The Catskill Mountain Foundation presents:
The International Fortepiano Salon Online

Rebecca Cypess, Rutgers University

Square Piano by Johannes Johannes Bätz
Frankfurt-Am-Main 1789

Marcia Hadjimarkos, France
Sunday January 29 at 2 pm, EST
"Pianos and the Salon in the Eighteenth Century"
featuring Rebecca Cypess (Rutgers University) and Marcia Hadjimarkos ( France)
With your hosts: Maria Rose and Yi-heng Yang
From our virtual 21st century fortepiano salon, we take a scintillating peek into the Salons of Europe in the 18th century. Renowned scholar and performer Rebecca Cypess will present a talk on "Musical Salon Practices and the Culture of Play in the 18th century" and share performances. Then internationally-acclaimed fortepianist and clavichordist Marcia Hadjimarkos will join us from Cluny (France) and perform French keyboard music that would have been familiar in French salons. As always, lively discussions will follow!
To watch the livestream, use one of these links:
https://www.facebook.com/events/727679482013752
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoaWmwUhdVM
In eighteenth-century Europe, salons featuring music served multiple purposes: they helped women, generally excluded from receiving a formal education, to gain access to knowledge and ideas; they fostered patronage of professional artists; and they served as liminal spaces that allowed women's ideas to move from the private to the public sphere. Perhaps most importantly, however, they were sites of conviviality and conversation, all facilitated by a sense of play. This ludic quality can be seen in salon games such as chess and proverbs, and it also manifests itself in musical practices. Often enacted on the spur of the moment and adapted to suit the needs and interests of the salon attendees, music functioned as another salon game--a puzzle waiting to be solved through wit, ease, and gracious sociability. (Rebecca Cypess)
For more information on Rebecca Cypess: www.raritanplayers.org
Performances by Marcia Hadjimarkos, on a square piano by Johannes Bätz:
- Mme de Villeblanche,Sonata no. 1 in c minor, 1782
- Claude Balbastre, La Chanteloup
For more information on Marcia Hadjimarkos:
https://www.marcia-hadjimarkos.com/en/
Previously: Salon #11
Sunday, October 23, at 2 pm EDT
Historical Improvisation: The Next Generation
Hosted by Maria Rose and Yiheng Yang
AFP directors
Guest Artists: Nathan Mondry
A new generation of thinkers and musical talents are leading the charge in reviving the practice of improvisation on historical instruments and in historical styles. Nathan Mondry, composer and improviser, studied historical improvisation at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, and is a key specialist in this field. He is currently a doctoral student at Cornell University.
Watch it again on YouTube:
Previously:
Salon #12 on Saturday, November 19, 2022
at 2.00 pm EST/20.00 Central European Time
An American Fortepiano builder in the Czech Republic:
The Workshop of Paul McNulty and Pianist Viviana Sofronitsky
Hosted by Maria Rose and Guest Host Audrey Axinn
Paul McNulty settled in Divisov, Czechia, in 1995 following his training in the U.S. and building fortepianos in Amsterdam. He is known as the most prolific modern fortepiano builder and his instruments are found all over the world, where they are universally valued and used in performance by artists of the highest stature. He has built replicas of at least 12 types of historical pianos, dating from 1750 to 1860.
We will visit his workshop and enjoy performances of works by C.P.E. Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, and Brahms by his wife, Russian pianist Viviana Sofronitsky, on an array of instruments. Viviana has a busy career as performer at concerts and festivals as soloist and in chamber music.
Due to some technical difficulties during the event we are removing the
Youtube and Facebook Links while we edit them. Please stay tuned for new links!
Thank you!