Next Workshop:
February 10th, 11th and 12th - 7pm. Oldcastle Theatre, Bennington, Vermont.
MAESTRO EXPERIENCE: A TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCE
A three day seminar, two hours each session, which actually delivers the audience to new ways of hearing and experiencing music through the works of Beethoven, Mahler and Richard Strauss. This course is tailored to start you on a path to hear and listen at the "Maestro's" level; an introduction to connecting with symphonic music. Through the guidance of Thomas Lawrence Toscano, conductor/composer, participants will find themselves drawn into higher levels of listening, as barriers to the expressive energies inherent in this art form are revealed and subsequently dissolved. This unique process opens powerful connections transforming all into a new personal relationship with music.
The conductor is one of the most powerful and mysterious symbols of our society. How does it all work? Is it magic or is it simply waving one's arms? Why is the orchestra model continuously important to industrial organizational theories and techniques? These and many other questions will be answered in this course. It is a great seminar for students, casual and cultivated listeners, or anyone interested in changing their ability to listen to any style of music. As children we've all had magical moments listening to Fantasia, or listening to Beethoven's Fifth, or the music of Liszt and Brahms, while Bugs Bunny bounced through his Saturday morning adventures! Through this workshop you will reclaim your delight and enthusiasm for "classical"music (for lack of a better term). This three day event supports your development of techniques to foster an ever expanding relationship, both factual and aural with this great art form.
HISTORY: MAESTRO EXPERIENCE was created while I was living in Brazil in 1990. It grew out of an experience with a dear friend, Cristina Heydt, who informed me after a casual listening session that she had "never heard and experienced music that way before". After some time I formulated and idea and was eventually invited to present the opening presentation at the Gessy-Lever Lecture Series at a newly opened theater - São Paulo's - Teatro São Luis. There on Bose's top of the line sound system donated to this theater to introduce their product to South America, I started this workshop presenting it to an audience of 300+, packed with a very varied audience. The lectures were a great success and I have offered this workshop on 3 continents, N and S America and Europe, in 3 different languages.
PARTICIPANT COMMENTS: MAESTRO EXPERIENCE (formerly known as Jornadas Musicais). Below find more information about the course, as well as comments from 2 very special offerings: One in Hood River Oregon with a group of adults as part of that city's continuing education initiative and from the students at the wonderfully successful "Colegio San Giuseppe" in Catania, Sicily, the students were between the ages of 14-18. You will notice that I have given you the actual hand written comments. There is one reason, I want all interested parties to read the actual comments for themselves. Do be patient with the Sicilian teenagers - English is not their native tongue - their language skills although fragile at times, are quite direct and expressive, it's worth hearing what they have to say.
