Unlocking Romantic-Era Playing Styles
Registration is Now Open!
New Haven, CT | August 8-9

August 8, 2026: Evening Lecture
August 9, 2026: Intensive
New Haven, Connecticut
Led by Mark Bailey and Kevin SherwinCollaborating organizations: American Baroque Orchestra, The American Romantics, Yale Collection of Historical Sound Recordings

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Early bird Registration (before June 1): $50Registration is open to violinists, violists, cellists, and double bassists.Designed for string players of all backgrounds and career stages—from seasoned professionals and emerging artists to college‑age pre‑professionals and deeply committed musicians seeking to expand their expressive horizons.Questions? Email us at [email protected]
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August 8-9, 2026
Intensive for string players to expand their expressive horizons!

Unlocking Romantic‑Era Playing Styles is a one‑evening, one‑day intensive for string players exploring expressive nineteenth‑century performance practices through early recordings. Hands‑on work with core repertoire develops phrasing, rubato, tempo flexibility, and ensemble leadership, culminating in a public presentation‑performance that connects historical insight with compelling performance today.

Drawing on evidence from early sound recordings, the workshop explores the rich, flexible performance practices that defined Romantic‑era musicianship—approaches to phrasing, rhythm, and ensemble coordination that once formed the expressive core of the tradition but are rarely addressed in modern training. Techniques such as expressive portamento, tempo flexibility, orchestral rubato, and collaborative ensemble leadership will be explored not as historical curiosities, but as living tools for compelling, communicative performance today.Participants will work hands‑on with repertoire including Elgar’s Serenade for Strings, alongside works and excerpts by Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Grieg, and others—music central to concert life, auditions, teaching, and personal artistic exploration. Through an interactive rehearsal, lecture, and method‑based workshop, players will discover how historically informed stylistic choices can deepen musical understanding, enhance ensemble cohesion, and encourage greater individuality across a wide range of performance contexts.The day culminates in a public presentation‑performance, offering participants the opportunity to share new interpretive ideas and experience how these approaches resonate with an audience. Led by conductors Mark Bailey (Curator, Yale Collection of Historical Sound Recordings; Artistic Director, American Baroque Orchestra) and Kevin Sherwin (Principal Conductor, The American Romantics), the workshop brings together archival research and practical musicianship, bridging scholarship and performance in a collaborative, musician‑centered environment.Whether you are refining a long‑established professional practice, preparing for ensemble work, teaching the next generation, or simply seeking to reconnect with the expressive freedom at the heart of Romantic‑era music, Unlocking Romantic‑Era Playing Styles offers a rare opportunity to rethink how this repertoire can sound—and how it can continue to inspire performers today.

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Faculty

Mark Bailey, Artistic Director, American Baroque Orchestra - Laurence C. Witten II Curator, Yale Collection of Historical Sound RecordingsAs a conductor, Mr. Bailey is extensively involved in the performance practice of baroque, classical, and romantic era musical works, with special emphasis on the repertoire of Eastern Europe. As director of the Yale Collection of Historical Sound Recordings, Mr. Bailey often is invited to give seminars on performance practice, conducting technique, Slavic baroque music, and the musical significance of early sound recordings, which he has at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute in Toronto, Canada, the University of Oregon, Indiana University, the University of Surrey, the University of Oxford, among others. Other guest appearances include conducting two gala concerts by invitation at Carnegie Hall, featuring the music of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Mark Bailey's recordings have been acclaimed by The New York Times critics’ choice list and praised by National Public Radio’s Performance Today. He has guest conducted ensembles including Portland Baroque Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Cappella Romana, Pro Coro Canada, and others. As a baroque violist, Mr. Bailey has played in the Musica Vera Duo with Kevin Sherwin, include sold-out concerts at the University of Cambridge. Recent recordings as artistic director of the American Baroque Orchestra include “Little Liberia: Music from Their Front Porch” and “Memories of Eastern Europe.” Their recent album, “Melodrama,” features 19th century works performed through the exploration of Romantic-era performance practices.

Kevin Sherwin, Artistic Director The American Romantics - Associate Artistic Director, American Baroque OrchestraMr. Sherwin infuses his active concert schedule with scholarly work in performance practice, focusing on orchestral styles of the Romantic-era. He recently debuted at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall conducting the Mahanaim Orchestra, and has performed as guitarist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the University of Cambridge Summer Music Festival, La Grua Center, and others. Along with co-founding The American Romantics, he serves as Associate Artistic Director of the American Baroque Orchestra. He has presented his scholarly work at the University of Oxford, the Jacobs School of Music, the Mannes School of Music, the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and others. As well, he has written articles on performance practice for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Charles Ives Society, and the Yale Collection of Historical Sound Recordings. His recent release with The American Romantics, "Goldmark's The Queen of Sheba Suite,' was featured in Classical Music UK, KBACH Radio, and on public television stations across the country, including BRIC Media (NYC) and CCTV (Cambridge). He is an Associate Fellow at Timothy Dwight College, Yale University.

Designed for string players of all backgrounds and career stages—from seasoned professionals and emerging artists to college‑age pre‑professionals and deeply committed musicians seeking to expand their expressive horizons.Questions? Email us at [email protected]Early bird Registration (before June 1): $50Sign up below!

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