STOP PRESS: Upcoming concert with Cincinnati Early Music Festival
I’ll be one of the harpsichordists performing in the concert on Sunday. Feb. 18 at 3pm. All the details are here.
It’s great to be back in the U.S. where Sunday afternoon concerts are a regular thing –so easy to get to for young and old alike. This program is full of garden-themed music, and I’ll be performing a Sweelinck piece, “Onder een linden groen”. Tickets available from this link.
About the Performer: Dr. Micaela Schmitz specializes in early keyboard instruments, including harpsichord, fortepiano and clavichord. She earned her Doctorate of Musical Arts (on 18th century keyboard music) under Arthur Haas at the Eastman School of Music, in Rochester, New York. This was preceded by a first degree in Music at U.C. Berkeley, and a Masters in Choral Conducting. She spent two years studying with Jacques Ogg and Bart van Oort at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague on a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship. As a soloist, she received acclaim for her performance of Bach’s Goldberg variations, which features an entertaining pre-concert talk to help audiences appreciate the masterpiece.
She has performed with Laurence Cummings, Paul Simmonds (duo keyboard repertoire); gambist Jacqui Robertson-Wade, with baroque flutist Clare Beesley as the ensemble Terza Prattica, with Cathryn Dew, recorder, and as part of the ensemble Lady Georgianna. This 18th century group which specializes in costumed 18th century performance, recorded two CDs, toured the United Kingdom in 2011 and created a music video, with support from Arts Council England. With the Birmingham Baroque Collective, she recorded two CDs of Regency era music for dancing. She has edited music of Christopher Wood. For over a decade, she edited the magazine Harpsichord and Fortepiano. She has conducted children’s choirs and gives workshops to a range of ages.
Micaela has a special interest in original instruments. She served on the committee of The British Clavichord Society, and was the first member to join the British Harpsichord Society. She regularly visits historic instrument collections and gives gallery talks to highlight original instruments. In 2007 Micaela was awarded a Finzi Trust Scholarship to research 18th century English and Scottish Song, some of which she performed with Lady Georgianna.
She has premiered works of the late Christopher Wood with Jeanne Dolmetsch and with Jacqui Robertson-Wade. As an educator, Micaela has inspired young people age 8-18, especially through the Worcesteshire Waits program, which she co-founded with Cathryn Dew and Andrew Watts, and which was later administered by Worcestershire Early Music. She launched the Worcestershire Baroque Orchestra and Vocal Course, and ran the Worcester Early Music Week(end) from 2006-2018. As Education Officer for the Chipping Campden Music Festival, she ran a special program in 2012 commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Cotswold Olympicks, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. This featured school workshops, dance and performances, including an ebay catch led by Andrew Watts. Since relocating back to the United States, she has become Orff Certified, and teaches classroom music to K-8 students.
Programs include The Goldberg Variations,
The English Muse (harpsichord and clavichord), ‘Handeling Purcell’ (for their anniversary year in 2009), The English and Dutch Connection, The Fantastic, Galant, and Avant Garde, and Introduction to the Harpsichord.