Camps and Workshops
2010 International Sessions
Two back-to-back programs in Georgia
Caucasus Georgia Camp
July 7-24 (17 days)
Led by Ketevan Mindorashvili, Patty Cuyler, Larry Gordon
This will be Village Harmony's 10th singing workshop in the Republic of Georgia. Georgia has one of the world's most ancient polyphonic singing traditions, and one unlike anything in European music. This camp will be a rigorous study-tour of some of Georgia's most distinctive and unique land- and song- scapes, with a scattering of highly-polished performances each of the regions we visit.
We will meet participants in Georgia’s capitol, Tbilisi, and then make the long drive up into Svaneti in the Caucasus Mountains. We will be spending our rehearsal week in the remote and historic village of Ushguli--the highest continuously-inhabited village in Europe, with an astounding collection of 12th-century stone towers and surrounded by towering mountains. From Svaneti we will descend to the lush hills of Ajara--south near the Black Sea coast and the Turkish border--to stay with a bagpipe-maker and his clan. We will finally head east across the country to Sighnaghi in Kakheti, a historic 18th-century walled fortress town, where we will spend our final days of exploration and performances.
Rehearsal week in Ushguli, Svaneti, Republic of Georgia
Tuition: $1500
Georgian Language Course
July 26-August 21, 2010 (28 days)
Led by Amanda Blasko, Gia Rokashvili
This intensive introductory 4-week language course will be offered immediately following the VH music touring camp--a wonderful opportunity for high school/college students and older folk alike. Team taught by a native Georgian instructor and an American college instructor, the course aims to catapult you into conversational Georgian with an emphasis on practical skills and everyday situations. Each morning we’ll work on vocabulary building, pronunciation, grammar and syntax in three 50 minute classes. The morning language classes will be followed by group lunches with a chance to practice the morning’s lessons. In the afternoon, you will be able to take lessons on baking kiln bread, traditional weaving, carving and pottery making. There will be ample time to explore the environs of Sighnaghi, with its 18th-century walled fortress, cobblestone streets with shops and a farmers’ market, nearby Bodbe Monastery, and breathtaking views of the Alazani river valley. Evening suppers will be catered by locals, showcasing the fresh produce and unique cuisine of the region. We’ll also take weekly day-trips to explore natural wonders and historical sites in Kakheti, Georgia’s wine country. And OF COURSE there will be a lot of singing.
Tuition includes morning language and afternoon culture classes, meals, lodging, and transportation for excursions. Individual lessons on Georgian folk instruments will be available for a fee.
In Signaghi, Kakheti, Republic of Georgia
Tuition: $1500
Ushguli & Sighnaghi
Caucasus Republic of Georgia
Ushguli, Svaneti, is purported to be the highest continuously-inhabited village in Europe, at 2200 meters. Actually a cluster of four villages nestled in a snug valley at the foot of Mount Shkhara, one of the Caucasus’s higher summits, Ushguli's famed medieval towers are on UNESCO’s heritage list. Participants in the music camp will stay in the upper village. We will perform outside historic St. Mary’s church (12th c.) at the end of our stay, before descending to Ajara near the Turkish border, and then on to Sighnaghi in the eastern part of the country, to finish the singing camp.
Sighnaghi, Kakheti, is a small 18th-century town nestled in the foothills of the eastern Caucasus, with a 18th-century walled fortress and recently-renovated old buildings and cobblestone streets. It is an easy walk to historic Bodbe Monastery, and Village Harmony's little retreat center at the edge of Sighnaghi--where language students will study and be housed-- offers breathtaking views of the Alazani river valley.
Leaders
KETEVAN MINDORASHVILI, director of Zedashe Ensemble, was raised in a traditional singing family in Sighnaghi, in the eastern Kakheti region of Caucasus Georgia. She has become well-known as a singer and teacher of Georgian folk music, particularly of the fluid ornamentation of Kakhetian folk songs. She has a deep knowledge of church chanting, and is a master of the panduri, a three stringed lute. Ketevan is also a solo dancer in the Jlekha dance troop based in Sighnaghi. She has led Village ?Harmony camps in Georgia since 2003.
PATTY CUYLER of Marshfield, Vermont, is an energetic, dynamic workshop leader and director with special expertise in teaching Corsican, Georgian and South African singing and dance music. Her passion for honest, direct music coaxes fierce, forthright singing out of even the most timid singers. An instrumentalist from an early age, Patty is a brass player and self-taught accordion player. Since 1995 she has co-directed Village Harmony and Northern Harmony with Larry; in 2002 she founded a women’s Corsican trio and began the Montpelier World Music Chorus and Boston Harmony in 2004. Patty has edited and published two volumes of The Folk Rhythm South African songbook series, as well as three books of Georgian folk and sacred songs. She has also compiled a large collection of her own arrangements of old gospel-quartet music.
LARRY GORDON has been making community music in Vermont since the early 1970s. He founded Village Harmony in 1988. Though his first love was medieval and renaissance music, he is a vital figure in New England shape-note singing. Larry is an inspired organizer with an unerring eye for good repertoire and a unique knack of pulling together interesting combinations of singers and letting them shine. His patient and relaxed, yet demanding, teaching style and collaborative approach have shaped the welcoming atmosphere of the Village Harmony community since the beginning. Larry has led Onion River Chorus in Montpelier since the late 1970s, and is well known across the US and internationally for leading stunning periodic adhoc incarnations of Northern Harmony, a semi-professional tour group made up largely of veteran Village Harmony singers.