The Test of Time: An Exploration of Baroque Music

Presented by Andrew Filmer

Bentley Music Academy Recital Hall,
Sunday 30 January 2011

Workshop: 2.30pm - Passes RM15.00
Recital: 7.30pm - Passes RM25.00

Combined Pass: RM35.00

This event by the Bentley Music Academy, presented by New Zealand International Doctoral Scholar Andrew Filmer, will be particularly useful to aspiring string musicians in acquiring specialized knowledge, and for anyone interested in the process of interpreting and rehearsing Baroque music, and understanding how these works truly have stood the test of time.

In an era where most believed the sun revolved around the Earth, some of the greatest works of music were composed. Beyond the beauty of melodies, music of the Baroque era weaved intricate lines of communication and variation within a deceptively simple frame. This is a quality often lost after three centuries of changing playing styles and the evolution of instruments.

Presented in a combination of seminars and open rehearsals, culminating in performance, various aspects of the performance of Baroque music with an emphasis on the viola will be explored. Perspectives of the actual application of music history – rather than simply memorizing dates – will be discussed. An introduction of the Baroque bow will be applied in the preparation and performance of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, and Telemann’s Viola Concerto, the latter being the very first viola concerto in the history of music.

Andrew Filmer is a New Zealand International Doctoral Scholar, and he holds a Master of Music degree from Indiana University in the United States. Among his various awards in research, performance and leadership is the 1st Prize of the David Dalton Viola Research Competition 2008 sponsored by the American Viola Society. He has been published internationally in the Journal of the American Viola Society and Strings magazine.

At the New Zealand School of Music, Andrew’s Ph.D. research centres around the Baroque retuning technique of scordatura, and extending it with data on instruments’ resonance frequencies. As a violist and seminar presenter, he has been active throughout Malaysia. He spent two years on the faculty of Mahidol University in Thailand during which he also performed with the Bangkok Symphony and Thailand Philharmonic, and was a soloist with the Viola Ensemble of Chulalongkorn University.