions, based on her book, THE ESSENTIAL PIANO TEACHER'S GUIDE, teach music education skills providing studio teachers with the tools to both coach their students more effectively and create the appropriate studio environment.
Sheli runs a drop-in support group for music teachers once a week in the evening and also sees teachers for private consultations. Please contact her for schedules.

Sheli offers half day and full day programs.

Contact Sheli for any of the above services by clicking here.

PERFORMING
Sheli Nan is a dynamic, original keyboard player performing solo and in ensemble, performing early music to music with an Afro beat. She has performed in theatres, concert halls, on university campuses, churches, libraries and for benefits and private events.

To schedule an event, contact Sheli by clicking here.

Return to top

REVIEWS

SIGNATURES IN TIME AND PLACE
--Concert Review by allan crossman

Sheli Nan's Romanesque, the enjoyable first movement of her "Signatures in Time and Place", radiates a sensual glow. From the first measure, it's all about tunefulness and color, as solo alternates with ensemble to create a memorable piece in somewhat the style of Respighi's Ancient Airs and Dances - a fresh, modern update of early dance music. Every moment is both humable and danceable, and the progression of instrumental color is clearly as central to the character of the piece as are melody and harmony.

The Corinthian Order is a dance piece - rhythmic and playful. The inspiration comes from Corinthian columns, but, as we hear, the columns seem to be in motion! - the music is always melodic, the tunes constantly transforming into one another, creating a kind of tapestry of color, as instrumental voices emerge and return to the texture, as though solo dancers in turn moving to the front.
Closer to the end of the movement, we hear a more introspective passage, adding to the emotional range of the piece.
This is a festive mosaic of color, emotion, gesture, all seamlessly woven into a memorable texture.

--Allan Crossman has written for many soloists/ensembles, and a recent commission is the piano trio Icarus, for the Bay Area's New Pacific Trio. Recordings can be found at northsouthmusic.org. His theatre score, The Log of the Skipper's Wife, was produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford and the Kennedy Center, with music drawn from Irish/English shanties and dances. He is Professor Emeritus, Concordia University (Montreal), and is on the faculty of the SF Conservatory of Music.   acrossman.com.

THE BERKELEY BAROQUE AND BEYOND EXPERIENCE
--Concert Review by Gilbert Martinez

      “The Berkeley Baroque and Beyond Experience” on Friday June 13 offered its attendees a much needed respite from the deluge of uncreative, uninspired, and just plain dull programming from the main stage offerings of the Berkeley Early Music Festival.
This is not to say that there was nothing to appreciate about the Biennial early music week. I attended a truly exciting world premiere of the Alessandro Striggio’s mass for 40 voices, and there was a deserved collective sense of discovery and excitement around that event.  But still, there are lingering questions as to the validity of our West Coast  festival when clearly the force behind it has slowed to a screeching halt and has acquired a truly amateurish tone in terms of publicity, programming and management. Northern California’s claim as the early music capital has now slumped into a provincial state and is dangerously teetering toward being regarded as an early music backwater compared to Boston or Europe.
While I am not a zealous champion or fan of contemporary music, I found myself retreating towards Sheli Nan’s offerings for a breath of fresh air.  I respect the voice of composers, living or dead, and I am eager to witness unrestrained creativity.
This sensibility and esprit is what really made me enjoy the energy created by Sheli Nan and her intrepid band who put together a respectable cluster of premiere compositions, and performed them convincingly and obviously as a labor of love, peppered with a sense of daring.
Nan’s creations have thus far been hard for me to comment upon, mainly because I have not made the time for any living composer in the way that I have with my own programs based on a philological point of view and based on much older music. This is not in any way meant to invalidate other efforts, but to explain that all artists have a role to play, and that different paths are oft times chosen.  What we chose to play or hear as our daily bread does not mean we cannot take excursions off the beaten path.  Nan has certainly made poignant commentary on an interdependence of all the arts, old and new, and the need to reawaken the public’s consciousness to value those things which are not easily quantifiable.
If any need to seek further for relevance, one would be hard put not to find it in the “sneak peeks” offered of Nan’s opera in progress, “SAGA, portrait of a 21st century Child”.
But first let me comment on moments leading up to that  part of the program.
The program opened with several harpsichord works, Fortune’s Fancie (from “Virtuous Virginals) and Love Letter to Leumas and Love Letter to Telemann (from 2 Love Letters and a Prayer).  All performed by Ms. Nan on a robust Eric Herz harpsichord from Johnny Davis’ collection. I was surprised by her choices of tempo, which seemed more brisk than what I have become accustomed in previous performances.  I have to say that I have never heard them performed to better effect. All were played with absolute fluidity and the tempi seemed to enhance their gem like quality and exploitation of the harpsichord’s capacity for resonance.
It is worth mentioning that Nan’s technique at the harpsichord was well in control of her own material, every moment was played with a calm sprezzatura.
The flute solo, “The Mad Dance of Judith with Holofernes’ Head” was a premiere performance, but I should say here that this work ought to be played again, since it convinces by the means of creating a perfumed delirium for the listener.  My only regret is that it could and should be played with more confidence and technical mastery.
The song cycle “Journey”  saw Sheli at the modern piano and the harpsichord as accompanist to baritone Zachary Gordin.  Gordin is a powerful soloist, almost to powerful for a recital setting, but he brings a great amount of élan and stage presence to even the slightest turn of phrase or simple cadence. He performed the song cycle with a well focused  sound and absolutely flawless diction.  As to the content of the songs, and Nan’s technique as a composer, her style is tonal, and never resorts to anything atonal or minimalist.  The music has a key signature and for the most part a time signature. This is not to say her syntax is old fashioned or trite.  It is still a product of our time.  It is nice to know that such a product need not be ugly or repugnant to be relevant or interesting. There are many “high profile” composers who receive important commissions and accolade, and I find most of their work to be a dreadful bore.   Nan is certainly able to interest an audience to newer sounds (sometimes, ironically on old instruments) without ever pandering or simplifying to an uneducated ear.  She is constantly and vigorously exploring new mediums, and she keeps a watchful eye on all music, even old music.  There is an obvious inspiration and kindred sprit with old masters, but without reverting to mimicry or making ersatz baroque music.
An example is the accompanied keyboard sonata, a tradition seen with Mondonville in the 18th century and best known by the sonatas of J.S. Bach.  The premiere of “Absinthe avec mes amis” was worth the price of the ticket alone.  It should become a welcome part of the new repertoire.  A simple, organic composition, it revels in the sounds and interplay of the gut strung baroque violin and the harpsichord.  The best type of writing for this medium is to be found. Fragments of melody and gesture are tossed about by the two instruments, in dialogue and chorus. At times the soloists form one large instrument sonically, or spin out motives singly.  This work also shows a range of development by its composer.  It is confidently handled and its framework is interesting. There is no padding or note spinning and it is a lovely tapestry of sound.  It could not have had better advocates than Johnny Davis (harpsichord) or Andrew Fouts (baroque violin).  Fouts reflected the harpsichord’s decay perfectly, and tuning was flawless.
Now we turn back to the work in progress, Nan’s opera, “Saga, Portrait of a 21st Century Child.”
Nan selected an excellent ensemble of fresh voiced young soloists, who presented the work in a semi staged fashion, all from memory and acted with impromptu stage elements.
“Saga” is a work about our modern day apocalyptic science fiction reality. Its characters are presented to us at a safe distance, but they are in reality closer in real life than we like to admit.  Each character is equally a victim but also a repugnant monster of the most frightful kind.  The characters have no moral compass, not regard for past or future.  They only satisfy their present needs, and they have only infantile remorse and no sense of pity or mercy.
It is this inescapable reality that makes me think of Berg’s “Wozzeck” or Poul Ruders “Tjenerindens Frotaelling” (The Handmaid’s Tale). They all convey a helpless sense of foreboding and doom.  The characters in “Saga” are a new bread of human, entirely formed with new DNA strands from our modern computer age.  Artists, thinkers,.. those with a moral conscious are near extinct and are rendered obsolete.
Its title character, the CHILD was sung by Meghan Dibble. She captured her character’s inability to process the forces that created her or the ones that guide her tragic steps.  Often her music is in a rocking 6/8 meter, underlining her simple nature and arrested emotional development.  In this and other ways, Nan underscores certain kinship with ancient operas and morality plays.  For example, there is a greek style chorus, which stays to the side of the action but comments upon the proceedings. They occasionally intervene and shape events.
Another standout was Ayelet Cohen, a sparkling coloratura and casting an ominous glow as the negligent “Mother.”  Again, this character is an archetype, (mercifully NOT autobiographic!) and portrays a mother with no capacity to nurture a child.  Her utter rejection of her own blood creates a “free range child” unleashed on humanity.  As the “PREDATOR” Joe Vincent Parks created for us the troll under the bridge from fairy tales.  Or is it a fairy tale? The bridge in this case is the internet, a modern means of creating fantasy and traps for unsuspecting innocents. 
In this work Sheli Nan has created a living nightmare, but we are in reality not allowed to awake with a happy ending.  As a work in progress, she has truly created a “Saga” by allowing a select audience discover the course of the journey and insight into the seer’s vision.
I think the work will raise many more questions than it answers, but isn’t that the essence of many great works of art, ancient and modern?

--Gilbert Martinez is the artistic director of MusicSources, Center for Historically Performed Performance in Berkeley, CA. In a short time he has revitalized its programs and created a scholarship promoting outstanding young talent  in honor of its founder, early music pioneer, Laurette Goldberg. In addition to devoting much energy towards the development of this institution and giving it a truly international status, he maintains much activity as a popular harpsichord soloist and conductor of large scale renaissance and baroque works.

My goal is to reach the audience, to evoke and provoke,” said Berkeley composer Sheli Nan of the multi-faceted program, for both modern and Baroque instruments and voice, of her music, “The Berkeley Baroque & Beyond Experience,” Friday at Giorgi Gallery. There will be a possible second performance on Saturday.
The program will include new arias from Saga—Portrait of a 21st Century Child, Nan’s “opera for our time,” as she calls it: “Absinthe Avec Mes Amis,” a violin and harpsichord sonata (with Nan accompanying American Bach Soloists first place winner violinist Andrew Fouts, for whom she composed the piece); “Journey,” a song cycle for baritone and piano; and “The Mad Dance of Judith with the Head of Holofernes,” for solo flute and voice.
Other performers include Jonathan Davis, Zachary Gordin, Ayelet Cohen, Meghan Dibble, Jo Vincent Parks and Marvin Sanders. Nan will play harpsichord and piano.
Nan, who refers to herself as “a contemporary Baroque composer,” said her music “draws a great deal from Baroque form, but with 21st Century harmonies—neo-melodic harmonies.”
With over 16 editions of her music published by East Bay publishers (Peter Ballinger of PRB Productions and Glen Shannon of Screaming Mary Music), Nan’s career as a composer took off when “I was discovered by Charles Amirkhanian [then of KPFA].” Nan declares, “I’m very much a Berkeley phenomenon!”
Discussing her opera, from which other selections have been presented by San Francisco Cabaret Opera earlier this spring, Nan compared it to work by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht: “an awful theme couched by beautiful music. I often wonder about this as a composer, offering the music to listeners in order to digest hard truths. There’ll be three arias from the second act. The singers are really aligned to the characters, pouring themselves into it. The story’s important to tell; the opera has such immediacy to it. Now, in the third act, I have to decide who lives and who dies. These are my characters! But the old have to make way for the new. Can that be rendered symbolically? Is redemption really a necessity?”
Nan, who has three CDs and two books (The Essential Piano Teacher’s Guide and the forthcoming Bach the Teacher), as well as many articles on music to her credit, played with a Nigerian band and an Afro-Cuban group and was invited by the Cuban government to play in Cuba in 2003, for which she received special permission from the State Department.
Her symphony, Signatures in Time and Place, will be performed by the San Francisco Composers Orchestra this fall.

BAROQUE CABARET
The Guitar Review
Sheli Nan's three pieces for guitar duet and one piece for guitar solo, masterfully performed by guitar virtuoso Marc Teicholz and Adam Roszkiewicz were a delightful beginning to a concert devoted entirely to Nan's works. This concert, a fringe offering of the Berkeley Baroque Festival and Exhibition, presented many world premieres. "Baroque Cabaret" took place on June 8th 2006 at the Berkeley City Club and featured the guitar pieces,an adult fairy tale for baroque violin and voice; "Johann's Hidden Hollow", two keyboard pieces; "Fandango Ardiente!" and "Bach Boogie Blues", and the first act of Sheli's new opera "SAGA - Portrait of a 21st Century Child".
The guitar duets,entitled, "Allemande gilmartin", "Fortune's Fancie", and "Femme Dreame", and the guitar solo, "Love Letter to Telemann", were easily comprehended as evocations of Renaissance and Baroque forms. Nan keeps us on our toes by reminding us with a modern harmonic turn,metric shift, or errant chromatic run, that we are listening to a 21st-century composition. The improvisatory mood is always shifting: wistful, playful, and fiery, all with a bit of tongue in cheek. Also notable was the skillful use of a wide range of guitar color and attack. All in all, this was a refreshing aperitif to the following heavier fare.

.--Randall Love, Associate Professor of Music, Duke University

Sheli Nan’s ‘BAROQUE CABARET’ was one of the most interesting and authentic concerts at the Berkeley Baroque Festival and Exhibition in Berkeley, California.”
Working on a shoestring every minute Sheli Nan was standing on her ear to keep the Baroque Cabaret entertaining and engaging, unlike some of the other formal concert offerings. The first half of Sheli’s concert was touching. The way all of the players really took the trouble to totally learn the music, and play their respective instruments very idiomatically to play her music, and frankly the convincingness of the performances was half of the success. A good example of this was Andrew Fouts who performed the premiere of “Johann’s Hidden Hollow”, Sheli’s adult fairy tale for Baroque violin and voice. For long periods I was thinking that the music could have been written at various different historical periods. I literally was not 100% sure that Ms. Nan had written everything. Then came the second half of the program featuring “SAGA – Portrait of a 21st Century Child” – the new opera by Sheli Nan; Act One. First the subject for so many Americans is about as close to home as a head-on collision out on the interstate, or maybe a heart attack. Second, the performers (baritone Joe Vincent Parks, soprano Katy Daniels, and soprano Ayalet Cohen, under the direction of Amanda Moody) as the characters were completely engaged and convincing. Third the artistic concept held together like a Puccini opera, seamless in personality from start to finish. Frankly in the past I had only heard miniature and narrowly idiomatic harpsichord and virginals pieces by Ms. Nan, performed while in NYC. I never suspected that she could produce such a thing of monumental concept as this opera. It did occur to me that the whole act was rather monochromatic in its message and tone, but that is exactly how any one act of Puccini or Monteverdi is so even that has to count as an accomplishment. I have no doubt that she will produce second and third acts that are contrasting and similarly successful as subsequent acts. And the whole story is uncomfortably close to home for many American families in the present. That is the most authentic part to which I alluded. Let us not forget that the original audience for L’Orpheo trashed the house repeatedly until he rewrote a softer ending

--Willard Martin, Master Builder and Music Historian, June 2006

"After her "Suite de mes Amis" (a respectful reference to the past) Sheli played her "Fandango ardiente" with evident suggestions of latin music. "The Virtuous Virginal" that followed is really a suite of music from the XXI Century with Elizabethan reminiscence. "Two Love Letters and a Prayer", another suite (really an ancient musical form abandoned many years ago) included a part played by the Lute (Gabriel Scheber); while listening to it, we felt a connection to the past with the language of this Century. The second part of the concert included a "Milonga" (a typical argentine dance) by Alberto Ginastera and "Danza Lecumi" by Ernesto Lecuona: although neither of these were composed for the harpsichord, their "exotic" rhythms and melodies fitted magnificently with the harpsichord sound.
The "Dyptique" that followed, also by Sheli (and a "first world performance") was totally full of modern scents kept in antique vials. The concert finished with the "Bach Boogie Blues" also by Sheli Nan; although it seemed to me more a rag than a boogie, the mixture of Bach's Prélude of the Well Tempered Calvier with negroid rhythms and harmonies was really superb. After the "bis" I could chat with Sheli (in fluent Spanish) and I told her: "You are the Chucho Valdez of the harpsichord". She laughed and almost accepted my not so courteous but sincere commentary."

-- Pedro A. Tesone, Buenos Aires, Argentina

“El de clave con tus composiciones es hermoso. Ya conocía unas cuantas de las obras, pero esta grabación es perfecta. Además me gustaron muchísimo las piezas en virginal. Hermoso sonido y tan bella música...El CD con las piezas para guitarra es también muy bueno. Son composiciones muy interesantes y bellas, como toda tu creación.
Y finalmente el CD con la obra" Johann's Hidden Hollow, an adult fairy tale "for solo violin and dancers, que compusiste en la cocina de mi estudio en Belgrano, realmente me ha resultado deliciosa. La elección de un violín barroco fue genial, dando un hermosísimo sonido. Excelente Andrew Fouts. También me encantó la voz y la retórica del actor Jo Vincent Parks.
Imaginaba una bailarina danzando sola en un escenario, representando la música de esta bellísima obra tuya. Casi pude "ver" en mi mente la coreografía mientras la escuchaba una y otra vez. Me encantaría poder pasarlo en mi programa, o incluso, organizar un espectáculo con una bailarina  que estoy seguro le encantaría bailar tu obra. La música es bellísima, como la historia que contás. Me gustaría leer el texto en español si lo pasara por radio o lo hiciéramos en concierto con la grabación.
También podríamos hacerlo con un violinista barroco con el que estoy tocando. Realmente un placer.

--PALABRAS de LEOPOLDO PEREZ, LUTHIER, MUSIC HISTORIAN, BAROQUE CONCERT PRODUCER
ARGENTINA 2006

"Mis mayores felicitaciones a tí, por la belleza de tu música, por la iniciativa siempre inquieta y creativa que te anima, y para los guitarristas que tocaron tu música, a la que le dieron mucha vida y hermosos colores. Realmente me gustó mucho la versión que hicieron. Diferente. En todo caso, me parece una versión hermosa y llena de vida la que han hecho y quisiera que les transmitas mis felicitaciones. Además me gustaron mucho las piezas para clave y virginal . Te reflejan en tu talento e imaginación plenamente. Con la alegría de compartir la música y la esperanza de que nos encontremos pronto para compartir algún momento......"

--Gabriel Schebor, Lutenist and Recording Artist, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Uruguay, Europe

“It’s no news that over the last dew decades, New Age music has proliferated. Has anyone, though, used the harpsichord to send that particular message? An instrument from centuries of yore, imaginatively adapted to the styles and colors of today’s improvisatory thinking – that is what Sheli has done…Meet the harpsichord on new ground!”
 
--Igor Kipnis, Baroque Recoding Artist, Teacher, Author, Radio PersonalitY

"Soulful and playful, the music of Sheli Nan is a breath of fresh air."
-- Elaine Funaro, Baroque and Contemporary Recording Artist (harpsichord)


"Sheli Nan's music connects the past to the present. Her broad experience with music of the 17th and 18th century, and with music of the 20th century, brings together a new and refreshing view of both."
-- Laurette Goldberg, Professor Emeritus San Francisco Conservatory, Author and Bach Scholar

"Suite de mes Amis" .. is wonderful harpsichord music - not piano music, not synthesizer music, not any-keyboard music, but harpsichord music, like Louis Couperin (of which there were many echoes) is harpsichord music. Few contemporary composers understand the instrument like that. Second, I enjoyed the way the music fits under the fingers...it is written for human hands. Third, I found the harmonic language attractive: thoroughly contemporary and thoroughly individual; still, it relates to the French harpsichord tradition. A neat trick! It's nice music, enjoyable to play and to listen to."
-- ED KOTTICK, AUTHOR, BUILDER PROFESSOR, PERFormer

The National Music Museum Event - May of 2003 -  Four Centuries of Keyboard Instruments - What They Tell Us -" the music played and discussed ranged over this period including the world premiere of Sheli Nan's "Suite de mes Amis"...Sheli Nan  played five of her own recently published works. It was good to see that Nan's pieces, which place more emphasis on communication than on sheer virtuosity were also available for purchase."
-- DAVID PICKETT, SOUTHEASTERN HISTORICAL KEYBOARD SOCIETY

"Sheli Nan's solo piano explorations are both heartfelt and playful. In Palomino, she moves freely from the simple new age sonorities of the title track to the Bartok-inflected Latin groove of 'Carnival nights.' 'Me in You' evokes both Debussy and McCoy Tyner. And the audio quality of the recording is exceptional. I'm always inspired when I hear a local musician who has so much to offer."
-- JIM AIKIN, KEYBOARD MAGAZINE

"'Palomino,’ which I enjoyed immensely, is very imaginative and comes off VERY well. The improvs as well as the cross rhythms and the harmonies are evocative of Debussy and perhaps Satie."
-- IGOR KIPNIS, Baroque Recoding Artist, Teacher, Author, Radio Personality

"Sheli Nan has written albums entirely composed of her own tunes, which reflect her diverse jazz, classical and Latin music training. Her brightly recorded albums, which Sheli Nan uses to good effect with her percussive style have a structured pattern with a free open style, and long melodic passages with almost atonal breaks. The Latin flavor is most appealing".
-- HIGH PERFORMANCE REVIEW

"An energetic lady who knows her way around a keyboard--a bit of Latin, a touch of swing, a complex pattern and a display of Nan's superb technique."
-- PHIL ELWOOD, SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER

"Spontaneous, yet wisely disciplined flights of imagination. An original in the Jarrett school, without Jarrett's repetitiveness or unpredictable temperament."
-- DERK RICHARDSON, DAILY CALIFORNIAN

"THE ESSENTIAL PIANO TEACHER'S GUIDE.....Nan's book is an interesting compilation of the accumulated wisdom and experience of a successful independent piano teacher....her ideas providing a good step-by-step starting point ..offering sound ideas about the necessary attitudes on the teacher's part to expounding good advice regarding a healthy physical approach to the keyboard..."
-- AMERICAN MUSIC TEACHER

Return to top

ARTICLES by Sheli Nan

• “Our Remedies Oft In Ourselves Do Lie...”
• Another Point of View
• I Love Buenos Aires in the Winter
• The Cuba Concert
• The First Festival of Spanish Keyboard Music
• The Interpretation of Spanish Music

“Our Remedies Oft In Ourselves Do Lie...” Shakespeare
WEKA NEWS - ©FALL 2006 by Sheli Nan

One of the most important concerns for any performer, producer, or musician must be the art of programming This is particularly true for a “Baroque” audience since more often than not one is presented with a well-educated and sophisticated audience, and this aspect of our Berkeley Festival and Exhibition was largely ignored by some of the musicians and presenters. It seems as though at times the performance groups played every piece they knew in the genre they had chosen to demonstrate. What does this do for an audience? (yawn). If the affect is studiously adhered to and does not vary at all, one quickly begins to daydream and surreptitiously glance at one’s watch.
This happened often during concerts I and others attended. For instance, those of us in the audience are not strolling the banks of the river in Venice at midnight diverted by the many sounds tastes and colors that assault one lucky enough to have been there. Rather than have the music be a colorful backdrop to an exciting experience, we are sitting in a large room with nothing else going on. As there was no percussion at either concert at Hertz Hall on Saturday, June 10th, and as the repetition of the style of pieces went on and on, one began to nod off—partially in frustration and partially out of boredom. And, although the musicians clearly are fantastic players, at times the concerts did not seem well practiced and affect once again was seriously lacking. (Please musicians, you can smile now and then. It might have livened things up; the lovely Shira Kamen was an exception.) A supercilious attitude toward the audience coupled with difficult acoustics and an esoteric program during a headline concert on Sunday the 11th, also at Hertz Hall, unfortunately took away from the presentation and added nothing to the enjoyment of the afternoon’s entertainment.
Some exceptions to the programming snafus were the funny and outrageous toccata that Mahan Esfahani improvised during one show, and the excellent and varied program performed at MusicSources by Elaine Funaro. Her superb musicianship and many of her contemporary choices for a solo harpsichord concert matched with haiku by our own Jack Kerouac had humor as well as pathos and invited active listening participation by many of the WEKA audience there. (See “‘Harpsichord to Haiku’ Review” in this issue.) Lee McCrae provided another valuable resource with her concert for families and her instrument “petting zoo”—at least younger people were introduced to early instruments.
Some of our out-of-town visitors were appalled at the lack of advertising and looked in vain for announcements and such. One of the reasons this is happening is that our city newspapers are becoming more and more corporate and choosing to cover only those events that do heavy advertising and have much corporate sponsorship. According to my sources, even places like the new DeYoung Museum have trouble getting their exhibitions covered. On this note I would like to acknowledge Robert Jackson and SFEMS for really stepping up to the plate. At least here within our community there was information available. Yet even this was not enough. EMA did a wonderful job of presenting interesting, lively people for their conference, yet a colleague of mine was quick to point out that there were only six people at one of the conferences. In terms of the EMA magazine, again there were grumblings in the crowd that it is an “in” magazine for those whose agendas fit the dictates of its editor. Many people said they do not subscribe anymore because of the “in-club” atmosphere of the magazine. In its defense, the magazine does a wonderful job of reporting on many of our talented performers and on historical concerns, and the last issue in particular dealt with early music education in a comprehensive article that Shulamit Kleinerman wrote of many teachers that are introducing their students to historical performance practice.
Now on to a current theme that will explain how many of the former comments fall into perspective. This was a refrain that I heard going on about the Festival and about early music festivals in general. Let’s see if it rings true with anyone. And I quote, “Early music used to be a new movement full of cool hip people. Now it is an old person’s movement and as the vanguard ages so does the audience.” This has been gradually happening for a number of years now and I noticed it most pronouncedly at Boston last year. (See my article --“Another Point of View” published by SFEMS last year and on my website.) At least three years ago I used to play a game with a colleague of mine called “Count the black hair in the audience.” We don’t play this game anymore. What can be done about this state of affairs? Let’s imagine for one moment...
If Bach were to return today to our contemporary musical culture and our early music world, his first question would no doubt be, “Where are the composers?” Bach spent so much of his time teaching people how to compose and indeed dedicated “The Well-Tempered Clavier” to future composers. He would not be asking to meet the most famous harpsichordist or violinist first unless, in fact, they were the composers of our day, which for all intents and purposes they are not. We have drawn a rather sharp divide between composers and performers, a recently modern convention. Our early music movement has totally lost sight of the role of the composer today. The composer is the glue that so often connected the conductors to the musicians, the music to the people. And the composers themselves were a related world, often performing one another’s compositions. Imagine, Bach composed over 1000 pieces that often had multiple movements. He had 20 children and a job teaching at a school. He had patrons and he composed for the Church. He always had students living at his home. And he still had time to do the complete keyboard transcriptions of violin concertos by Baroque composers. Imagine playing Vivaldi and Marcello on keyboard. That is an exciting development and this cross pollination of music and instruments added to the excitement and joy of the contemporary music scene.
That’s the world we need to reach out to today. In order for this to take place our composers must be given a voice and a stage on which to present their compositions. They must be in contact with conductors, musicians, and other composers. What do we get by ignoring our present day composers? Well, it is certainly easier not to have to deal with a living composer—we can then decide to interpret a piece in whatever style we choose. No one to discuss or argue with, no contrasting voice—we can easily say... “Well, there is so much Bach, we’ve got no time for our contemporary composers.” What does that do to our community? How does that stifle creativity? A living composer in the early music world faces huge hurdles and obstacles when the conductors themselves are unwilling to even give the modern voice a chance. In order to assure our future we need to celebrate our contemporary composers and facilitate their ability to give voice to our instruments.
Studio teachers and contemporary composers must not be the only ones to introduce and cultivate the love for these instruments and early music. We certainly have our place in the education of youth and yet, if the festivals do not include a contemporary voice—a main stage concert contemporary voice—in our movement, we are doomed. Our instruments are doomed. We will not go anywhere but rest comfortably until we fade out and die. It is imperative that we place emphasis on what is happening today with early instruments, how contemporary music and early instruments intersect, how people of different chronological ages approach and listen to music today, and how we need to involve and get the twenty-somethings to the concerts. Where does the contemporary popular voice have a place in our movement?
If you would be so kind as to step out of your shadow for one moment and view the rest of the musical world(s) you might get an idea that we are a diminishing force—that our voice is fading—that a culture with no youth is a culture with no future.

About the Author: Sheli Nan is a published composer and harpsichordist. She is the treasurer of WEKA and a member of SFEMS, The New York Composers Circle, The American Composers Forum, and the EMA. She presented a program of original music at the Festival this year entitled “Baroque Cabaret.” (See reviews in this issue.) Her concert sold out. There were over 100 attendees of various ages.

Return to Articles

Another Point of View
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA EARLY MUSIC NEWS - ©12/2005 by Sheli Nan

If we are to survive as a community dedicated to early music performance and practice, it is incumbent upon us not to become too self-congratulatory and inbred—something I sensed uncomfortably at this past June’s Boston Early Music Festival. With all due respect to the glowing reviews of the Festival in many of our magazines, not to mention some truly breath-taking performances I attended, as a newcomer I was surprised to hear a great deal of muttering among attendees as to how the Festival had lost its sparkle. And I could not help but notice how few among those attending were under the age of 45.
Since one of the best measures of a community’s health is its ability to recruit new and younger members, it is essential we do some soul-searching as to why we don’t do better in attracting them. Although BEMF tried various strategies, the consensus is that they were not very effective. Reviewing the Festival for EMA magazine, Keith Powers wrote, “Using free tickets as a lure was raised more often than any other suggestion, but as the moderator pointed out to wide agreement, getting someone to use a free ticket is no way to train them to pay for succeeding events.”
In his EMA column, “Musings,” Thomas Forrest Kelly recently observed that what we now call “early music” was perceived as new in its own time—a time, he notes, “…when one heard lots and lots of new music, though in a familiar style.” The import of Kelly’s deceptively simple observation cannot be overstated. During the Baroque and Classical periods there was an excitement about music that was being composed then. This “contemporary” music had relevance for the listeners. It spoke to them of their sense of self and community. It expressed their deepest hopes, their secular and sacred yearnings, even their sense of humor. People could relate to this music because it spoke a language they immediately understood. The harmonies resonated within them. Where is that new music today? Where is the excitement? Where is the community support? Why have so many within the early music community not understood the importance of composition today?
There are two elements of the early music experience that need to be distinguished. The first is the music itself. We want to maintain our deepest connection to Bach and all other great composers of the past. Their genius is a marker in human development that opens us to what is most profound in the human experience.
At the same time, we want to maintain and develop new interest in the instruments on which this music was played. How do we create such interest? There are a multitude of people, for instance, who study piano but know little or nothing about the harpsichord. Their piano studies may not even include Bach, as many teachers consider him too difficult, old fashioned, or inaccessible to their students’ level of understanding or their own teaching ability.
Given these problems, how can we make inroads into both the “classical” world and the contemporary world of music and music lovers?
One of the most effective ways to create this interest is to CELEBRATE music composed for our instruments in OUR time, particularly when such “new” music has a strong historical basis, both in its form and in its idiomatic connection to the instrument(s) for which it is written.
It seems a bit ironic that the instruments on which we perform early music today (mainly modern copies, or in some cases re-inventions, of historical instruments) often are younger in literal age than their performers. If in truth, we are modern players playing modern instruments, do we not also need modern music to complete the context?
Let me give you an example. I teach both piano and harpsichord to children, many of whose families were unfamiliar with the harpsichord when they first came to me for piano lessons. In introducing my students and their families to the harpsichord, I have given them a direct experience of the instrument and its context. The person on the street, though, has no such connection to the baroque world; to that person, the harpsichord remains an unfamiliar puzzle, and he or she will not likely be drawn into the listening experience. But if one offers him or her music written in the here and now, there is a much better chance of the instrument taking hold for that listener. The beauty, delicacy, and unique texture of the harpsichord can combine with modern harmonies to express the musical world we inhabit. We derive identity and context from music composed today, just as our ancestors did. We see our reflection in the eddies of contemporary sound. A listener who has come to love the harpsichord through present-day music will be much more open to hearing Bach and the other great composers who wrote for it in the past. Contemporary music thus provides another doorway into our world of old and new, and this particular doorway—as it specifically connects to youth and to the present—offers an especially powerful approach. Unfortunately, it is a door we have hardly begun to open, which seems a bit like hanging a sign on the door saying, “no room for anything new.”
My experience in Boston this past June supports this interpretation. At my BEMF Fringe concert, whose program consisted of my own compositions, I saw more young people than I had anywhere else at the Festival, with the exception of some of the large events. Why did they come? What were they looking for? What attracted them? What did my promotional material say that alerted them to the idea that perhaps there was a voice at the Festival that spoke to or for them?
Imagine being a LIVING composer in an early music world. I am often told by conductors that they have no time for my music because there is “so much Bach.” That of course is true. But it is equally true, and for me more important, that audiences for both “early” and mainstream classical music are aging rapidly, and if we do not wake up to the excitement of a contemporary musical voice that reaches people (and here I refer to what I like to term, the neo-melodic experience, rather than the now old-fashioned atonal new music that had its peak in the 1970s), we are in danger of losing the element most essential to continuity and rebirth—youth.
Here we are just past the turn of the century. When people ask what I do, I say I am an early 21st-century composer, that harpsichord, voice, and various other early and contemporary instruments are my favored media, and that my mission is to extend the life of my instrument because I believe in its ability to tantalize, delight, and stimulate. And I believe in that ability, not only when playing Bach’s music, but just as much with the music I compose myself. And it works.
Every festival ought to have at least one professionally produced concert of contemporary works—works that support and encourage the connection between our early music tradition and our present-day explorations, works that are not atonal but are truly composed with respect for the past and acknowledgment of the future. This concert ought to be celebrated with the same degree of fanfare that all the other historical concerts are given. Then we will have the youth clamoring for more, stimulated by the intersection of old and new, finding their own voices in our expanding musical world.

The works of Sheli Nan are published by Peter Ballinger of the PRB Publishing Co., Albany, CA. Her music is distributed by TFront Music. To date PRB has published 15 editions of multiple pieces ranging from “The Virtuous Virginals,” a four piece suite for virginals, to “The Last Gesture,” a chamber work for harpsichord, baroque cello and voice. She is currently working on a suite for (a Haydn) orchestra, entitled “Archetypes for Orchestra,” a well as an opera. For more information, visit PRBPRO.com or www.shelinan.com.

Return to Articles

I Love Buenos Aires in the Winter
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA EARLY MUSIC NEWS - ©2005 by Sheli Nan

This past spring I found myself in conversation with our talented Bay Area harpsichord builder John Phillips. We were standing outside a concert of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestrain Berkeley, lamenting the passing of our dear beloved Laurette Goldberg. I mentioned to John that I had recently given a concert in Argentina and that the builder who organized the event was turning out some lovely instruments. “A builder in Argentina?” John said. I proceeded to tell him a bit of what I am now going to report to all of you.
Among my more amazing experiences in recent years are the many encounters I have enjoyed with early music movements across Latin America. We here in the US know surprisingly little of what goes on south of our borders, but when we consider the musical heritage of our Spanish-speaking neighbors, it should come as no surprise that there are homegrown early music movements with deep historical roots in many of those countries. I consider it my privilege and honor to have been an emissary spreading early music amistad and helping to build bridges now crossed by many individuals from different lands who share a tremendous interest in the survival of early music and a love of its instruments.
This report comes to you from Argentina. Earlier articles that appeared in this newsletter reported on my trips to Spain and Cuba. I hope to continue in the near future with accounts of visits to Peru, Bolivia, and Costa Rica.
Leopoldo Perez is a well known and respected builder currently working in Buenos Aires, where he builds harpsichords, virginals, and clavichords. His attractive studio is located in the charming suburb of Belgrano right in the heart of the city. Its leafy streets and tropical greenery, along with the European-inspired buildings lend it a sophisticated and genteel air. Leopoldo is the producer and host of Radio Argentina’s highly-regarded radio show The Lutherie and the World of Musical Instruments. He also founded and continues to direct the “Early Keyboard Music Cycle” held each year at the Lutheran Church in Belgrano. His wife, Sylvia Leidemann, is one of Argentina’s leading musicologists. She is also a conductor and makes frequent trips to Hungary, where her family is originally from, to search for early, unknown baroque manuscripts.
I had first met Leopoldo on the internet, where we struck up a conversation about early music and related matters. After getting to know me and seeing some of my compositions, he invited me to perform as the closing “act” at his Festival in 2004. I performed there this past December, following on the heels of Margaret Irwin Brandon, a well-known harpsichordist from Connecticut. This was something of a coincidence, because Margaret and I both had performed this past season on the MusicSources calendar and had met one another in Berkeley before our Argentina gigs. We also just performed right after one another at the Boston Early Music Festival in June!Before going further into my experience performing before an Argentinean audience, I want to share a bit more about early music in that country, as well as in Uruguay, and Bolivia. Argentina has two harpsichord builders now, as well as two builders of antique guitars and lutes. There are various historical performing ensembles within its borders and two or three full-fledged baroque orchestras. The first of these is directed by Manfredo Kraemer, conductor of The Rare Fruits Council, and former violinist with Capriccio Stravagante, Musica Antiqua Köln, and Le Concert de Nations. Kraemer lives in Cordoba, Argentina, where his orchestra is based. The other orchestras are in Buenos Aires, the nation’s capital. This is the home of Juan Manuel Quintana, a gambist and conductor who enjoys a high reputation in Europe. Quintana’s orchestra performs both concerts and baroque opera, often with European musicians. Quintana also serves as assistant conductor to Mark Minkovsky, who directs the French Baroque Opera, also based in Buenos Aires.
In neighboring Uruguay, the great organist Christina Garcia Banegas directs De Profundis, a talented chorus specializing in Renaissance polyphony and Latin American baroque music. She also has organized an International Organ Festival there.
In Bolivia various festivals have been dedicated to Latin American baroque music in recent years. At present, the country has only a few well trained early music specialists, but there a vast amount of Bolivian baroque music. The tropical lowlands of eastern Bolivia (Chiquitos, Guarayos, and Moxos) are the site of several Jesuit missions, where music was composed and performed until 1767, when the Jesuits were expelled from the Spanish colonies. Most of this music, by such composers as Domenico Zipoli, was in the Italian style, much of it reminiscent of Vivaldi. The real treasure trove, however, is in the Altiplano, or Andean highlands. The old churches in the region are home to many antique organs, as well as a few other early keyboards. There are also rich archival resources. The city of Sucre houses a collection that includes much excellent vocal music. This extensive corpus was composed mainly by the region’s Maestros de Capilla (chapelmasters of the metropolitan cathedrals, most of whom, such as the great Juan de Araujo, came originally from Spain) as well as several musically educated Indians. The music may be said to represent a much more authentically “national” style than the mission music from the eastern lowlands.
The history of Latin American baroque music demonstrates the great impact the Church had on Indians of Central and South America and their musical forms. It has been documented that Indian musicians and church musicians were able to collaborate, learning from one another, and thereby creating a uniquely Latin American baroque sound. Some of this music has survived, both as pure church music and in more secular contexts in the combination of musical styles adopted by both European and Indian folk and popular musicians. One could speculate that among all segments of the native and colonizing peoples, those that met on the most equal footing were the musicians. Composers are always eager to learn from their surroundings, and in a place as remote and seemingly inhospitable as the Bolivian rainforest, it was perhaps the musicians who made the first tentative outreach to one another as they learned to communicate in the most profound and universal of languages.
One day, when I was walking down a street in Buenos Aires, an older woman handed me a flyer with a program for a concert that was taking place at her church, the Iglesia Castrense. It was entitled, “Recital Navideño” (a Christmas concert). I took a look at the program and was fascinated to read the names of composers whose music was being performed: J.S. Bach, anónimo portugués, Michael Prætorius, Johannes Brahms, Louis-Claude Daquin, Franz Gruber, Joseph Mohr, popular gallego, Joseph Schnabel, and Georg Friedrich Handel. This choir was not only performing a program that truly represented the baroque era, but their program mentioned the dates of every single composer, representing a level of awareness and interest that amazed and exhilarated me.
Another day I was channel surfing on the hotel TV and I found a program dedicated to baroque music. The program, entitled “A título personal” (roughly translated “As I see things”), was hosted by Victor Hugo Morales, a famous soccer announcer and journalist, who also loves classical music and hosts this TV program as well as a radio program to comment on concerts, opera and classical singers’ recitals. This particular broadcast featured young Argentinean musicians who had dedicated their careers to baroque music. I heard a lutenist and a recorder player (Evar Cativiela and Ramiro Albino), performing the music of John Bannister.
Speaking of lutenists, I had the great good fortune to perform with Gabriel Schebor as my concert mate in December. We performed my piece “Love Letter to Telemann” as a harpsichord and lute duet, and it was a delight both for us and for the audience. A talented, thoughtful musician, Gabriel was trained in Europe and currently spends a great deal of time traveling between Argentina, Europe, and Uruguay, participating in many concerts over the course of a year. Gabriel and I worked together to transcribe two of my editions: the “Fandango Ardiente” for guitar duet, and many of the guitar and lute pieces for “Collective Echoes,” to be published this fall.
So now we are on to the concert! Although the church was a modern building, looking somewhat like a squat box, it had good, acoustics, resonant and rich. I performed on Leo’s double manual Pascal Tascan and on his Johannes Ruckers virginals. Both instruments were decorated and voiced beautifully. The harpsichord was sensitive to the touch, the key dip allowing for great expression and control. The virginals brought together the timeless effect of the instrument coupled with the generosity of sound it exudes. When Gabriel plucked his lute, it completed a natural effect that was most pleasing to the ear.
The audience was well educated. This was my greatest surprise and most delightful experience. There was a camaraderie between the audience and the performers, an under understanding of the particularities of our early instruments. The audience also knew about the history of music and the history of the composers. Although I was playing newly composed music, many were to tell me later that they heard echoes of certain other historical references in my playing. The words of Pedro Tesone, aficionado and author, gave me a chance to listen to myself as others have experienced me.
There was also the warmth that is so often present in Latin American societies. Rafael Ferreyra assisted Leopoldo in the presentation and taping of the concert. Rafael is a charming man, slight of build, but an expert organist, who has lived and performed in Connecticut for the past three years. He is also a composer of New Age music for organ and now has a gig at the Basilica del Sagrado Corazón Church in Buenos Aires. There was a genuine warmth and appreciation for one who had traveled so far to participate in this harpsichord festival. I was given a beautiful bouquet, a box of the ubiquitous caramel cookies that are Argentina’s national delight, and a certificate that I will always treasure as proof of my event!
The warmth of the Argentinean people, the erudition of the Argentinean people, the nightlife and the food, all combined to make my stay there a marvelous musical experience. Once more I have fortunately met friends forever and my only sadness is that they live so far away!

Return to Articles

The Cuba Concert
De Scarlatti a Salsa
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA EARLY MUSIC NEWS - ©2004 by Sheli Nan

They said it would never happen. “You’ll never get permission. They won’t let you go. The government takes forever, and on and on and on.”
On May 19th of this past year I received an invitation in the mail from the government of Cuba, more specifically from the Director of International Relations of El Gran Teatro de La Havana, Cuba. Now let me tell you, this was some invitation. It came in Spanish. I am fluent in Spanish. It began, “Estimada Senora” and it just got better from there. It was written in a highly cultured format and the invitation was to come and give a concert on harpsichord in Cuba.
I was floored, stunned and excited and of course decided immediately to go. Then the feedback from all and sundry began. For at least two months I seriously considered going without informing our government. (That is illegal in case those of you reading are not cognizant of our rather draconian laws regarding travel in Cuba). Then one night as I lay in bed trying once again to figure this out, I realized I must go legally because I am a public person and I knew in advance that I would want to write about what promised to be a marvelous adventure and share the sounds, the sights, and the flavors with my community. (Yes, all of you.)
Meanwhile I was corresponding on an almost daily basis with a man I had never met - the man who had invited me to Cuba. Our letters were perfectly formal at the beginning, but as it is so easy to become more friendly in email format – after all one doesn’t know exactly who one is talking to anyway – the letters became more and more informal and began to convey the excitement we both were feeling for the potential of this event.
I had to be in Mexico at the beginning of December for family events so I absolutely had to go to Cuba at the end of November. I called a variety of NGO’s in September. Surprisingly, I received very little assistance. I then decided to go directly to Washington. I called the State Department and they put me in touch with the Treasury Department. I spoke with wonderful people. I sent a copy of my invitation along with a translation of it and a letter from myself explaining what I would be doing in Cuba. I planned to give a concert and to do a presentation at one of the local conservatories for the children. Most of you know by now that childhood education is tremendously important to me.
How did our government treat me? I can only say, with profound gratitude, that the Treasury department was truly helpful and supportive. I received a letter from them almost immediately letting me know my information had arrived. Then I received another letter from them and finally I got a phone call. The men that I spoke with were courteous and informative and within 3 weeks I had my permission. You cannot imagine what this meant to me. I was able to go to Cuba truly as a good will ambassador from our country to Cuba doing what a musician does best, building bridges, letting go of enmity, creating new relationships built on respect, beauty and our common language, music.
Arriving in Cuba on November 20th we were whisked off to the Hotel Nacional. This marvelous hotel, built by gangster Meyer Lansky, (a distant landsman), was situated in Vedado, an area outside of old Havana. You must understand, when I arrived I still did not know exactly when the concert was going to take place and where it was going to take place. Third world countries are notorious for their bureaucracy. Can we even call it that in Cuba? The level of disorganization is extreme and yet, as everyone there says, everything manages to get done, just not in the manner we here in the U.S. are accustomed to. I finally managed to find the phone number of the Theatre and I got through to Senor Julio Caravia’s secretary who informed me that I was going to give the concert on November 22 at the Iglesia de Paula. Shortly after this conversation I left the hotel and hotfooted it directly to the Church. You can imagine how excited I was and how dearly I wanted to see what instrument I was going to be playing!!!
I took a taxi, a Chevy circa 1957, to the church. On the way there I spoke to the cab driver and I invited him to the concert. He said he had never seen a harpsichord before. Therefore when we arrived at the church, he told me he was coming in with me. I got out of the cab, he took my arm, and we entered the church like old friends. He greeted everyone and went directly up to the instrument and started asking questions. He was about 65. It was so funny. It was the beginning of my understanding about the Cuban people.
Let me digress for just one moment to expand on this vignette. Cubans feel good about themselves. They have an inner pride that radiates out into their movements and their ability to communicate. They are an extremely generous people, ready to listen and share their lives. Within the arts I found no discrimination, no racism. With the exception of Israel I have NEVER been to a country where being a musician was SO respected. As education is entirely shared by everyone, there is a musical understanding and curiosity about culture that can be communicated by the majority of people rather than held as an exotic practice by a minority of people.
Okay, back to the church. The church was beautiful. It was a 17th century church that had been fully renovated in the year 2000. The stained glass windows were the most exotic and beautiful I have ever seen – with the exception of the Chagall windows in Israel. The instrument, fantastic, was a two-year-old German single manual built by Martin Schwabe. There were rows of finely upholstered plush red chairs with high wooden backs. There was a carpet running down the center aisle. The church was a chapel that could fit perhaps 100 people at a stretch and the acoustics were fabulous. When Julio met me later he confirmed that he decided to do the concert here rather in the Gran Teatro because the acoustics were so appropriate. I was thrilled!!!!!!
How did they ever get that instrument? Why did they ask me to perform there? What exactly was going on in Cuba? The instrument was a gift from an Israeli donated to Cuba via the Belgium embassy. Julio had quite a collection of harpsichord music and it was one of his favorite instruments. His collection consisted of, for the most part, people I had never heard of that came from behind the iron curtain. That was fascinating and I actually got to visit his large home, full of art, culture and an amazing collection of music and listen to these harpsichordists. When I was in Cuba I was treated with the kind of respect accorded visiting dignitaries. I was invited to the 165th anniversary of the Gran Teatro de La Havana. I saw the National Opera, the National Ballet, and The National Spanish Flamenco Ballet and I heard the National Symphony along with a 36-member chorus. Another time I was invited to se the National Folkloric Ballet. I saw the Camerata Romeu. I was given a recording of Ars Longa, the baroque ensemble in Cuba that performs in period costumes etc. The first and most important aspect to all of this musical activity is that the musicians and dancers are world class!! The second fascinating aspect to this is that EVERY ensemble, whether it is Buena Vista Social Club or the National Symphony, is at least half black. You cannot imagine what joy this gives me. There is no racism in the arts and, as everyone shares the same educational values, the music making truly is colorblind. I was in heaven!!!!
I rehearsed every day and then the concert was upon me. I thought long and hard about the program because I wanted to give to the Cuban community and I had not really known whom I was going to be playing for. I had arranged a piece composed by Ernesto LeCuona, one of the great Cuban composers who is considered a national treasure. I had also arranged a piece by Luis Miranda; an impromptu composed in the early 20th century from Puerto Rico, and of course I was playing my own music and I decided to perform Scarlatti. I wondered if there would still be a political position on Spain so I decided not to end the concert with Scarlatti but to end it with my piece “Bach Boogie Blues”. Then I made my final decision and that was to play just a wee bit of salsa in Cuba.
On the path to becoming a harpsichordist, after many years of classical training and after many years of being a composer, I performed with a salsa band for 3 years and then I performed with an African band for three years. In that time period that immediate preceded my on going love affair with the harpsichord and baroque music, I played quite a bit of salsa. And if you listen carefully in my published music there are always hints of other cultures.
Now I have never had the nerve to perform salsa here in the Bay Area on harpsichord. I would not want to give any of our more serious (for lack of a better word) community members a heart attack or anything – but I thought, “Dang, if I can’t play salsa in Cuba I will never be able to play salsa on the harpsichord anywhere!!!! So I felt like I was taking a big chance. And the wonderful news is that they LOVED the concert: loved the Scarlatti, loved the original music, loved the LeCuona! I had chosen the perfect blend of music to present and I was beyond gratified. There were 40 people at the concert and there were at least 10 people from the Bay Area. Go figure!!!
When I arrived back at my hotel that evening it was carnival. This was the first time carnival had taken place on the island in 2 years! And we are talking serious carnival – just like Brazil. Right outside my window overlooking the Malecon there were floats and music. The hotel had sent up a very nice bottle of champagne to congratulate me for the concert that we immediately drank and then we went on to dance and party till the wee hours of the morning.
The next day, my birthday, I decided to be a good communist. The people that worked at the hotel were so incredibly nice to me that I offered to do a concert for the all workers at the hotel. As you may imagine, they were moved by this gesture. The hotel has a 10’ piano, built in Moscow. The name of it is pronounced “Muskba” although it is spelled on the instrument in Cyrillic. We decided to do the concert on the 25th. Now a word here once again on the Cuban people. Cuba is perhaps the only country in the world where your chambermaid kisses you goodbye in the morning. So I invited not only the Gerencia – meaning the Managers of the hotel, but the chambermaids also.
On Monday afternoon at 5pm the wonderful friends I had made all showed up at the hotel for concert #2. Julio was there, and darling Jennifer, a tremendously talented harpsichordist that had basically taught herself everything including how to maintain the instrument, Jorge Petinaud, my friend from the radio station who had interviewed me for a program, Yasser, the reporter who had interviewed me for the newspaper called “Juventud Rebelde” or in English, “Rebellious Youth” and Maritza and David who had taken me to the Jewish Cemetery and explained the role of Jews during the revolution (i.e. there were 13 people who formed the communist party after Castro took over and four of them needed a Yiddish translator!!) and many of the hotel staff. I brought down my bottle of Tequila, bought in the duty free in Mexico, we shared it around, and then I played another concert on this great stallion of an instrument at the Hotel Nacional.
THE STUFF OF DREAMS!!!
The next day I had to prepare to leave. My heart ached at all the people I was leaving. I had made true friends in such a short period of time. I had experienced emotional generosity, tremendous kindness, honor and beauty.
I want to leave all of you readers with one profound thought. The people of Cuba are not our enemies. They are terribly frightened of us and our government and its policies. Many are scared we are going to invade them. This is a people who truly believe in art – this is a people trying to maintain their theatres and their cars and their hold in the tangible in a way we cannot imagine here in the United States. When I went to the Gran Teatro de La Havana, and when I went behind the stage, to the office of this very important man who had invited me to Cuba, the condition of the theater was deplorable. Behind the theatre is where all the dancers and musicians rehearse. I have a daughter who is a dancer. I saw all this gorgeous talent, these darling kids with buns on their heads, long necks, small waists, in leotards going about their classes and I saw musicians sitting on the crumbling marble steps practicing their guitars for the flamenco performance, and when I went to the bathroom, there were no toilet seats, and no paper, and no running water for all of these children, and although I had my sunglasses on I cried. We are not looking at our enemies here – we are presented with the miracle of a culture shared, art elevated, beauty supported, and access for all. We must do all we can to help this small nation of artists succeed in their endeavors. Whether it is music or fine art or salsa or baroque, this nation has succeeded in making the arts available to everyone and the shared beauty of all the different colors of skin under the rainbow up on stage singing opera, playing baroque music, dancing flamenco, playing percussion, is a dream come true.

Sheli Nan is a composer, harpsichordist and pianist living in Berkeley, California. She is the author of “The Essential Piano Teacher’s Guide”. Included in this book is the program, “RHYTHMTWISTERS, a multi-cultural multi-ethnic low cost approach she developed to teach music in the public schools. There are 3 cds of her music available on amazon.com and her scores are published by PRB Productions of Albany, California. Sheli performed the world premiere of her new suite “Two Love Letters and a Prayer” on November 22, 2003 at Iglesia de Paula in Havana, Cuba and she did the North American premiere on January 11th, 2004 at Music Sources in Berkeley, California. March 14, 2004 the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony will perform Sheli’s piece for string orchestra and mezzo and lyric sopranos, “Sarah and Hagar -The Reconciliation of the Jewish Mother and the Arab Mother”, in Los Angeles. Please go to www.shelinan.com for more information.

Return to Articles

FIMTE – The First Festival of Spanish Keyboard Music – A Performer’s Perspective
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA EARLY MUSIC NEWS - ©October 2001By Sheli Nan

Imagine my excitement when I finally arrived in Almeria, a city on the southeastern coast of Spain. I arrived on the only rainy day of the year and traveled by taxi partly on the coast and partly through the mountains to the coastal town of Mujacar, east of Almeria. On arrival at the Parador Nacional in Mujacar – an elegant hotel once a castle and now run by the Government – I was met by Louisa Morales, the director of FIMTE, the Festival.
I was given my name-tag and information packet and ushered into the convention hall with 25 other fortunate invitees. There were a fascinating mix of participants – performers such as Rafael Puyana, the famed English conductor Bruno Turner, harpsichordists Louisa Morales and myself, builders such as Grant O’Brien and Rafael Adrian Marijuan, musicologists such as Linton Powell, Beryl Kenyon de Pascual; co-director of the festival, Alma Espinosa and teachers from the Conservatories of Music throughout Spain: Genoveva Galvez, Isabel Rocha, and Rodrigo Madrid.
The four days were organized beautifully. After introductory remarks and welcome we were taken by bus to the neighboring town of Vera. There, in a charming church in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento a commemorative plaque in honor of Diego Fernandez, first known builder of harpsichord in Spain, was unveiled, Vera in fact being the hometown of Maestro Fernandez. Then there was a reception in the restaurant next door complete with Spanish wines and beer and many appetizing tapas.
After this we had our first presentation. It was a symposium on the Spanish harpsichord. Beryl Kenyon, research scholar on the instruments and builders of Spanish harpsichord, moderated after presenting an introduction on Diego Fernandez. Fernandez made a wide range of instruments with compasses of 51-63 notes, 2-6 registers, 1 or 2 manuals, and at least one transposing harpsichord with a movable keyboard.
Pedro Calahoura, Institucion “Fernando el Catolico”, Zaragoza, spoke on the history of keyboard instruments for the Aragon region. The master buildes, ther Zaragozan Moors of the 15-16,c built organs, clavichords, and the “claviorgan”, the symbiosis between the harpsichord and the organ.
Christina Bordas, Univ, Complutense, Madrid, presented information about an anonymous Spanish harpsichord preserved in the Obradoiro de Lugo.
Ferdinando Granziera, Milano, spoke about the problematic restoration of a collector’s instrument.
And to conclude the afternoon’s utter enjoyment Grant O’Brien, Russell Collection, Edinburgh, gave a spirited presentation on the determination of the unit of measurement used to ascertain where Spanish keyboards are made.
The tone of the day’s events was scholarly, immensely enjoyable and argumentative. Mr. Puyana had many interesting points to offer and this lovely group of learned colleagues quickly settled into a good natured and lively repartee. And I may add, “Casi todo en espanol”!
After a pause, where we went upstairs and once more ate and drank Spanish delicacies, we returned downstairs for an abbreviated panel on the construction, reproduction and actual use of Spanish keyboards.
In the evening we gathered once more at the Iglesia de la Encarnacion in Vera for a marvelous concert by Louisa Morales. She performed Music of the Spanish Court, from the Pavanne to the Fandango. Having trained with Maestro Puyana and other well known European teachers,, her concert was flawless and elegant. Like all the Festival concerts, it was also open to the general public and was full to capacity. The composers performed included, Cabezon, Valente, Soler, Scarlatti, and the 18thc Sonata en Re Mayor by Mateo Perez de Albeniz.
The second day of the Festival began with a paper, presented by Alma Espinosa, Univ. Massachusetts-Lowell, entitled, “Felix Maximo Lopez Musica del Clave’: Really for Harpsichord?” Lopez, an organist at the Royal Chapel of Spain, from 1775 until his death in 1821, was active at a time when the fortepiano was gaining ascendancy over the harpsichord.
Then Barry Ife (King’s College, London) spoke on the need for a definitive catalogue of the keyboard works of Antonio Soler.
After that Linton Powell of the University of Texas at Arlington spoke and gave keyboard examples of “Two Gentlemen of Sevilla: the keyboard works by Manuel Blasco de Nebra and Joaquin Montero” Both had composed important keyboard works in Spanish repertoire at the time of transition from harpsichord to fortepiano. 1730-1815.
Dr. Esther Morales Canadas from Wuskrichen, Germany, presented a complex technical paper on ornamentation in Spanish music of the 17c.
This was followed by a paper entitled, “reflections about the Interpretation of Spanish Keyboard Music: rhythm, time signature, harmony and ornamentation” by Genoveva Galvez, from the Catedratica Real Conservatorio Superior de Madrid.
It is important to note here that all of these presentations were punctuated by the erudite and provocative remarks of the audience members, led by Maestro Puyana. Many times the chair lost control of the presentation as people engaged in lively debates. (It was so much fun!)
After a pause, a coffee and cookie refresher, the presentations continued. Rodrigo Madrid of the Conservatorio Superior de Musica, Valencia, spoke of the contributions to the Keyboard Sonata Form in the compositions of Manuel Narro, 1729-1776.
And then we came to perhaps the most controversial presentation of all: “An Italian in Spain – Performance Practice in the Sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti” by Jane Clark, London. Ms Clark could not attend due to illness, so her paper was read by Beryl Kenyon. I sat simmering in my seat as many of my basic assumptions and beliefs about Domingo Escarlatti were assailed. For example, Ms Clark wrote”….he was a frustrated opera composer” Eyes rolled in the audience and there were groans and the shifting of chairs. Or perhaps,”…the melancholy and the solitary anguish so typical of so much Spanish music, particularly that of Andalusia where Scarlatti spent his first four vital years in Spain, clearly struck a sympathetic chord in the Italian’s exile.” You can imagine what the current Andalusians at the Festival thought of this! Basically, as they eyed one another over yet another fabulous glass of Andalusian wine, eyebrows raised and faces creased in smiles, they said, “Que? Solitary anguish? Andalusia? Scarlatti?” There were many other references to a composer only Ms. Clark seemed to know, and one after another audience members popped up in indignation. Ms. Kenyon many a times protested, “It’s not my paper." I only read it!”
After a beer and wine break, Julieta Alvarado, University of Southwest State, Minnesota, presented a paper “From the Viceroy of New Spain to the Viceroyalty of La Plata: 2 important sources for 18c Keyboard Music.” Then the first two days of the Festival concluded with a paper entitled, “The Harpsichord in contemporary Spain, its absence and return” presented by Isabel Rocha, Harpsichord Professor at the Observatorio Superior de Musica del Liceo de Barcelona. This was an interesting way to close this first half of the Festival. As we spoke about and listened to a modern composition for harpsichord, we were actually provoked into a discussion of the politics of performance. This has always been a very important topic for me and I found myself on the same side of the fence with Maestro Puyana as we discussed this.
The builders presented demonstrated their instruments – instruments of great beauty and integrity. There were two virginals, a clavichord, a Portuguese harpsichord and an Italian harpsichord. Builders Perez Ananas and Carlos Paniagua were represented as well as 12 photographs of historical Spanish instruments. There was also an exhibition of books and cds.
The evening concluded with a veritable feast and recital of flamenco song at the Parador Nacional de Mojacar.
Two more days of instruction in early Spanish Keyboard music and Spanish dance followed, taught by Louisa Morales. She concentrated on the repertory for keyboard from the 16-18th c. She taught festival participants as well as local students of piano who were getting their first taste of Spanish harpsichord music. Maestro Cristobal Salvador taught classes on Baile Bolero. His program on the bolero de Vera and the Sevillanas boleros de Fuente Alamo were attended by the local public as well. On one unique afternoon both classes combined and Louisa performed selections from Scarlatti and Soler and the dance class danced the pieces. It was delightful. On Saturday night we returned to the first marvelous church where Bruno Turner directed the Musica Reservata de Barcelona. The program was entitled, “Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599) 400 Years Later!” This concert had its magic moments when the a capella singing of these talented musicians, under the brilliant leadership of Bruno Turner, became blissful and sublime. The Church was full to overflowing and the audience was transported to another time. (By the way, this church once harbored a magnificent organ that was destroyed during the time of Franco.)
On Sunday I gave a concert entitled, “Old Age Meets New Age”, a mixture of original and Spanish music for the harpsichord. Besides performing Scarlatti, I performed a work by Juan Moreno y Polo, this work, newly discovered by Louisa Morales, has been published in her book, “Obras Para Tecla Del Siglo 18” by the Institucion Fernando el Catolico. This wonderful book of music, comprising 58 pages of recently discovered work by Ms. Morales not only contains charming music that represents a pedagogical past but in fact is an excellent teaching tool for Spanish harpsichord lovers. Luisa said that my concert was the first time a living composer had given a concert on harpsichord in over 200 years. I performed at El Museo in Garrucha and it was sold out event attended by both Festival goers and the Spanish public. Later that evening, in a Castle in Mojacar, there was concert given by Director Begona Olavide called, “Tras Las Huellas de Al-Andalus.” This famous troupe sang pieces such as the lament “Romance sobre la toma de Granada” by Juan del Encina, 15-16c.
On Monday Afternoon I gave a concert at the Conservatorio Elemental de Musica in Cuevas, titled, “La Musica nos cuenta una Historia”. This was a first as well because a harpsichord concert had never before been presented to children. I believe this to be of the utmost importance. If we educate our youth at an early age, there is a more likely chance that children will follow up as adults in their pursuit of early music. Currently, in my studio here in Berkeley California, I teach over 12 students under the age of 16 that own their own harpsichords as well as pianos.
To conclude, Louisa Morales presented an erudite elegant event full of scholarship and companionship. New friends were made, new information was learned, great food was eaten, stimulating music was heard, and all benefited from the clarity and organization of this remarkably talented woman, who not only played host to this first international event but gave generously in her marvelous concert.
Sheli Nan, Berkeley, California

Author: The Essential Piano Teacher’s Guide
CD: Old Age Meets New Age: Sheli Nan at the Harpsichord

Return to Articles

The Interpretation of Spanish Music – A Challenge
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA EARLY MUSIC NEWS - ©October 2003 by Sheli Nan

There must be a challenge to the manner in which the music of Domenico Scarlatti and Spanish music in general is taught and performed here in the U.S. The prevailing, and in my view, dated, way in which this music is conceptualized, taught and heard, imposes a metronomic quality which undermines both its aesthetics and its humanity. It derives, I believe, from a view of the Spanish Court as both relatively uncultured compared with the rest of Europe and as a closed environment with few outside contacts.
These misconceptions have abetted an interpretation of the music – even among some of our greatest performers – which has been limited, and limiting, in scope. I will never forget playing for Igor Kipnis in a master class in 1998. Igor was one of my mentors, and I loved him dearly, nevertheless, he strongly criticized me for retarding at the end of an 8-bar segment. He insisted that I continue my vigorous playing without a pause at all – advice I instinctively felt was incorrect. That same year, my mentor and dearest friend and colleague, Laurette Goldberg, also told me that ornaments were never started on the upper auxiliary in Scarlatti – a notion I believe came from the work by Ralph Kirkpatrick, which at that time was the definitive word on Scarlatti, but which presented a somewhat narrow view of Spanish ornamentation.
Three years ago, when I went to Spain and performed at the inaugural event of the International Festival of Spanish keyboard Music, I played for a number of Spanish Maestros from the conservatory and the like. I spoke about my concerns and about the way I had been taught. They basically laughed at me. “How utterly absurd”, they said. “Of course one must play with basic humanity – breath – and musical dynamics.” The score, like all scores, is only a blueprint allowing the music to come alive through the performer. I felt vindicated in my desire to perform the music another way, yet I also felt the need to support my ideas with historical evidence.
Any examination of the Spanish aristocracy during the baroque period shows both their high regard for music (there was never a political occasion where it was absent) and their openness to – indeed, their keen interest in – foreign musical styles and composers. Just as during the Renaissance, Spain embraced the work and style of Franco-Flemish masters, such as Josquin, Roger, and Gombert, so during the baroque did it absorb both Italian and French influences.
The Spanish court held sway in Naples, where Scarlatti was born in 1658. The city had come under Spanish rule in 1442, and Spain held it for most of the next 250 years. Musicians often were transferred from court to court, or traveled back and forth on their own, sharing ideas and learning one another’s styles.
Somewhat later, King Charles II of Spain named a French duke, Philip of Anjou, as his heir. Charles had no children of his own, and when he died in 1700 Philip of Anjou became King Philip V of Spain. Philip was a grandson of France’s King Louis XIV and became the first in a series of Spanish rulers from the French Bourbon family. Strong cultural relations developed between Spain and France because of these family ties. Just as one easily could say that French music poses exceptional interpretive problems, because, as Arthur Haas, has said, “you do not play what is on the written page,” so too might at least some Spanish music fall under that rubric.
We know for certain that many important Continental musicians of the 18th century both influenced and were influenced by Iberian music. Carlo Broschi, the great castrato better known as Farinelli, was born in 1705 in Andria, Italy. He traveled widely, appearing in operas with most of the principal composers of the day. After his famous performances in London, he went to the court in Madrid, finally retiring in 1769. He even had occasion to meet the young Mozart. Luigi Boccherini, the Italian composer and cellist born in 1743, in Lucca, Italy, went to Rome and then on to Paris, publishing his first works. He traveled to Madrid in 1769 and was appointed composer and chamber musician at the Spanish court. He then moved to Berlin at the invitation of King William II of Prussia, as his chamber composer.
These examples, typical of the movement by musicians of that day, make it hard to accept that any Spanish composer of merit was ignorant of the myriad contemporaneous interpretations and styles flourishing across Europe. Considering that Scarlatti wrote many of his pieces relatively late in life, he surely must have been aware of the great variety of interpretation among performers. He himself may have assumed that interpretive ideas were not written in – it was understood by artists of his time.
The interpretive conundrum becomes still more complex when we consider that Farinelli supposedly wrote down many of Scarlatti’s pieces, and that these later ended up in the hands of Carl Czerny, who published an influential early edition (unfortunately, no autograph scores by Scarlatti have survived.) Do we really trust that Czerny did not elaborate, reorganize, and generally “clean up” the scores before the music was once again passed on? That is not to say he would have done so with any hostility. But it does seem plausible he might have edited them in the belief he was making the music clearer or more accessible to his contemporaries.
So now we come to what is for me the crux of the matter- the questions of speed. With Spanish music (and here I believe we can discuss the works of Antonio Soler in the same context as Scarlatti) there is a great impulse to throw oneself into the stream of notes cascading down a scale or arpeggio, an undeniable physical delight in pushing the music’s energy to untold speed and danger. But does that make it the right interpretation? It is crucial to distinguish between how we as performers feel and what our audience experiences. Just because the performer is getting a rush does not mean the audience is. Often, in fact, the faster a piece of Spanish music is played the more uncomfortable the audience becomes, precisely because they want to participate but are alienated by the performer’s self-indulgence and inability to moderate the tempo.
What then should guide our interpretation, especially with regard to tempo? Here are a few things I find useful to keep in mind. First, quite a number of Spanish sonatas might be evaluated as dance forms. In the case of pieces that Spanish keyboardist Luisa Morales performed in Vermillion (see last month’s article on the May 2003 Vermillion keyboard conference), the nature of the specific dances upon which they were based or which they evoke, dictated the speed at which they were played. To be sure, I have heard Luisa perform them faster, but never at breakneck speed. Second, many pieces imitate the different timbres of the various instruments that were performed in Spain at the time those pieces were written; others imitate the sounds of the street, etc. In order to bring out these often subtle references, a slower speed is once again a tastier option. Finally, the character of each piece, its drama and personality, must be accessed with the understanding that the piece can actually change in midstream, as can its tempo.
Happily, Scarlatti is now being taught with a greater breadth of interpretation than was the case even a few years ago. Laurette Goldberg has broadened her perspective, and certainly Elaine Thornburgh, Ed Parmentier, Jacque Ogg and others are forging a vibrant and powerful language with which to express the work of Domingo Escarlatti.

Sheli Nan is the published composer of a number of works both for solo harpsichord and for ensemble. Her pieces can be viewed and heard at www.shelinan.com. Her works is published by PRB Productions of Albany, CA. On January 11, 2004, Sheli will present the world premiere of her latest suite, “Two Love Letters and a Prayer” at Music Sources in Berkeley, Ca.

Return to Articles