Trogir Music Week

The Rise of the Cappella Marciana

When Flemish composer Adrian Willaert took over the leadership of the Cappella Marciana, the musical establishment at San Marco in Venice, he found it in a sorry state. Over the next one hundred years there was a steady rise in the quality and reputation of the music-making in this extraordinary building. During this week in Croatia’s Little Venice, Patrick Craig will guide singers through some of the sacred works of Cipriano de Rore, Andrea Gabrieli and Giovanni Croce, who succeeded Willaert in leading the musical forces at San Marco. It was their genius in responding to the extraordinary architecture of this unique church which paved the way the next generation led by Giovanni Gabrieli and Claudio Monteverdi.

Adrian Willaert ~ Veni Sancte Spiritus
Giovanni Croce ~ In spiritu humilitatis, Missa Percussit Saul
Cipriano de Rore ~ Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi,
Agimus tibi gratias, O salutaris hostia
Andrea Gabrieli ~ Pater Peccavi, Levavi oculos meos in montes, Magnificat a12

The course will include a visit to nearby Split to sing in Diocletian’s 3^rd and 4^th century palace and a liturgical performance of the Croce mass on the final Sunday morning.

Trogir
Trogir is one of the gems of the Dalmatian coast: a real Adriatic pot-pourri, with its Greek street pattern, Albanian and Slav stonework and Venetian campaniles. As the best-preserved Romanesque-Gothic complex of all central Europe, it is now a Unesco World Heritage Site. We will be based in the historic centre, which is on a small island. Our rehearsal sessions will be in the Rector’s Palace next to the cathedral, now the City Hall. Split, half an hour away by bus or boat, shouldn’t be missed: a bustling port that has grown up around Diocletian’s Palace. This most evocative classical monument was begun in AD 295 and has been occupied almost continuously ever since, gradually turning into the present warren of alleys, churches, catacombs, tenements and piles of rubble.

Patrick Craig is a countertenor and conductor. Since 2012 his regular Lacock courses, combining exploration of 16th and 17th century sacred music with its historical and cultural contexts, have been widely praised. He is a Vicar Choral at St Paul’s Cathedral, a member of The Cardinall’s Musick and sang a thousand concerts around the world with the Tallis Scholars over a period of twenty years. He began conducting as organ scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge, and then spent two years studying singing at the Royal College of Music. He went on to found and direct Aurora Nova, the first all-female professional choir to lead Sunday worship at St Paul’s Cathedral. He led them on their first tour of USA, and also conducted the City of London Sinfonia in a series of orchestral Masses at St Paul’s. Other conducting opportunities followed including guest conducting The Cardinall’s Musick at the Brinkburn, Brighton, Lichfield and Aldeburgh Festivals and the Tallis Scholars at the BBC Proms in the Albert Hall. He is also the Director of Temenos chamber choir in Sevenoaks, with whom he has conducted Bach’s Magnificat and B minor Mass and Handel’s Dixit Dominus. Recently Patrick conducted his first Messiah and Spem in alium for the Lichfield Festival, Biber’s 53-part Missa Salisburgensis in Thaxted, and made his conducting debut in Hong Kong.

The course
Our plan will be to meet in time for a 5pm session on Monday the 11^th of September. Then on the following five days to do a full morning’s work (from 9.30am to 1.00pm, with a break), then take an indulgent four-hour lunch break – to rest the voice as much as anything else – and then put in another couple of hours of singing before supper. We will arrange a supper for everyone together on the first evening and after the concert on Saturday (not included in the fee for the course), but let the party split into smaller groups on the other four evenings. On Thursday the 14^th of September the afternoon session will be held in Diocletian’s Palace in Split; the timing may be different, to suit the ferry schedule. We’ll give a public performance in the evening of Saturday the 16^th of September. In the morning of Sunday the 17^th of September we will give a liturgical performance of the Croce Mass in Trogir Cathedral; that will mark the end of the course.

Travel and accommodation
Trogir is very easy to get to: Split airport is only ten minutes away by bus or taxi. Services from Britain are Easyjet from Gatwick, Stansted and Bristol, Wizz Air from Luton, Jet2 from Manchester and Croatia Airlines from Heathrow and Gatwick. A full list of the airlines flying to Split may be found here. There are ferries to Split from Venice, Ancona and Pescara and there are many that ply the Dalmatian coast. From the excellent Man in seat 61 you can find out how to reach Split by train. You arrange your own accommodation. There is a wide choice of places to stay in the historic centre itself: they are typically old houses converted fairly recently into small hotels, or into rooms that can be rented by the week (apartmani), which can be very cheap. These can be best be found through the very helpful Anna Maria Latincic of Kairos Travel, who knows all about the course: info@kairos-trogir.com, www.kairos-trogir.com +385 21 796 290. Anne-Maria will know all the accommodation available in the historic centre, much of which is not advertised on the internet.

Lacock student scholarships
Singers of student age – which we will not define too closely – are invited to apply for up to four full scholarships to the Trogir Music Week. These places are intended for current, recent or prospective university choral scholars, music students or other singers seriously interested in developing their vocal skills and ensemble musicianship. The scholars are exempt from the course fee but pay for their own travel and accommodation costs. We can help in finding inexpensive lodgings. To apply, just email us giving brief details of your singing experience.

Fees and enrolment
The fee for the course is paid in two parts: a deposit of £335 (or the equivalent in euros) on registration and €300 on or before arrival in Trogir. The deposit may be credited to another course if you have to withdraw and we are able to allocate your place to another singer. The fee includes payment for the music booklet, which will be sent to you in advance, but not meals, travel or accommodation. To enrol, just email us and include the information listed below, or if we already know it just let us know that you would like to come. We will then let you know if we can give you a place and send you details of how you may pay the deposit.