Camps and Workshops
2012 International Sessions
England Camp
July 14-29, 2012 (16 days)
Led by Patty Cuyler, Malkhaz Erkvanidze, Mollie Stone
Join Village Harmony in England and Wales this July in a 16-day music singing performance camp headed by an internationally-renowned trio of music leaders: Patty Cuyler, co-director of Village Harmony; Malkhaz Erkvanidze, founder of Anchiskhati Ensemble and Sakhioba of Tbilisi, Georgia; and Mollie Stone, Chicago-based specialist in South African choral music.
The group will meet at London Heathrow Airport on Saturday July 14 to drive northeast to the historic Norfolk village of Castle Acre. During the ensuing week we will transform ourselves into a tight ensemble, 
rehearsing up to 8 hours a day as we absorb radically-different vocal styles. We will prepare a concert program featuring traditional Georgian, Corsican, South African and American folk music--some of the world’s most powerful harmony-singing traditions. The framework of the rehearsal week will be communal, with everyone pitching in to help cook and clean.
Following the rehearsal week, we will launch into a 9-day concert tour,
traveling and performing at a different venue each night with home stays. Performances will be held in small-town community halls and in village churches. This year’s itinerary includes Castle Acre, Martham (Norfolk), Framlingham, Bath, Totnes, Stroud, Conwy (North Wales) and Bridgnorth, taking us to a number of exceptionally lovely castle towns.
Rehearsal week will be at the Old Red Lion, a former pub (now a spacious hostel) located in Castle Acre, Norfolk, a medieval walled city that is home to ruins of a 12th century Norman priory.
Tuition: $1,300
Leaders
PATTY CUYLER, currently of Chicago, IL, has been co-directing Village Harmony and its professional touring arm, Northern Harmony, since 1995. Patty is an energetic, dynamic workshop leader with expertise in teaching diverse polyphonic singing traditions, including Corsican, Georgian, Bulgarian and South African. Her passion for honest, direct music coaxes fierce, forthright singing out of any singer. Patty has edited and published two volumes of The Folk Rhythm South African songbook series, and two books of Georgian folk and sacred songs. She is currently working on a series of world music song collections with teaching DVDs with Mollie Stone and the Chicago Children’s Choir.
MALKHAZ ERKVANIDZE of Tbilisi, Georgia has been at the forefront of the revival of Georgian folk and medieval sacred music for the past quarter century, with many important recordings and publications to his credit. Born in the central mountainous region of Imereti, Malkhaz grew up singing folk music in his family and with the legendary master-singer Benia Mikadze. On graduation from the Tbilisi State Conservatory in 1988, Malkhaz formed a revolutionary folk ensemble--Anchiskhati--dedicated to promoting nearly-forgotten polyphonic folk and chant traditions of pre-Communist Georgia. Malkhaz is currently director of the Sakhioba Ensemble, with whom he will be touring the US this coming fall.
MOLLIE STONE of Chicago leads workshops on black South African choral music across the country. In 2001, she received a grant from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation to create a DVD, Vela Vela, to help educators learn and teach black South African choral music in the oral tradition. Mollie is about to release a second South African teaching DVD, Molo Molo, which features both adult and high school choirs. Mollie has served as a conductor at Chicago Children's Choir since 2005. In 2006, Mollie received a second grant, this time to study how South Africans are using choral music in the struggle against HIV. Mollie is currently finishing her doctorate in conducting at Northwestern University.
Old Red Lion Inn, Castle Acre
Norfolk, England
We will spend our first week rehearsing an eclectic world music concert program at the 17th-c. Old Red Lion Inn in the history-laden Norfolk village of Castle Acre.
“Castle Acre... is one of those time-warped spots that would be famous anywhere but England — we’ve just got too much history. Within the bailey of a Norman stronghold, the village includes a straggle of ruined ramparts, an 11th-century priory and the Old Red Lion: once an inn, now a kind of charmed commune, it’s part B&B, part bunkhouse, part retreat centre.” www.oldredlion.org.uk