Residency Offerings, 2010-2011
Song Collaborations
In this residency, Florestan artists will work with students in a broad range of song repertoire to maximize their understanding of collaborations, text, and approaches to programming and performance. Sessions can be individual or groups, public or private…more >>
Composer Collaborations
This Florestan residency cultivates collaborations between student composers and performers to create new song compositions. Florestan artists will work with these students on various issues common to contemporary music and song repertoire, including extended vocal techniques, effective text setting and interpretation, and stimulating cooperation between musicians…more >>
Other Residency Activities
Musical Artists in Residence, Dickinson College: In 2007, Florestan was awarded a 3-year position as Musical Artists in Residence at Dickinson College. Located in Carlisle, PA, Dickinson is a prestigious undergraduate institution committed to an interdisciplinary curriculum. In addition to producing a 4-concert performance season, Florestan engages with students and faculty throughout the college to introduce song into classes and campus pursuits. Florestan also reaches out to the college and Carlisle communities in creating opportunities for interactive discussions with artists, composers, and poets. In March 2010, Florestan hosted a Vanguard Festival at Dickinson, celebrating the landscape of American song and featuring world premieres by composers Libby Larsen and Jake Heggie, among others.
Florestan at Fredonia: In the spring of 2005, Florestan Recital Project began a residency at SUNY Fredonia.
Ensemble-in-Residence, Boston Conservatory: From 2003-2007, Florestan Recital Project was Ensemble-In-Residence at Boston Conservatory. This long-term residency encompassed Florestan’s activities as concert presenters and mentors to the next generation of song performers, including a 4-concert season in the school’s concert halls and the instigation of new performance projects for students. In October 2004, Florestan artists assigned and coached senior-year voice majors on “Tombstones in the Starlight: A Celebration of the Spooky in American Song,” a concert of American song focused on Halloween and ghostly themes. In April 2005, Florestan co-director Aaron Engebreth initiated a collaboration between Boston Conservatory composition students and voice majors, culminating in a full concert of world premieres.
Short-Term Residency Offerings
The Florestan Recital Project offers unique artistic residencies to the music departments of colleges and universities throughout North America and Europe. These residencies continue Florestan’s mission to promote song activities among students by engaging them in performance opportunities and repertoire study, often as an exciting supplement to school curricula. Although the parameters of each residency are determined by the venue and the needs of the school, Florestan will foster collaborations in either of two areas…more >>
Evidence of Things Not Seen: Florestan Recital Project has created an innovative performance and residency tour that features Ned Rorem’s compelling evening-length song cycle, Evidence of Things Not Seen. Written in 1998, Evidence involves 4 singers (SATB) and 1-2 pianists, and it chronicles three main stages of human existence through solos, duets, trios, and quartets as well as a wide variety of excellent texts. It is a great example of vocal chamber music, and Florestan worked directly with Ned Rorem to give the Boston premiere of the piece in 2003. Evidence provides a unique basis for a song residency because of its specific ensemble of performers, its representation of Rorem’s command of English-language texts, and its direct communication of issues of contemporary life realized in an art form…more >>