AEM ONLINE WEEKEND CLASSES
While recognizing that virtual learning cannot replace the in-person experience, we’ve launched “AEM Online” – four classes each weekend taught by different faculty members. Our goal is to feature as many faculty members as possible while also giving students a chance to learn and interact with each other. As we work to offset deep community financial losses, registration fees fund the work of the teachers and organizers of the program. Weekend classes will continue through June 5, when we'll take a short pause to get ready for the 2021 ONLINE AMHERST EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL... July 17-25...Save the dates!
Join us this weekend, May 15 & 16 for more great classes!
The Early Music Singer's Toolbox! is a new series will include classes and lectures. The pace of the repertoire classes has experienced solo singers in mind, but we welcome all singers, voice teachers, conductors, and anyone interested in early music singing to register and learn. The lectures are free and open to all. Visit here to learn more about the Early Music Singer's Toolbox, and sign up!.
Check out the list of upcoming MAY CLASSES here!
Organizational Health
In addition to providing continuity to our broader community, the AEM board has prioritized keeping operations running so that we will be in a position to present the events we know and love when it is safe again. Our annual operating budget depends on individual donations, especially those received or pledged during the Festival. Without that help we are in a tenuous position with regards to meeting financial obligations and maintaining bare-bones functionality. Our generous Board and friends put together a Crisis Matching Fund of $51,000 to meet donations to AEM dollar for dollar. By the end of the Online Festival we had exceeded the match!
All of us in the AEM community – enthusiasts, performers, scholars, craftsmen, and organizers – have built AEM over the past 57 years into the largest provider of early music workshops in North America. We’ve come all this way together, and together we will get through this. --Marilyn Boenau, Executive Director
