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12. - 16. November 2025

Course for violin, viola, cello and string chamber music

Prof. Gerhart Darmstadt
Assistance: Johannes Loescher, Cologne

Course Start: Wednesday, November 12, arrival: from 6:00 PM, Dinner and course introduction
Participants’ and Instructors’ Concert: Saturday, November 15 at 7:30 PM
Course End: Sunday, November 16, Departure: after lunch, around 12:30 PM

Course: Historical Performance Practice Reimagined – Experiencing, Communicating, and Embodying Music
This course offers a fresh and holistic approach to historical performance practice – not merely as a stylistic or technical discipline, but as a comprehensive training in empathy, musical communication, and interpretative depth. At its heart lies an exploration of music from the 17th and 18th centuries, artistic research, and innovative approaches to music mediation and concert design.

Course Content:
Introduction to musical content-based research.
The art of accompaniment – even without keyboard instruments.
Development of new concert and encounter formats.
Holistic body and sound work..
Strategies for injury prevention and mindful, effective practice

Repertoire:
Solo works, duets, suites, sonatas, and chamber music with or without basso continuo from the 17th and 18th centuries. Repertoire is chosen freely by the participants. No keyboard instruments will be used in the course.

Target Group:
Advanced string players, music students, educators, and professional musicians – whether playing on modern or period instruments. Both individuals and pre-formed chamber groups are welcome.

Working Format:
Daily individual lessons in two groups.
Evening sessions focused on musical encounters and thematic exploration.
Intensive work on sound, technique, and interpretation within a living performance practice

Final Concert:
Participation in the concert on November 15 is voluntary.

Note:
Participant numbers are limited – early registration is recommended.

Course start: Wednesday, November 12, 2025, 6 pm. dinner, masterclass
Course end: Sunday, November 16, 2025, after lunch, 12:30 pm


€ 830,00 Course fee/active for professionals
€ 780,00 Course fee/active for students
€ 590,00 Course fee for passive participation

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Prof. Gerhart Darmstadt

Gerhart Darmstadt, born in Halle/Saale in 1952, studied cello with Mirko Dorner at the Folkwang Hochschule Essen and historical performance practice with Nikolaus Harnoncourt at the Mozarteum Salzburg; he also had lessons in baroque cello with Anner Bylsma. His musicological mentor was Walter Blankenburg in Schlüchtern. From 1983-1991 he directed and organised the Hamburg Baroque Orchestra, which he founded.
Gerhart Darmstadt is one of the leading German baroque cellists. As a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral and continuo player, conductor and profound connoisseur of 17th to 19th century music, he has made a name for himself as an exceptional musician. In addition to a flexible technique and virtuosity, it is important to him to understand music as a touching language of the soul and heart and to convey the art of ideal accompaniment. His many years of involvement with the arpeggione (guitar-violoncello) from the Schubert era enable him to create completely new worlds of sound in deeply inward-looking spaces of experience. For him, the connection with the audience is an artistic process of sharing.
At the Hochschule für Musik und Theater and the Alfred Schnittke Akademie International in Hamburg, Gerhart Darmstadt teaches historical performance practice and chamber music with impulses for contemporary and forward-looking interpretation. He is a member of the Joseph Martin Kraus String Quartet and President of the International Joseph Martin Kraus Society based in Buchen (Odenwald).
Numerous courses in historical performance practice, violoncello, orchestral and chamber music, physical disposition and posture issues, advanced training seminars and performances with various orchestras, as well as lectures, introductions to works, moderated concerts, CD and radio recordings, symposia, editions and musicological publications (for example on Andante, Arpeggione, Bach, Cantabile, Gabrielli, Kraus, recitative accompaniment, Schubert, Schumann, Tempo rubato, Vivaldi) show him to be a competent and inspiring performer, as well as a scholar and teacher who constantly scrutinises music and its environment. 
Gerhart Darmstadt is regarded as one of Germany’s leading specialists in early music. He studied with Mirko Dorner, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and Anner Bylsma, and is active internationally as a cellist, arpeggione player, conductor, teacher, and author. For over 36 years, he taught Historical Performance Practice as a professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg. He also serves as President of the International Joseph Martin Kraus Society.
In 2025, his complete recording of Bach’s Cello Suites will be released. In addition, he works as a musical coach and health consultant.
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