Note: This is to purchase access to a recording of the class held on May 1, 2021

Description

Bach suites have become an essential part of the 21st century violist repertoire. Most college auditions and professional auditions require Bach suite movements to be performed. Yet the demands of this repertoire can make it challenging for students to approach it. This session is intended for high school and college students, from complete Bach beginners to more advanced players, and hopes to provide simple tools to decipher their Bach suite movements. How do you first approach a Bach Suite if you’ve never played one? What is the role of a prelude? What are the characteristics of each dance? How can structure, harmony, cadences help in making interpretative choices? How does one choose their edition? How does one practice 3 or 4 string chords?

Arnaud Ghillbaaert

Originally from Paris, Arnaud Ghillebaert has performed as an orchestra musician with The Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields (Sir Neville Mariner) and the London Symphony Orchestra. He toured Europe for two summers with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra under the baton of Sir Colin Davis and Herbert Blomstedt in venues such as the Royal Albert Hall in London or the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and is now a member of the New Haven Symphony and the Artosphere Festival Orchestra (Corrado Rovaris, musical director). He played in the Southbank Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra in England for one year and appeared in London’s National Theatre production of Tom Stoppard’s and Andre Previn’s Every Good Boy Deserves Favour. A founding member of the Elsewhere Ensemble, in 2013 he created the role of the Shadow in His Majesty the Devil-a play with music. The show, inspired by Dostoyevsky, was performed at 59E59 Theaters in New York City, FringeNYC, and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. A dedicated chamber musician, he was invited to perform at the Louis Moreau Institute in New Orleans and in the “Starry Nights” music series at the Staller Center for the Arts at Stony Brook University alongside Colin Carr, Eugene Drucker (Emerson String Quartet) and Nick Cords (Silkroad Ensemble, Brooklyn Rider). He received his Masters from the Royal College of Music in London and completed his Doctorate in Violin and Viola performance at Stony Brook University in 2016. He has been the viola instructor at the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance (Eugene, OR) since Fall 2017. Since arriving in Oregon he has performed in the Oregon Bach Festival, is the principal violist of the Oregon Mozart Players, and has been playing concerts with Chamber Music Amici, Microphilharmonic and with the Eugene Symphony (viola and violin section).