Indianapolis Early Music Festival
Encyclopedia
Indianapolis Early Music (IEM) is a non-profit organization established in Indianapolis
in 1966 to organize concerts featuring music of the medieval, renaissance
, baroque
, and early classic eras. It produces the annual Indianapolis Early Music Festival, one of the oldest Early Music festivals in the United States.
Its annual summer festival spans three weekends and features American and international performers who perform on instruments of the period. Beyond the festival, IEM also presents other Early Music concerts throughout the year while also fostering educational programs in Indianapolis schools.
, both choral and solo; instrumental music
, both ensemble and solo, and dance, court, folk and ballet. Among the more noteworthy early concerts was the 1977 performance of the cycle of seven Bach Partitas by harpsichordist Igor Kipnis
in Indianapolis before making his Grammy-nominated recordings of them for Angel Records.
. Most recently, selections from the 2011 Festival were featured on the NPR Early Music program, Harmonia. In addition, IEM has conducted workshops in early music and dance, presented a symposium and exposition of historical musical instruments, and sponsored the Collegiate Virtuoso competition.
In 2008, IEM appointed Mark Cudek as its Artistic Director following the retirement of Cooper. The 2001 recipient of Early Music America's Thomas Binkley Award for outstanding contributions to Early Music education, Cudek is the Director of the Peabody Conservatory's Early Music department at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. Cudek is a performer specializing in guitar, recorder, crumhorn, bass viol, and percussion. Among the groups he has toured with are Hesperus, Apollo's Fire, Catacoustic Consort, and the Baltimore Consort. Cudek is actively involved in the Peabody Renaissance Ensemble and was creator and Director of the High School Early Music Program at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan. He is the creator of a Masters program at Peabody; instituted a new Baroque Orchestra, and has developed an Early Music program at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. Mark Cudek earned a B.F.A. from the University of New York and M.Music from the Peabody Institute.
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
in 1966 to organize concerts featuring music of the medieval, renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
, baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
, and early classic eras. It produces the annual Indianapolis Early Music Festival, one of the oldest Early Music festivals in the United States.
Its annual summer festival spans three weekends and features American and international performers who perform on instruments of the period. Beyond the festival, IEM also presents other Early Music concerts throughout the year while also fostering educational programs in Indianapolis schools.
History
Indianapolis Early Music, originally known by its corporate name of the Festival Music Society, was founded in 1966 to provide music during the summer months when the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, now one of the few full-year U.S. orchestras, was on vacation. The IEM initially concentrated on the major works of the baroque era, such as Bach, Handel and Vivaldi. The range of music presented was soon expanded to include that of the Renaissance and Medieval periods. Music played at IEM concerts is that of works generally composed between 900 AD and 1800 AD. Performances have included vocal musicVocal music
Vocal music is a genre of music performed by one or more singers, with or without instrumental accompaniment, in which singing provides the main focus of the piece. Music which employs singing but does not feature it prominently is generally considered instrumental music Vocal music is a genre of...
, both choral and solo; instrumental music
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
, both ensemble and solo, and dance, court, folk and ballet. Among the more noteworthy early concerts was the 1977 performance of the cycle of seven Bach Partitas by harpsichordist Igor Kipnis
Igor Kipnis
Igor Kipnis was a well-known American harpsichordist and pianist.-Biography:Born in Berlin, the son of Russian bass Alexander Kipnis, Igor Kipnis moved to the United States with his family in 1938. He learned the piano with his maternal grandfather, Heniot Levy; attended the Westport School of...
in Indianapolis before making his Grammy-nominated recordings of them for Angel Records.
Outreach
IEM has a long association with National Public Radio (NPR). NPR broadcasts selections of IEM concerts throughout the United States and Canada on its program Performance TodayPerformance Today
Performance Today is a Peabody Award-winning classical music radio show, currently hosted by Fred Child. It is the most listened-to daily classical music radio program in the United States, with 1.2 million listeners on 237 stations...
. Most recently, selections from the 2011 Festival were featured on the NPR Early Music program, Harmonia. In addition, IEM has conducted workshops in early music and dance, presented a symposium and exposition of historical musical instruments, and sponsored the Collegiate Virtuoso competition.
Artistic and music directors
The position of IEM music director was held by Frank Cooper for 35 years. A former member of the faculty of Butler University, Cooper is currently Research Professor of Music in the Department of Musicology at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida and Associate Curator of Fine Arts at the Vizcaya Museum in Miami, Florida.In 2008, IEM appointed Mark Cudek as its Artistic Director following the retirement of Cooper. The 2001 recipient of Early Music America's Thomas Binkley Award for outstanding contributions to Early Music education, Cudek is the Director of the Peabody Conservatory's Early Music department at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. Cudek is a performer specializing in guitar, recorder, crumhorn, bass viol, and percussion. Among the groups he has toured with are Hesperus, Apollo's Fire, Catacoustic Consort, and the Baltimore Consort. Cudek is actively involved in the Peabody Renaissance Ensemble and was creator and Director of the High School Early Music Program at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan. He is the creator of a Masters program at Peabody; instituted a new Baroque Orchestra, and has developed an Early Music program at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. Mark Cudek earned a B.F.A. from the University of New York and M.Music from the Peabody Institute.