SATURDAY 22nd FEBRUARY 2025 – ALL DAY EVENT
St Mary-Le-Savoy Church, 10 Sandwich Street, London WC1H 9PL
We are delighted to bring together three passionate and knowledgable experts in the field of Baroque performance and interpretation. During the course of the day you will have the opportunity to work closely with each of them in 3 different rooms in a group of 10 participants to each room.
The workshops will start at 10am with a general introduction in the main hall and we will then split into 3 groups to start your explorations. The day will finish with drinks at 5pm.
During the course of the day you will work with
- A dancing coach who will teach you to dance forms familiar to Bach that he used in his Partitas, Suites and throughout his other collections of keyboard music. Remember to bring your dancing shoes!
- A harpsichordist who will reveal the beauty of this instrument and show you how its qualities can inform your playing of Bach at the piano.
- A pianist who will bridge the gap between the harpsichord and the modern piano keyboard and show you how an understanding of the roots of articulation and handling of the keyboard in earlier times will go on to permeate and transform your playing of all subsequent music written for the modern piano.
The course fee is £180 which will include tea and coffee, a light lunch, a pack of Bach Basics cards (rrp £25) and wine or soft drinks at the end of the day.
Chris Tudor, dance
Christopher had a long career as a professional dancer, dancing with London Contemporary Dance Theatre and Janet Smith and Dancers, and was a founder member of Richard Alston Dance Company.
He is a regular guest teacher for Rambert, National Dance Company Wales, Scottish Dance Theatre, Michael Clark Company, Alexander Whitley Dance Company and Phoenix Dance Company. He has been the recipient of several awards: Cosmopolitan/Scholl Young Dancer of the Year, Paul Clarke Memorial Award, Laurence Olivier Award and Royal Philharmonic Society Award.
Sophie Yates, harpsichord
One of the world’s preeminent harpsichordists, Sophie Yates is known for her critically acclaimed performances of Baroque music. Universally praised for her profound understanding of Baroque style, Yates is also admired for her refined touch and discreet virtuosity. Indeed, critics have often lauded Yates for subordinating her enormous virtuosity to stylistic and aesthetic concerns.
‘Sophie Yates is an artist who wears her immense erudition lightly. Listening to her, one encounters the composer’s voice, clothed in the style of his day or as close to it as our 21st-century means can get us, speaking with disarming directness. The latest of her many recordings is a two-disc set devoted to Bach’s six English Suites.’ Gramophone magazine
Helen Leek, piano
Helen has always been fascinated by the keyboard music of J.S. Bach and more recently has been engaged in an intense study of the Inventions, Sinfonias, Partitas and Preludes and Fugues. Inspired by the recordings by Murray Perahia released in the early 2000s, Helen sought out the harpsichordist Sophie Yates, with whom he worked in the three years prior to making the recordings. Through the process of studying with Sophie, Helen has been able to distil the essential elements of Bach interpretation to act as a link between proponents of historical performance practice and the modern day pianist. In 2023 she published Bach Basics – a series of multimedia cards to explain these complex concepts in an engaging and accessible way – and together they have given seminars at leading music conservatoires to further communicate these ideas.