10:00 a.m. CAMTA BuSINESS MEETING
11:00 a.m. Professional Development Program
“Bach French Suites with Dr. Svetlana Belsky”
The French Suites are singular among Bach's works -- they were not written for either performance or publication, but as a gift to his young bride Anna Magdalena, as some combination of teaching aid and love letter. The music is filled with love and humor, as well as the grief of a recent widower. The emotional range of the Suites is astonishingly wide, from the tortured sonorities on Suite No. 1 in D minor to the unclouded joy of the ever-popular G Major Suite No. 5.
In our teaching and performance, therefore, we should strive to create an interpretation that is beautifully expressive – but within the bounds of historically informed performance practices. This talk will introduce the dances as they were understood by Bach and his contemporaries and suggest keyboard techniques to make them come to life. We will also discuss the changed understanding of rhythmic notation, dynamics, phrasing and articulation, as well as the various versions and editions.
Critically acclaimed as “a passionate pianist and scholar,” Svetlana Belsky is a highly regarded performer, noted for her remarkable rapport with audiences and stylistic versatility. Her recent albums, Into Darkness: Piano Music of 1910-1920 (Sheridan Music Studio, 2021) and Ferruccio Busoni: The Late Works (Ravello, 2019) were selected by Spotify for its Best New Releases list, and received rave reviews from Fanfare, American Record Guide, Whole Note Magazine, and others, and has been heard on radio stations around the world.
Born in Ukraine, Belsky received most of her education in the United States, first as a student of Emilio Del Rosario in Chicago, receiving her Bachelor’s (summa cum laude) and Master degrees at the Peabody Conservatory in the studio of Ann Schein and her Doctorate at the Manhattan School of Music with Nina Svetlanova. Dr. Belsky served as the Director of Piano Studies at the University of Chicago for fifteen years, and is in great demand as a lecturer, masterclass guest teacher, and competition adjudicator.
Read Dr. Belsky’s full biography here: