by Jonathan Harris
Is it possible this is the 30th anniversary of the Singers’ Retreat? By which I really mean, is it possible I was at the first one? That was the same year I attended my first SFEMS workshops, so it’s more than possible. I recall someone at the Renaissance Workshop telling me about an immersive weekend singing Renaissance polyphony. I went, and it was, in fact, a wonderfully intense, joyous, heady experience, in many ways an extension of the Collegium classes that Bill Mahrt taught at the summer workshops.
Dr. Mahrt of Stanford is the workshop’s founder, its guiding spirit, it’s sine qua non. He is a musicologist of broad cultural knowledge and insight into the music, which he warmly and generously shares with understatement and a humility towards both great art and historical process characteristic of those who have studied and thought deeply about their subject.
Normally, the Retreat focuses on the work of a single composer, centering on a Mass and supplemented by the composer’s motets or other sacred works. Occasionally, the Retreat has recreated an entire Vespers or other Office based on plainsong and the work of various composers. To celebrate this special occasion, however, Dr. Mahrt he has chosen one movement each from the list of favorite Masses participants at last fall’s retreat suggested. The composers’ work spans two centuries, from Josquin to Lassus.
Another couple of features for which the Retreat has become legendary over the past three decades are the continuously open and bounteous snack table; and the Saturday evening Sherry Hour, featuring a variety of dry and sweet wines. This year, the Sherry Hour will be expanded into a party in honor of the anniversary, with a cornucopia of extra sweet and savory treats to accompany the wine.
Singers gather Saturday morning, March 12, at 9:00 a.m. in the rehearsal room 210 of the Braun Music Center at Stanford University. Singing continues through the day, all day Saturday until 5:00 p.m., when the Sherry Hour and party begins! Sunday the singing resumes at 9:30 and ends at 4:00 p.m. with a public performance, this year at the St. Ann Chapel, the acoustically favorable space beloved by Dr. Mahrt and those who have experienced it.
Registration for this Retreat is $130, which includes all music, Sherry Hour, and the loaded snack table. Dr. Mahrt has asked that all registrants come for both days. Retreats have a limit of 15 sopranos. For those who want to stay over Saturday night, a list of motels close the Stanford campus is available. To register or for more information, please call Ralph Prince (510-778-3253) or Lee McRae (510-848-5591).
The Singers’ Retreat is an Affiliate of the San Francisco Early Music Society.
