CFP: Baroque Gesture: What’s the Point?, New College, Oxford, 18 Apr 2015

One-Day Seminar & Workshop on Historical Action    "Baroque Gesture: What's the Point?"
Deadline for registration (no fee): 13th April 2015
Event date Saturday: 18th April 2015
Event venue: New College, Oxford
CFP Deadline: 13 Apr 2015

Information & Application Form: www.IlCorago.com

"BAROQUE GESTURE: WHAT'S THE POINT?"
Seminar & Workshop: speakers, directors, participants and auditors welcome

In spite of the clear pointers given by Dene Barnett's pioneering study of The Art of Baroque Gesture (1987) and a plethora of historical treatises on acting, productions of Baroque operas today often present a Historically Informed approach to the music, whilst leaving the visual and dramaturgical aspects of historical performance unexplored.

In the spoken theatre, Historical Practices are sometimes employed as rehearsal exercises, but are rarely seen in performance. Although recent scholarship has made some progress in connecting early music and historical acting, baroque gesture has not yet re-established amongst today's practitioners the importance it had for Shakespeare's, Purcell's or Vivaldi's performers.

So how can period stage-craft be brought more into the mainstream? How can baroque singers 'move the passions' with their acting, as well as with Monteverdi's or Handel's music? How can we suit our Action to the seventeenth century Word?

At this one-day event, Andrew Lawrence-King (opera director & researcher) & Dionysios Kyropoulos (stage director and doctoral student) lead seminar discussions and a practical workshop, highly recommended to Baroque opera singers, Shakespearian actors, directors and researchers.

We invite proposals from researchers and experienced practitioners to present a 20-minute paper or a 30-minute workshop-session.

Seminar Topics: Historical Action & Baroque Gesture, Primary Sources, Stagecraft for actors & singers, Training & Rehearsal Methodologies for directors, Redefining Recitative, The Four Humours, Sprezzatura and Gratia, Intention, Enargeia, Energia and Pneuma, Dance, swordsmanship & other related disciplines, Audience reception.

In the Workshop, we will work through texts from Shakespeare plays and monodies from operas by Monteverdi and other early seicento composers, applying in practice the principles studied during our discussions.

Please apply by 13th April. There is no fee for registration. Further information and application form atwww.IlCorago.com