2008 Camps and Workshops
New England Adult Camp II
Friday, August 8 – Sunday August 17
Shaker Museum complex, Enfield, NH
Led by John Harrison, Malkhaz Erkvanidze, Mary Ann Haagen
Tuition: $725
Come join us for nine days of eclectic musical stimulation in one of New England’s most idyllic summer settings, a place so beautiful and serene that the Shakers called it the "chosen vale." More than ten thousand songs, anthems, hymns and dance tunes were created by Shakers to enrich their communal experience, and to reflect the community’s values and beliefs—and this year Village Harmony offers you the unique opportunity to immerse yourself in that musical tradition in one of the places where it was created.
Mary Ann Haagen, leader of the Enfield Shaker Singers and new this summer to Village Harmony, will teach songs, dances and marches from the Shaker tradition. But hold on to your rocking chair, for that’s not all! John Harrison, the wildly popular director of the Montpelier Gospel Chorus, will join the fray with his great gospel and English folk arrangements and boundless energy. And finally, to shake things up even more, we are absolutely delighted to welcome to this session Malkhaz Erkvanidze, director of the reknowned Anchiskhati Ensemble from Tbilisi, Georgia. Malkhaz, acclaimed worldwide as one of the foremost singer-teachers of Georgian folk music and medieval chant, will add an exciting and frontier-expanding set of music to the mix—and will be available for individual coaching in Georgian trio- and solo- singing and such specialist techniques as krimanchuli (yodeling).
This camp session will begin with supper on Friday evening and will finish with concert performances on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.
Enfield Shaker Museum
More than ten thousand songs, anthems, hymns and dance tunes have been created
by Shakers to enrich their communal experience, and to reflect the community's
values and beliefs. Village Harmony offers you a unique opportunity to
immerse yourself in their musical tradition in one of the places where
it was created.
Nestled in a valley between Mt. Assurance and Mascoma Lake, in Enfield, New Hampshire, the Enfield Shaker site has been cherished for over 200 years. We will live and rehearse in what were once the workshops, central dwelling and worship space of the Enfield, NH Shaker community—the imposing 6-story high Great Stone Dwelling, completed in 1841. We will also be using the wonderful old Stone Mill (built in 1849) across the road from the main complex for rehearsing and dancing.
Luxuriously-appointed bedrooms (each with one or two queen sized beds) are nearly all en suite.
Faculty
JOHN HARRISON was born into a musical family, and grew up
influenced by the sounds of his father’s stride piano, his mother’s
classical piano, and family sings. Trained in the Anglican men and boys
tradition, John was a professional chorister under Richard Connelly and James
Litton, and had the good fortune to record with Leonard Bernstein. Chucking
it all for rock and roll (well, his voice changed), he moved to New York City
after high school and performed there for many years as a singer and saxophonist,
working with Buster Poindexter, The Uptown Horns, and blues legend
Otis Rush among many others. He also co-wrote and performed in a long running
downtown revue, The Blue Light Club, with Denis Leary and Eddie
Brill. After moving to Vermont, John became associated with the Montpelier
Community Gospel Choir, which he has directed for the last eleven years. He
is particularly interested in the continuum of American popular music and
how all the different traditions relate to each other, especially in the
rich world of gospel. He leads gospel workshops, is in his 9th year
teaching with Village Harmony, and is currently in Thailand on sabbatical.
MALKHAZ ERKVANIDZE is the renowned choir director of the Anchiskhati
Church Choir, which has toured throughout Europe, Russia, and
North America. Since 1988, Anchiskhati has been at the forefront
of the revival of medieval polyphonic Georgian sacred music, with many
unique recordings and publications to their credit. Malkhaz is considered
the driving force behind this organization and recognized as the foremost
expert of Georgian sacred music.
Born in the central mountainous region of Imereti, Malkhaz grew up singing folk music in his family and with a local master-singer named Benia Mikadze. Graduating from the Tbilisi State Conservatory in 1988, Malkhaz formed Anchiskhati with several friends, and begun a lifelong passion to discover, research, and promote the forgotten tradition of three-part polyphonic church chant indigenous to the pre-Communist Eastern Orthodox Church in Georgia. Malkhaz is a deeply spiritual man, and has tirelessly promoted sacred music by training young chanters, editing and republishing chant books, and directing.
His unique background growing up in a family singing tradition allowed Malkhaz the opportunity to develop an ear for indigenous Caucasus tuning systems, and as a result, the Anchiskhati Choir is one of the few professional church choirs that attempts to sing in these 'old modes.'
Malkhaz teaches at the Tbilisi State Conservatory when he is not on tour with Anchiskhati, and is a consultant for several choirs including the up and coming Sakhioba Ensemble. In 2006, Malkhaz founded the first school dedicated primarily to the history and practical study of Georgian church singing since these schools, once widespread, were shut down by the Russian Church in the 1820s.
MARY ANN HAAGEN is a Shaker music scholar, lecturer and
director of the Enfield Shaker Singers. The group has produced three
recordings of Shaker Music. For many years Mary Ann was a public school music
teacher in Norwich, VT and a director of Summer Revels and Shaker
Revels productions for Revels North. In 2007 she taught American
music at Dartmouth College, and is currently a visiting scholar in the music
department there.