News Archive

Announcing our first session in the Online Seminar Series in Early Music Performance for 2025

Join the Highland Park Recorder Society on January 6, 2025 for "Kicking it up a Notch," an online seminar presented by recorder player and conductor Lewis R. Baratz. Read More ›

Updates for upcoming events

The date for the November session has changed. Read on for futher details. Read More ›

Exciting new programs for 2024

Learn about our new in-person playing opportunities beginning in January 2024 Read More ›

Join us on November 20

In our online seminar on November 20, we will study Frederick the Great: His Life, Music, and Relevance to Recorderists Read More ›

Upcoming events for Fall 2023 and the beginning of 2024

Please join us for these exciting upcoming events starting in the fall of 2023 Read More ›

Join us on June 19

Online Seminar on Medieval Dance Music Read More ›

Join us on May 15

Change of Plans - New Plan - Online Seminar on Medieval Dance Music Read More ›

Join us on April 17

Change of Plans - New Plan - Online Seminar on Music of Quantz Read More ›

Join us on March 20

Change of Plans - New Plan - Online Seminar on Music of Telemann and Quantz Read More ›

Join us on February 20

Change of Plans - New Plan - Music for Two - led by Amy Herbitter Read More ›

Renew Your Membership Today!

Thank you for your membership and /or participation starting in 2020. Memberships expired in 2021. Renew now and continue to enjoy the benefits offered with your membership Read More ›

2021-2022 Seminar Series: Join us on June 13

Join us as we explore and play some of the delightful and popular English country dance tunes that are among over 1,000 that John Playford compiled and began publishing in 1651. Playford later published divisions on ground basses, catches, music for lira viol, cittern, and harpsichord, as well as sacred music. Read More ›

2021-2022 Seminar Series: Join us on May 16

Our May seminar will open with an opportunity for participants to play along with Lewis Baratz & Sarah Davol, the Sonata in Two Parts in F Major by William Croft (1678-1727). We will then explore the interpretation of French baroque music, concentrating on the Deuxiéme Suite in G Major of Jacques Martin Hotteterre, which works well on soprano or tenor recorder, and the First Suite (Air) of Daniel Demoivre for alto recorder in A minor, and the Suite in D Major. Read More ›

2021-2022 Seminar Series: Join us on April 18

In April’s seminar we will explore 2 part duets with Lewis Baratz, recorder, joined by guest artist Sarah Davol, recorder. Read More ›

2021-2022 Seminar Series: Join us on March 21

In March’s seminar we will explore early 17th-century Italian chamber music with Lewis Baratz, recorder, joined by guest artists Nathan Bishop on baroque violin and Benjamin Berman on harpsichord. Read More ›

2021-2022 Seminar Series: Join us on February 21

Due to Covid restrictions, we have had to reorganize our seminars for the next few months. Our Music Director, Dr. Lewis Baratz, will lead all the seminars, joined at times by guest artists. At this time, this is our plan for upcoming meeting dates and topics – Read More ›

2021-2022 Seminar Series: Join us on January 17

Our fourth seminar of the year, "Jacob van Eyck’s Variations on English and French Dances" will take place on Monday, January 17, 2022 at 7:30, via Zoom. Read More ›

2021-2022 Seminar Series: Join us on December 20

Our third seminar of the year, "Telemann's Sonatas for Recorder and Continuo" will take place on Monday, December 20, 2021 at 7:30, via Zoom. Read More ›

2021-2022 Seminar Series: Join us on November 15

Our second seminar of the year, "Playing Handel Sonatas For Recorder & Continuo" will be on November 15 at 7:30 PM on Zoom. This will be a great opportunity for recorder players of all levels to learn from an experienced teacher and connect with other early music aficionados. All seminars will be held online and include an historical context and playing music sent in advance. Read More ›

2021-2022 Seminar Series: Join us on October 25

The Highland Park Recorder Society proudly announces its 2021-2022 early music seminar series. Led by Dr. Lewis R. Baratz, there will be 9 monthly seminars throughout the season focusing on various technical and performance practice topics for recorder players. The seminars have been praised for "far exceeding expectations," and Lewis’ teaching hailed as "surprising and delightful in his way of focusing on individual facets of technique and musicianship... It makes for lessons I can really take home, practice, and learn from." Read More ›

2020-2021 Seminar Series: Join us on June 14

On Monday, June 14th the HPRS will present the final of nine Zoom seminars in 2020-2021 on Early Music Performance, “English Division Music Around 1700.” The program will begin with a Meet & Greet at 7:15 P.M. (All times are Eastern Daylight Time.) Dr. Lewis Baratz and guest artist Matthew Weinman, professional lutenist, composer, and theorbo player, will discuss The Art of Division on the Ground Bass, a quasi-improvisatory style of the late 16th, 17th, and early 18th centuries. Professional violinist and guest artist, Lea Karpman, will assist with musical examples. Read More ›

2020-2021 Seminar Series: Join us on May 10

Coming up on Monday, May 10th is our next Seminar in Early Music Performance, “Introduction to French Baroque Music.” The program will begin at 7:30 PM, with a Meet & Greet at 7:15 PM. (All times are Eastern Daylight Time.) Read More ›

2020-2021 Seminar Series: Join us on April 12

This seminar will be primarily a playing session. HPRS’ 2020-20201 Music Director Lewis R. Baratz, Ph.D. and Guest Presenter Allen Hamrick will lead us through two-part recorder music from the 16th, 17th, and early 18th centuries. The repertory list includes arrangements of two-part pieces (bicinia) by Orlando di Lasso and Orazio Vecchi, a fantasia by Thomas Morley, three of the duets from the Fluyten Lusthof of Jacob van Eyck, and sonatas by Godfrey Finger and Jacques Paisible. Read More ›

2020-2021 Seminar Series: Join us on March 8

Playing Telemann’s Fantasias for Solo Flute/Recorder. Read More ›

2020-2021 Seminar Series: Join us on February 8

For this month’s Seminar, on February 8th, 2021, we will meet via Zoom at 7:15 P.M. for a Meet-&-Greet. At 7:30 P.M. Lewis Baratz will discuss ornamentation in the late Baroque era, c. 1700 to 1750. We will learn about “French graces,” how to play trills, mordants, and appoggiaturas, and then examine the more florid ornamentation seen in the sonatas of Handel, Telemann, Babell, Corelli, and Geminiani. Read More ›

2020-2021 Seminar Series: Join us on January 11

Coming up on Monday, January 11, 2021, at 7:15 P.M. EST, USA, will be Seminar #4, Playing 17th-century Italian Music, of the Seminar Series in Early Music Performance of the Highland Park Recorder Society. Read More ›

2020-2021 Seminar Series: Join us on December 14

In December’s early music seminar, we will indulge in the art of ornamentation during the late Renaissance and explore the virtuoso variation technique of the early 17th century. We will explore the many examples of Sylvesto Ganassi (1535) and Diego Ortiz (1553) and learn to decode the variation technique of the 17th-century Dutch recorder virtuoso Jacob van Eyck. Read More ›

2020-2021 Seminar Series: Join us on November 9

This month, we will explore the many varied articulations that make the recorder sparkle in consort and solo music, and also learn how to tackle difficult passages. We will play exercises and some examples from the 16th-, 17th-, and 18th-century repertories that will lead to the foundation for a solid technique. Read More ›

2020-2021 Seminar Series in Early Music Performance

The Board of the Highland Park Recorder Society is thrilled to announce that at their September 2, 2020 Board meeting they decided enthusiastically and unanimously to engage the dynamic Lewis R. Baratz, Ph.D., Music Director of the successful and famed early music ensemble La Fiocco, to be the Music Director of the Highland Park Recorder Society for the year 2020-2021. Read More ›

COVID-19 Update 6 – Online Concert Series, Program V

Sunday, May 31, 2020, 3:00 P.M. Join us for "Hidden Treasures of the Baroque," including music rarely heard and newly discovered Baroque music that is unknown in the West. We bring you a unique program with distinguished artists. Read More ›

COVID-19 Update 5 – Online Concert Series, Program IV

We are thrilled to welcome you to a series of five weekly early music online performances in an artistic collaboration with Collegium Musicum of New Jersey. Sunday, May 17, 2020 at 1:30 P.M. join us for Music of Bach, Art of the Fugue (Die Kunst der Fugue), and Bach’s Double Concerto for Two violins, featuring Collegium Musicum String Quartet, Allison Brewster Franzetti on Harpsichord and Members of the Veritas Youth Orchestra. Read More ›

COVID-19 Update 4 – Online Concert Series, Program III

We are thrilled to welcome you to a series of five weekly early music online performances in an artistic collaboration with Collegium Musicum of New Jersey. Sunday, May 10, 2020 at 1:30 P.M. join us for Music of Telemann, a duet, a quartet, and a concerto, featuring recorders, violin, cello and harpsichord, to bring to life the Telemann’s wonderful music, and enjoy this music to lift your spirits. Read More ›

COVID-19 Update 3 – Online Concert Series

We are thrilled to welcome you to a series of five weekly early music online performances in an artistic collaboration with Collegium Musicum of New Jersey. The first performance is on Sunday, April 26, 2020, at 1:00 P.M. Please join us online as masters of the violin and viola bring to life wonderful music of Telemann, Bach and Handel in the spirit of the original Collegium Musicum founded by Telemann in Leipzig in 1702. In this time of trouble and uncertainty, do join us to enjoy beautiful music that will lift your spirits. Read More ›

COVID-19 Update 2

Rehearsals are currently cancelled through June out of concern for the health and well-being of our members. We will provide other updates in the coming weeks and months so please check back with our website. Read More ›

COVID-19 Update 1

Rehearsals are currently cancelled until March 28 out of concern of the health & well-being of our members. We will give out another update after March 28. Read More ›

Highland Park Recorder Society Awarded Unprecedented Grant of $7,000

We are thrilled to announce that the Highland Park Recorder Society, Inc., in collaboration with a professional music organization, Collegium Musicum, Inc., has just been awarded an unprecedented $7,000 grant to present a series of concerts with lectures integrated, for recorders, strings, and harpsichord. Read More ›

Goodbye WordPress, Hello Jekyll

The Highland Park Recorder Society is transitioning to a new website. Read More ›

Amy Herbitter

Amy Herbitter (tenor recorder) is music director and recorderist for the Morris Consort, Read More ›

Donna Messer Introduces the Recorder and Its Music to Hundreds of School Children

Read More ›

Gene Murrow

Gene has a degree in music from Columbia, and studied oboe with Lois Wann at Juilliard. Read More ›

Robert Butts

Robert Butts serves as Music Director and Conductor with Read More ›

Rainer Beckmann

Rainer Beckmann, a native of Germany, performs with a large variety of early music ensembles in the Philadelphia Tri-State Area. Read More ›

Lewis Baratz

Lewis R. Baratz is a recorder player, harpsichordist, and music historian. Read More ›

John Burkhalter

John Burkhalter, recorders, studied the performance of early music at the Read More ›

"Hits and Highlights of 7 Centuries" Early Music Concert

Celebrating Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Sephardic Music Read More ›

First Monthly Recorder Session: Monday January 23rd, 2017

Highland Park Recorder Society welcomes old and new players, amateurs and professionals to playing sessions and performance opportunities in its 30th season. Read More ›

Grant Awarded to Highland Park Recorder Society

The Highland Park Recorder Society has been awarded a grant for 2017 Read More ›

Playing Lessons!

The Highland Park Recorder Society will hold monthly playing sessions with noted guest conductors. Read More ›

Multi-Sensory Music Experience for Pre-K Classes

Donna Messer will conduct a multi-sensory music experience for Pre-K classes in Elizabeth Schools Read More ›

30th Anniversary Year Concert March 18, 2017

CONCERT! The Highland Park Recorder Society will celebrate its 30th Anniversary Year with a concert, Hits and Highlights from 7 Centuries, with an Read More ›

HPRS and Musica Dolce Perform at 11th Annual Festival of the Guild for Early Music

The Highland Park Recorder Society, Musica Dolce and past collaborators Read More ›