The workshop Bach and the Trumpet offers lots of playing time with masterclasses by Susan Williams on Bach’s best trumpet repertoire: B-Minor Mass, Orchestral Suites, Christmas and Easter Oratorio and several cantatas.

But there will be much more!
- one private lesson
- a concert in the fringe series of the Utrecht Early Music Festival on September 1st in the Aula of the Academiegebouw.
- orchestra experience playing cantata BWV 21, the 3rd Suite, BWV 51 and the Brandenburg Concerto.
- a lecture, discussions and some insight into the big question then and now – how do you play high?

You can apply by downloading the application form here.

For questions or help finding accommodation: c.ootes@oudemuziek.nl

"I have specialized in performing on the natural trumpet since 1989. One of the reasons I am still enjoying it is the music of J.S.Bach.

Bach is one of the few composers who wrote music for the trumpet which lifted it out of it’s limitations (being only capable of playing the harmonic series). Bach’s writing for the trumpet makes it possible to regard the instrument as capable of nuance and subtlety. He was very specific when scoring the trumpet to use it for only the appropriate message and occasion.

The trumpet, originally an instrument for signal and military use, enjoyed a ‘Golden Age’ in the baroque, when the development (by some players) of the higher ‘clarino’ register which enabled it to play melodies.

So it came to symbolize power and the heralding of a message and also illumination and celebration.

There are many wonderful examples of Bach’s dramatic use of the trumpet, and I am very fortunate to have performed most of them. I recorded the entire Bach cantatas with the Holland Boys Choir, and have performed in many groups around Europe in the last 20 years –  most notably 10 years with Collegium Vocale Gent (Phillipe Herrewege). Since moving to Bremen I have the added joy of playing regularly a cantata in a Lutheran Service in one of the historic churches. Bach in context."