Festival Music Society

The Festival Music Society (FMS) specializes in "Early Music." It was established in 1966 as a not-for-profit organization to enrich, educate and entertain audiences with the music of Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and early classic eras. FMS concerts feature performers performing on instruments of the period. FMS was the first organization of its kind formed in Indiana and only the second in the nation at the time of its organization.Fact|date=September 2008

FMS initially concentrated on the major works of the Baroque era, for example, Bach, Handel and Vivaldi. The historic range of music presented was later expanded to include that of the Renaissance and Medieval periods. Music played at FMS concerts was generally composed between 900 A.D. and 1800 A.D. Performances have included vocal music, both choral and solo; instrumental music, both ensemble and solo, and dance, court, folk and ballet. A number of student-performers have received specialized training through FMS summer performances. Other young artists have gained experience and exposure through FMS.

Educational components have been regularly included in FMS programming, as it seeks to increase the public’s understanding and appreciation of Early Music. Performers are selected who are historically-informed and worldly acclaimed interpreters of early music.

Frank Cooper served as the FMS music director from 1973 until the summer of 2007. A former member of the faculty of Butler University, Cooper was an accomplished harpsichordist and an interpreter of Early Music.Fact|date=September 2008 He is currently the 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. Cooper also presented lectures relating the Early Music being heard with the art and architecture of the period and country.

Following Cooper's retirement in 2007, FMS selected Mark Cudek as its new Artistic Director. Cudek is the director of the Early Music Department at the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Himself an accomplished performer who plays the guitar, recorder, crumhorn, bass viol, and percussion, he plays with several groups including HESPERUS, APOLLO’S FIRE, CATACOUSTIC CONSORT and THE BALTIMORE CONSORT.Fact|date=September 2008 He is involved in the Peabody Renaissance Ensemble and has been creator and Director of the High School Early Music Program at Michigan's Interlochen Arts Camp. Cudek has taught for twenty-five years; recently created a Masters program at Peabody; instituted a new Baroque Orchestra, and developed an Early Music program at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. Cudek has performed in the Indianapolis Early Music Festival both as a member of HESPERUS and, more recently in the summers of 2006 and 2008, with THE BALTIMORE CONSORT and its offshoot GUT, WIND, & WIRE. He earned a B.F.A. from the University of New York and an M.M. from the Peabody Institute. In 2001 he received the Early Music America Thomas Binkley Award and in 2005 from Early Music America the award for Outstanding Contribution to Early Music Education.

The administration of the FMS is headed by Gail McDermott-Bowler, the FMS Managing Director. A former Board Member of FMS, Gail worked several years for the Indiana Repertory Theater helping to promote and publicize its productions. Prior to McDermott-Bowler, Mary Ellen Roberts was the Society’s longtime Executive Secretary until her death in early 2008.

Accomplishments

FMS has been the setting for North American premieres of important music works. Harpsichordist Igor Kipnis performed the cycle of seven Bach Partitas in Indianapolis before making his Grammy-nominated recordings of them for Angel Record.

The Society has introduced a series of young artists who have gone on to successful professional careers.

FMS has a long association with National Public Radio. NPR broadcasts throughout the United States and Canada selections from FMS concerts on its program Performance Today.

FMS has conducted workshops in early music and dance, presented a symposium and exposition of historical musical instruments and sponsored the Collegiate Virtuoso Competition.

Interaction between audiences and performers is encouraged at informal, post-concert receptions, where performers and the audience mingle.

Indianapolis Early Music Festival concerts are generally held in a single location in Indianapolis. Previous venues have included the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Basile Theatre at the Indiana History Center, and St. Paul's Episcopal Church. The 2009 series will be held at the new Indianapolis Opera Center. The Center, a new use for the former Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, is being renovated by Indianapolis Opera for its smaller performances, practice areas, and administrative offices.

References

* [http://www.emindy.org The Indianapolis Early Music Festival website]
* [http://www.earlymusic.org/resources/event/indianapolis-early-music-festival Early Music America's page on this festival]