Seattle Historical Arts for Kids

Sylvia Pine and Nick Chrisman knew each other through some online SHAK classes in 2020. But they actually met more than a decade ago now: Nick's sister Emma was one of two SHAK students invited to play Baroque violins and medieval vielles at an Early Music Seattle reception in honor of Sylvia's mother, the violinist Rachel Barton Pine, and young Nick helped to keep toddler Sylvia entertained. What a small-world coincidence a couple weeks ago when Nick and Sylvia were assigned to the same chamber group at the Amherst Early Music Festival — and what beautiful, stylish playing! We're looking forward to having Nick as one of the coaches at SHAK's own Baroque Strings Festival next week.

12-year-old baroque violinist Sylvia Pine at Amherst Early Music Festival's Baroque Academy Amherst Early Music FestivalBaroque Academy2024Sylvia Pine, violinNick Chrisman, viola da gambaLuke Stence, violoneKathryn Cok, harpsichord and coachWednesda...

Unforeseeable circumstances prevented Miyo Aoki from teaching at Renaissance Arts Week, but Tess Roberts and Bryan Boehnke stepped in beautifully to teach tunes from Miyo's "Recorder from the Ground Up" curriculum. Miyo herself got to show them the ropes and watch the classes by video, gathering ideas toward training other teachers in her method. And Tess introduced her viola da gamba to the students. Thank you Tess, Bryan, and Miyo!

Faces of SHAK: Renaissance Arts Week, 2024.

With thanks to the costumers who've built up our collection over the years, including Jamia Hansen-Murray, Lisa VandenBerghe, Christy Lindell, and Jane Reamer, all represented here in small or large ways.

Today in Renaissance Arts Week: Fun with costumes

A few photos from the first half of Renaissance Arts Week!

Congratulations to all the players of our Early Music Youth Academy on a really fine concert last night!

Ian will be one of our guest artists on Monday night!

Please join us in congratulating new high school graduate Rylie Patching! As a self-driven historical performance specialist, Rylie had sought out the Baroque bassoon on her own and begun studying with Anna Marsh well before she joined SHAK. Rylie became a founding member of our Early Music Youth Academy’s Baroque program in early 2022, performing in five main EMYA programs and lots of other performance outings since then. This season she has also been in demand as an outreach and mainstage performer with many other programs, including community presenters and student and professional ensembles. In SHAK Rylie has contributed not only her playing but also the welcoming force of her social attention in drawing out her colleagues in break-time chat, in reminding ensembles to breathe together, and in posing well-timed, spot-on suggestions and questions during rehearsals. Her enthusiastic work with duo partners who match her musical commitment and also with younger students and newcomers to historical performance has helped to build a higher level of both community and musicianship in our program. Rylie, thank you for your contributions to SHAK, and enjoy this photo retrospective. We’ll miss you and we’ll be eagerly following your progress!

After meeting Miyo Aoki in their first SHAK recorder class, online in 2020, these sisters have been taking lessons with her ever since — and now they all finally got to meet her in person and play a concert together!

SHAK alumna & teacher Tess Roberts will be starting a postgraduate degree in viola da gamba at the Royal Academy of Music, London, this autumn! We'll sure miss her, but it's so exciting to think of her adventures to come. Congratulations to Tess, to her teacher Caroline Nicolas, and to her childhood teachers Lee Inman and Shulamit Kleinerman.
[Photo credit: Artem Zvirkov]

Basel, here she comes! SHAK graduate Rylie Patching will begin conservatory studies in Baroque bassoon at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis this autumn. Congratulations to Rylie and to her teacher, Anna Marsh!

Thrilled to announce that SHAK has been selected to receive a Community Accelerator Grant of $2500 — awarded by ArtsFund and funded by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation — in support of our arts and cultural programming in Seattle. The Community Accelerator program is a large-scale boost for Washington state's arts sector, and we join many other fine organizations in partaking of this meaningful support!

Wow friends and supporters, you've Given BIG for SHAK! Our teachers and students thank you. We met our initial goal AND a couple of stretch goals!
https://www.wagives.org/organization/Shak
If you want to help us go even further, your gift will make our season even stronger. The event closes tonight, so there's still time to be part of this collective energy.

It seems like a meaningful coincidence that today is both Teacher Appreciation Day AND GiveBIG. Why not give in honor of the folks who teach at SHAK?: https://www.wagives.org/organization/Shak
BIG NEWS: We've met our initial $2000 goal and are happy to announce a stretch goal to $3000! Teachers everywhere are used to making do with the minimum, but imagine what we can do with more, how well we can serve our students and our wider community when we have all the resources we really need.

If you’re a fan of historical performance and you care about the future of the field — or if you’re just someone who knows how much meaning, competence, and community young people can discover in hands-on craft and how much that experience matters to their well-being and to the health of our communities — please make a donation to SHAK’s GiveBIG campaign: https://www.wagives.org/organization/Shak
We’re here for all those things, and all of our work depends on the backing of our community. That’s you! Thank you for your support of SHAK. Early Giving is open now in advance of the big days (Tue and Wed), and the first $2000 of gifts are being doubled by generous matching challengers!

Four skilled students in 8th-10th grade share the splendor of the earliest Baroque chamber music in a short & sweet concert this Sunday: 4pm at Faith Lutheran Church. They're playing Baroque violin and cello, viola da gamba, and harpsichord, plus there's even a little singing, all accompanied by SHAK founding director Shulamit Kleinerman and guest artist Henry Lebedinsky, harpsichord. We'd love to see you there! Admission is free, with free-will donations gladly accepted, and there's plenty of on-street parking and a few lot spaces at the church's north end.

SHAK alumnus cellist Ian Kitchen is playing in San Francisco Conservatory’s production of Handel’s Serse this weekend. That’ll be the real opera… but enjoy this glimpse of SHAK’s hilarious youth adaptation from 2017!

SHAK presents Handel's Serse, 2017 (trailer) Excerpts from a live performance of an adaptation by Seattle Historical Arts for Kids of Handel's 1738 opera Serse, co-presented by SHAK and Early Music Seat...

There are only a few spaces left in the final fencing classes of spring! https://historicalarts.org/series-classes
No costumes required ;)

The lucky participants in our summer Baroque Strings Festival get to also explore Baroque dance with Jamia Hansen-Murray and historical fencing with Cecil Longino!
https://historicalarts.org/music-workshops

Finally sharing these great fencing pics from last month's open house!

More fine Baroque music from our Open House last month...

Congratulations to Rylie Patching and Tess Roberts for a pre-concert offering at Early Music Seattle this past weekend—and thank you for your service in sharing your artistry and expertise with the public!

Teen duets at last weekend's open house

What a great combination this was!

And now here are some ensemble shots from our June chamber concert!

Here are a few great closeups from our June chamber music concert!

Please join us in congratulating Merle and Metta Mayes, who will be attending Lawrence University Conservatory of Music this autumn! Both members of this sibling pair are versatile musicians who play modern instruments, explore historical performance, and compose in a variety of styles. Here are some online projects they did with us at SHAK, performing their own compositions on historical models:
From 2020, Merle's medieval estampie, and Metta's saltarello later in the same compilation: https://youtu.be/nTYZfono86g?t=319
From 2021, Metta's passamezzo, and Merle's romanesca at the end of the compilation: https://youtu.be/Yi-N_o5pxDI?t=360