Camps and workshops
Camps in New England for Teens
New England "Alumni" Session
Massachusetts/Vermont/Quebec
June 1-21, 2012 (21 days)
Led by Larry Gordon & Natalie Nowytski
This traveling camp session is aimed at experienced young adult singers who are too old to participate in our New England teen traveling camps. We anticipate that it will primarily appeal to college-age and young adult Village Harmony alumni, but prior experience in VH is not required. Enrollment will be limited to 17; the small size should make for a particularly tight sound and cohesive ensemble. The repertoire will feature songs from the Balkans and Ukraine as well as the usual exciting Village Harmony mix of South African, shape-note and other ethnic styles. We are also encouraging participants to bring songs of their own choice to suggest for the concert program. We will do lots of folkdancing during the rehearsal week: Balkan, English and contras.
We are keeping the overhead low so that we can make the session more affordable to those of limited means. Rehearsal week will be at Larry’s spacious house in the woods in Marshfield, Vermont. The touring itinerary will include Massachusetts, Vermont and Quebec City and will conclude with performances and workshops at a large international choral festival in Montreal.
Rehearsal in Marshfield, Vermont
$750 special college & young-adult price
Leaders
Village Harmony founder and director LARRY GORDON has been making community music in Vermont since the early 1970s. He founded Village Harmony in 1988. Though his first love was medieval and renaissance music, he is a vital figure in New England shape-note singing. Larry is an inspired organizer with an unerring eye for good repertoire and a unique knack of pulling together interesting combinations of singers and letting them shine. His patient and relaxed, yet demanding, teaching style and collaborative approach have shaped the welcoming atmosphere of the Village Harmony community since the beginning. Larry has led Onion River Chorus in Montpelier since the late 1970s, and is well known across the US and internationally for leading stunning periodic adhoc incarnations of Northern Harmony, a semi-professional tour group made up largely of veteran Village Harmony singers.
NATALIE NOWYTSKI, a first-generation Ukrainian-American and native of Minnesota, sings in nearly 20 distinct vocal styles and plays a dozen folk and classical instruments. Classically trained by her grandmother, the legendary vocal coach Oksana Bryn, Natalie also traveled to Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France and Ukraine to study culture and folk music from professional and village singers. In addition to a large roster of private voice students Natalie frequently teaches at vocal workshops and consults for various choirs (among them The Rose Ensemble and Kitka.) Natalie directed St. Paul's Mila Ensemble for a number of years (performing with them on A Prairie Home Companion and in Bulgaria) and currently is vocalist and instrumentalist for the east-European dance bands Orkestar Bez Ime, Traki and Seljuky--as well as performs and records with her duet partner, Reid Kruger, in the indie rock/pop ensemble AM Supper Club. www.natalien.com
REHEARSAL WEEK At Village Harmony headquarters
Marshfield, VT
Rehearsal week will be at Larry's spacious 3-level house 15 miles northeast of Montpelier, nestled in woodlands off a dirt road. We can choose from bunkrooms, a screen house in the woods, or beds in the retired VH tour buses down the hill from the main house.