Registration is now open for the Classical Mandolin Society of America’s (CMSA) upcoming in-person convention (the first since 2019) in Kalamazoo, MI, September 21-25, 2022. We have an exciting roster of guest artists this year, including Katherine Lasso & Ricardo Sandoval (France), and Florian Klaus Rumpf (Germany), who will be heading En Masse sectional rehearsals, and giving concerts and workshops -- check out their bios and all manner of convention information on the Convention webpage, where you will find the registration portal. Separate pre-convention workshops for mandolin (with Ricardo Sandoval) and classical guitar (Matt Cosgrove) will be held on Tuesday evening, September 20, and end the following morning.
Our host group, the Kalamazoo Mandolin & Guitar Orchestra (KMGO) is delighted to welcome everyone to Kalamazoo! The downtown Radisson Plaza Hotel at Kalamazoo Center is the convention hotel. The hotel offers a shuttle from the airport and the Amtrak train station is two blocks away. Kalamazoo has a wide selection of excellent restaurants, brewpubs and distilleries, and a vibrant local arts scene, all close at hand.
The convention En Masse Orchestra (100+ members) is always a highlight. The En Masse conductor, Jim Bates, has selected an awesome program. Two of the En Masse works, Hans Gál’s beguiling Capriccio and Salvatore Falbo’s epic Spagna, are among the handful of certifiable classics of the mandolin orchestra literature. We will also perform two terrific contemporary works, James Kellaris’s Kalamazoo Suite (written for the KMGO); and Owen Hartford’s Urban Sketches, which was a competition prize-winner in 2012 in Spain. There will be a new work, the FilAm Dance Suite, by our composer in residence, the University of Michigan’s Dr. Christi-Anne Castro, who is a specialist in the Philippine rondalla; and a Jim Bates arrangement of a work by the American composer Harry Thacker Burleigh.
We are planning a full range of convention workshops, some twenty in total, many of which be ensemble-focused – in particular, there are two New Music Reading Sessions, a novel event for the CMSA. Back in March, the CMSA issued a worldwide “Call for Scores”, requesting new works for mandolin orchestra, from which a selection would be chosen for the reading sessions. We received numerous submissions, many from composers born and/or living outside of North America, and the quality was uniformly high. Seven of these were selected, four of which are for session #1 (easier/intermediate) and the remaining three for session #2 (intermediate/advanced/looking for a challenge). There will also be workshops on instrumental technique, on early mandolin recordings (courtesy of Neil Gladd), Gibson history (appropriate, obviously, for Kalamazoo), and a special workshop on the late John Goodin’s ensemble works. There are two open mics for participants, multiple guest artist concerts in the evening, the convention banquet (w/auction), vendor exhibits, and the closing gala En Masse concert.
CMSA requires that convention attendees and volunteers be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as defined by the CDC. Proof of vaccination will be confirmed when you sign in at the convention. Further details on our Covid protocols can be found on the convention webpage.
Bookmarks