A little night music can make your day job go a whole lot faster. Just ask violist Jeremy Duckles. He travels around tuning and repairing pianos wherever he”™s needed in the Hudson Valley and beyond, but picks up the viola after sunset.
Frank DeLeeuew spent a career as an economist for the Federal Reserve Bank and the U.S. Congressional Budget Office. His job took him all over the world. “I was originally a cello player, but I traveled a lot, and I had to book a seat for my instrument,” said DeLeeuw. “I decided to take up the flute again, something I had learned in high school. It was a lot easier to bring on board during my travels, and it flew for free.”
Together with Nancy Hull, who ran a health food store by day and played cello by night, and computer programmer Howard Pepperman, who plays the viola da gamba, the group was brought together in the Early Music Ensemble by music teacher Kumiko Imamura.
The Dutchess Community College Music School Early Music Ensemble gave its first concert in May, playing Bach, Telemann, Devienne and Boilsmortie in the Ritz Lounge on the college”™s main campus. “It was a great experience,” said DeLeeuw, who moved to Poughkeepsie four years ago. “I just stopped consulting and retired, so now I am giving this my full attention.”
All the adults have a common goal; “Their love for music as well as an eagerness to improve performing,” said Imamura, a harpsichord and continuo player who trained at Rutgers University and the Manhattan School of Music. “Each person really wants to play well, not only playing the notes technically but by communicating with the audience. They”™ve each been playing their own instrument for many years and patiently hanging in there, never giving up.”
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For adult musicians, the ensemble represents an opportunity to come back to an instrument they”™d forsaken and renew its importance in their lives. Thanks to a grant from the Amateur Chamber Players of America, the school will be able to provide a chamber music program for both adults and children in the fall.
“The Early Music Ensemble plays baroque music at all different levels,” said Julie Wegener (Wegener@sunydutchess.edu), director of the Dutchess Community College Music School. “This particular group has been together for over two years, very close to professional level. They gave a great concert and they are a pleasure to listen to.”       The program is open to string and wind players, including recorder, guitarists, singers and pianists interested in harpsichord playing. Placement auditions for the Early Music Ensemble and other chamber ensembles for children, teens and adults will be held on Saturday, June 30 and Saturday, Sept. 1.
“I”™m looking forward to playing again this summer,” said DeLeeuw, taking a break from his practice. When it comes to music, DeLeeuw is ready to go “for baroque.”
Kamiko Imamura, a native of Japan, has been with Dutchess Community College for five years “wearing many musical hats.” She began as an official accompanist doing baroque pieces. “When director Julie Wegener asked me if I”™d be interested in teaching ensemble work, I was thrilled. It”™s been a wonderful experience.”
Imamura will play this summer with Pepperman and DeLeeuw, her founding members. For Imamura, helping people play after their regular workday is over has helped create a passion of her own. She”™s not just a teacher, but a mentor and friend to musical colleagues she may never have crossed paths with had it not been for the Early Music Ensemble.
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