Our courses, our teachers
L’Aquila (IT), 20 – 22 July 2026
Smarano (Predaia-IT), 23 July-1 August 2026
The three-year program of the Academy (2025-2027), “Tricks of the Trade”, focuses on the close relationship between a historicallyinformed interpretation of the repertoire, based on (1) the knowledge of the sources and their context, and (2) an understanding of the musical language of the time, which finally is inspired by (3) original instruments, or new instruments (research copies), which in physical behavior and sound offer the performer the opportunity to explore and respond to the music in new ways. Prefaces, original texts and emblems of manuscripts or printed sources are often not included in modern editions. They present important information reflecting the compositional process and the concept and meaning of the music. Recent research suggests, for example, that composers of early keyboard collections were engaged in an on-going dialogue, discourse, including hidden codes, rhetorical ideas, and sometimes story-telling, that could only be understood by the enlightened.
This playful approach to the serious craft of creating meaningful art is somewhat reminiscent of today´s computer games, which offer new “levels” as reward to successful participants. The Academy invites its participants to join this game of the baroque masters. By examining how a score was created, how music was taught and learned, and what it sounds and feels like on relevant instruments, we offer the opportunity to join the timeless circle of musicians who knew the Tricks of the Trade of the past. Hereby we gain the potential to deliver a piece of music to today´s listener in a convincing and engaging way.
The program is based on three cornerstones:
1. Artifacts – Music Collections and Instruments:
reading, studying, and performing from music collections; exploring and experiencing historical and reconstructed Instruments.
2. Partimento – Improvisation and Continuo playing:
exploring the musical language of distinct styles and periods, understanding the generating principles, in daily workshops.
3. Embodiment – Gesture and Expression:
the relationship and physical interaction between performers and instruments in repertoire as well as improvisation.
The program of the Academy 2026 focuses on three organ and keyboard collections in which counterpoint and affects are significantly combined:
1. Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccate e partite d’intavolatura, libro primo (1615).
2. Johann Kuhnau: Frische Clavier-Früchte, 7 Sonatas (1696).
3. Johann Sebastian Bach: Das Wohltemperierte Clavier, Book one (1722).
A visit to the historic organs of L’Aquila will help place the music, particularly that of Frescobaldi, in a sound context similar to the original.
TEACHERS
MUSIC SOURCES AND PERFORMANCE
Harald Vogel (North German Organ Academy / The Academy of the Arts Bremen)
Armando Carideo (Istituto dell´Organo Storico Italiano)
Alessandro Albenga (organist in S. Maria dell´Anima, Rome)
IMPROVISATION, BASSO CONTINUO AND PARTIMENTO
William Porter (Eastman School of Music)
Salvatore Carchiolo (Conservatory “Refice” – Frosinone)
Kola Owolabi (University of Notre Dame)
CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FOR HISTORICAL ORGANS AND ¼ -COMMA MEANTONE TEMPERAMENT
Bernard Foccroulle (organist and composer)
CLAVICHORD AND FORTEPIANO
Joel Speerstra (University of Gothenburg)
Ulrika Davidsson (University of Gothenburg)
HARPSICHORD
Enrico Baiano (Santa Cecilia Conservatory, Rome)
ORGAN MUSIC BY JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH AND GIROLAMO FRESCOBALDI
William Porter (Eastman School of Music)
Hans Davidsson (Göteborg International Organ Academy)