In many ways, participants saw and heard art and music of the periods “firsthand.” During a dinner at Atlanta’s Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse, participants enjoyed a performance of The Merchant of Venice. They also visited the nearby First Presbyterian Church, where director of worship, the arts, and organist Jens Korndörfer performed period pieces on a recreated Danish 17th century-style organ in the chapel as well as for contrast on the much larger organ in the church’s sanctuary. Seminar participants had private access to museum galleries and studied closely several Renaissance and Baroque paintings, including Il Baciccio’s Sacrifice of Isaac (c. 1700) from the museum’s Kress Collection. While in the galleries, the sounds of tuning instruments drifted up from below as the Ritornello Baroque Ensemble prepared for an hour-long concert for the participants. The concert of 16th and 17th century music was performed entirely on period instruments, including harpsichord, cornetto, recorders, crumhorns, and viola da gamba. In addition, seminar participants heard a chorus and members of the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra perform Guillaume Dufay’s Nuper Rosarum Flores, a motet he composed for the 1426 consecration of the Florence cathedral. Excursions to the Atlanta Botanical Garden and the Atlanta Conservation Center rounded out the week.

Seminar leaders Amanda Winkler and Gary Radke (front row left) gather with participants on the steps of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.