Early Music Now, Wisconsin’s only presenter that focuses exclusively on historically informed, period instrument performances of Medieval, Renaissance and early Baroque music is providing a wonderful and unique opportunity to Milwaukee’s cellists, a masterclass by viola da gambist and cellist, Susie Napper. The Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is a sponsoring partner of this special event. Their cooperation is gratefully acknowledged.
The masterclass will take place in the Recital Hall of the Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. It is scheduled for Saturday, October 6 from 10:30 am to 12:00 noon. String Academy of Wisconsin cellists performing in this masterclass are: Kartik Papatla, Christian Morzinski, and Allen Kang. This opportunity is free and open to the public.
In cooperation with UW-Milwaukee, Early Music now is presenting a concert by Ms. Napper’s group, Ensemble Caprice, at 5:00 pm on Saturday, October 6 at the Zelazo Center of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Cellist, gambist, continuo player par excellence, Susie Napper is known for her colorful, even controversial performances of both solo and chamber repertoire of the 17th and 18thcenturies. Having spent her childhood in an artistic milieu in London, in her late teens she moved to New York to study at the Juilliard School, then to the Paris Conservatoire. San Francisco followed, where, after a foray into contemporary music, she co-founded and directed the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. Since then she has spent two decades with a foot on either side of the Atlantic as principal cellist with several groups including Stradivaria in France, the Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montréal and Les Boréades in Montreal, and the Trinity Consort of Portland. Her concert tours have taken her as far afield as China, Japan, New Zealand, India, the Middle East, as well as most European countries. As a member of the very active viol duo Les Voix Humaines, she has discovered a new facet of musical expression in the form of musical arranging, thus providing an endlessly fascinating new repertoire for two viols. Susie Napper teaches at McGill University, and founded the Festival international Montréal Baroque which is presented in Montreal in June since 2001. She was awarded the “Prix Opus” 2002 fot “Personality of the year” by the Conseil québécois de la musique.
Her recordings, which include most of the known repertoire for two viols, can be heard on Harmonia Mundi, EMI, Erato, ADDA, CBC Records, Naxos, and most notably on the ATMA label. But her true vocation is not on the concert stage or the recording studio. The kitchen is the center of her domain, where she creates dishes both colorful and controversial for her own pleasure as well as that of her guests.
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