Collegium Performances at Boston and Berkeley Early Music Festivals
Lyle Nordstrom
University of North Texas
For the past five years I have taken a group of students to perform at each of the Festivals in either Boston or Berkeley. The total numbers of students have ranged from 6 in 2001 to 26 in 2005. This has been a very important event for our students and, in some cases, has been life-changing. Because of the EMA competition, I thought that it might be important to share how we have managed to do this.
Why:
I have felt that it was very important to expose students to the high level of music making in the early music world as well as to let them see how expansive this world has become. Although we have a significant amount of early music in Texas, many students have had little exposure to the professional early music world. To realize that one can actually perform early music as a profession is a new idea to many students. The opera in Boston has been especially valuable. Some students have never seen an opera, let alone a Baroque opera.
The other element of such a performance is that it becomes a goal for the group to put on the best performance possible. I have always selected from my groups so that there has been a small amount of competition. However, I have also selected students who seemed to have the most interest in the field and whom I thought would benefit the most from the experience and, at the same time, tried not to take the same people every year. The result has almost always increased the level of performance that had benefits for the following year. Each year we have also performed the concert once or twice in Texas before leaving for the festival. This always increases the quality of the final performance.
There is another benefit-the exhibition. Every year, students have come home, not only armed with brochures, but ideas about instrument makers and music publishers, etc. It helps them become more self-sufficient. Several have also come home with bows, music, and instruments. This is a great benefit to all.
Finances:
I am lucky at UNT where there is a fund for group travel that comes from student course fees. All ensembles apply for these funds. National invitationals such as ACDA get first claims but I have been able to get some funds each year for travel by claiming that early music had no equivalent and that performing at festivals was the closest we could come. (Note: This is one of the reasons that I proposed the competition to EMA. In order for early music ensembles to become equal to the other ensembles, we need to have refereed competitions. It is hoped that this competition will serve as that.)
I have also been able to claim faculty travel funds for these performances. In the University’s eyes, these have been the equivalent of giving a paper or chairing a panel, both of which traditionally qualify for expanded travel funds. Consequently, I have been able to use these funds to help offset the cost of performance. For example, I have been able to charge venue rental as well as harpsichord and organ rental to these funds. Festival charges for fringe concerts (listing in the Festival booklet) have also been charged to this fund. Sometimes my colleague, Lenora McCroskey, has been able to do the same and we have been able to further charge recording fees and other publicity costs to these funds.
We have also worked with airlines for group rates, which generally works for groups of 10 or more. Occasionally we have used state rates that have been negotiated by the University. These are usually more flexible and have helped when we have not been able to all fly at the same time. Each year, we have stayed in dorms at both UC Berkeley and Boston (Emerson College). Often there is a key deposit and I have negotiated a group deposit rather than the high charge that they sometimes put on each key. I have put down this deposit myself rather than have students tie up this money for months (Boston especially). It seems simpler this way.
We have charged for our performances and generally have garnered an income of around $400 for a performance. We have used these funds to buy opera tickets (Boston) or fund another major professional performance (Berkeley) for the students. In both cases, we have been able to get a group rate that has significantly brought the cost down (for example, the opera in Boston cost us only $25 a ticket). We have felt that this was very important to the experience and that students often do not have the money to buy tickets to these events.
This past year, I really wished to take a large number of students and could not afford to fund the complete trip (We generally have funded travel and dorms and travel from airport to lodging). Students paid for their own dorm rooms ($50 a night) and we paid only transportation and opera tickets.
I would be glad to answer any other questions and help anyone with ideas. As I said earlier, this has been a very important event for UNT students and worth the effort! I would hope that we get to the place where several Collegia are performing at the festivals. I think is it important for us to see what we are all doing as a way of improving the total picture of early music in the collegiate setting. Good Luck! I would love to see many of you in Berkeley next Spring.
Lyle Nordstrom
University of North Texas
lnord@mindspring.com