Boxwood Festival Canada
Singing with Edmund Brownless
July 25 - 31 2010, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

(click to enlarge)
Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada
Information:
Boxwood
Festival Canada or Edmund Brownless, e-mail: ebrownless(at)gmx.net
Prices for Boxwood
Please see the Boxwood Website for complete prices...
Edmund Brownless &
David McGuinness
present
Music and Songs from the Scots ballad opera
The Gentle Shepherd
by
Alan Ramsay
Edinburgh, 1725
Friday, July 30, 2010, 7:30 PM
St. John's Church, Lunenburg
with
Patie: The Gentle Shepherd in love with Peggy - (John Ernst, tenor)
Peggy: Thought to be Glaud's niece (Hannah Stewart, mezzo soprano)
Jenny: Glaud's only daughter (Judith Burdett, soprano)
Roger: A rich young shepherd in love with Jenny (Nick Halley, tenor)
Mause: An old woman supposed to be a witch (Carole LeDez, soprano)
Sir William Worthy: (Edmund Brownless, tenor)
Symon: Old shepherd, tennant to Sir William (Chris Norman, bass)
Bauldy: A hynd engaged with Neps (David McGuinness, bass)
and
Chris Norman, flute
David Greenberg, violin
William Coulter, guitar
David McGuinness, harpsichord
Daily Schedule (Monday to Friday)
(all classes and rehearsals in the Gymnasium or Music Room at the Lunenburg Academy)
Mornings: Rehearsals and coaching for "The Gentle Shepherd"
Afternoons / Evenings: time for voice lessons as well as other rehearsals...
Boxwood Singers: daily at 4:00 pm
Daily Schedule
Monday, July 26
9:00: am Opening Meeting for Boxwood
9:30 am: Group vocal warm up - open for everyone!
from 10:00 am: Coaching for The Gentle Shepherd
4:00-5:00 pm: Boxwood Singers and the Choir of St. John's Church: Lunenburg Academy
The Boxwood Singers
Shape Note Tunes, Gospel / Spirituals as well as classical a cappella music such as Motets of the Renaissance
maybe some Anglican Chant...
Major English Church Music Anthem with Organ and Solists...
Singers taking part in Boxwood, as well as the Boxwood Singers combined with the Choir of St. John's Church, Lunenburg
will provide
the music for the Sunday morning service at St. John's Church.
(please plan your stay in Lunenburg until Sunday afternoon!)
Sunday, 1st August, 2010, 10:30 AM
Bel
Canto with Edmund Brownless
"A worker needs good tools" said one of his teachers. That's why Edmund
Brownless believes completely in Bel canto. It is a sound, effective
and healthy way to sing. Bel canto teaches singers to use both
registers together. Singers have used both registers in most periods -
whether it be for medieval, classical or popular music today. Bel canto is
therefore the perfect technique for just about all singing styles. So
many young singers today ruin their voices by pushing up a weak lower
register. Bel canto encourages the strengthening of this (and the upper
register), allowing singers to "belt" in a safe, natural way. If you
have a good technique (and there
are, as Marchesi once said, only two schools of technique: a good one and a bad one)
then you can sing anything. You don't change the technique - just the
style.
This course is aimed at anyone who wants to learn to sing better.
Whether you sing early music, are a coloratura soprano or prefer folk
music, then this course in Bel canto is for you. Edmund Brownless'
students in Frankfurt have gone on to careers in Early Music, Oratorio
and Lied, Musicals - one is now studying Jazz-singing at the Hochschule
in Frankfurt and another has just been appointed as a voice teacher at
the same institution. Full marks for Bel canto!
Edmund Brownless was born in Norwich, England and sang as chorister in
the choir of Hereford Cathedral. After emigrating to Nova Scotia he
studied with Prof. Marie McCarthy at Acadia University and with Prof.
Jan Simons at McGill University, where he received B. Mus. and M. Mus.
degrees in voice. Later, he studied with Richard Levitt at the Schola
Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland and had lessons with Cornelius L.
Reid in New York. He also participated in master classes with Alfred
Deller, Emma Kirkby, Nigel Rogers and Andrea von Ramm. As a soloist he
has performed throughout Europe and North America and sings on many
recordings, notably with the Bach Ensemble (Joshua Rifkin), Sequentia
Köln (Benjamin Bagby), Ensemble Gilles Binchois (Dominique
Vellard), and the Clemencic Consort (René Clemencic). He
teaches
voice at Dr. Hoch's Conservatorium in Frankfurt am Main and is the
director of Das Consort Franckfort and the Vokalensemble Alta Musica.
Edmund Brownless has written a substantial article on vocal technique: "Thoughts on Simple
Singing: Towards a More Adequate Vocal Terminology" in: The Modern
Singing Master: Essays in Honor of Cornelius L. Reid.