Early Music Ensemble Named 2016-17 Artists-in-Residence

Fairmont State University has named the Alkemie early music ensemble as the 2016-2017 Artists-in-Residence. The ensemble will visit campus twice over the academic year, performing concerts of early music, giving university-wide lectures and working individually with students.

The end of their first week will culminate with a 7:30 p.m. concert on Friday, Nov. 4, at First Presbyterian Church in Fairmont, 301 Jackson St. The concert, titled “Treasures of the Baroque,” will feature music by Couperin, Purcell, Telemann and J.S. Bach. Tickets are free for students and $10 for the general public.

Founded in 2013, Alkemie early music ensemble specializes in the music of medieval Europe for voices and instruments. They especially enjoy the porous boundaries between the "high" and "low" music of this period—traversed repeatedly from clerics penning bawdy Latin poems in manuscript margins to courtly lovers evoking the mystical sublime. In addition to their work with medieval repertoires, the members of Alkemie take a scholarly and practical interest in the music of the Renaissance and Baroque.

In their fall collaboration with the Fairmont State University Department of Music, Alkemie will focus on German, Italian, French and English music from the 17th and 18th centuries.

In early November, they will conduct a week-long residency at the university, which will involve lectures, master classes, and individual coaching with students on early music performance practices. The week will culminate in a concert open to the public, which will include a collaboration with the Fairmont State University Chamber Choir in excerpts from Bach cantatas as well as a variety of solo works for soprano, baroque oboe, viola da gamba and harpsichord.

School of Fine ArtsDepartment of MusicArtists-in-Residenceearly music ensemble