About Bach Cello Suites Workshop
Bach Cello Suites Workshop is a one-week summer workshop designed specifically for adult amateur cellists seeking to deepen their understanding, appreciation, and technical mastery of Bach’s Cello Suites.
Bach Cello Suites Workshop is on hiatus for 2023
BCSW has expanded our Board of Directors and is re-tooling for the future. While we focus on long-term strategic planning, we will not be holding a workshop in Summer 2023.
To keep up with our plans, please join our mailing list and watch for news of how the Workshop will evolve.
History of Bach Cello Suites Workshop
Marc Violette and Margaret Lanoue (husband and wife) are music lovers from Albany, New York. They founded the Workshop in 2015 and served for many years as the President and Vice President of Bach Cello Suites Workshop.
Marc is a retired journalist and government press officer and he has long been interested in the challenges, joys and rewards of maintaining the practice of music throughout the full arc of a person’s life. Margaret has been dedicated to life-long learning through careers in the arts and librarianship.
Margaret played cello as a child in public school and Marc, a late-starter, took up the instrument in his 50s. Together they sought out resources about music, the cello and its masters. They became fascinated by the lives of J.S. Bach and Pablo Casals. And Marc began wading into the Bach Cello Suites under the guidance of his teacher.
After a pilgrimage to Casals country (Barcelona and San Salvador in Spain, and Prades in France) Marc became interested in finding a workshop on the Bach Cello Suites for adult amateur players. He reasoned that such iconic music -- the Everest of the repertoire for solo cello -- surely deserved its own workshop. But after an intense search no such opportunity was found.
Sensing a creative opportunity, Marc and Margaret spent several weeks filling a pile of yellow legal pads with ideas for what has become Bach Cello Suites Workshop. They thought: "This is a fine idea. It might work. Let’s do it!"
The next step was obvious – call Zuill Bailey and invite him to be Artistic Director for the Workshop. Zuill immediately said: "I’m in! You know how meaningful the Bach Cello Suites are in my life."
Over the years we have added superb performing and teaching cellists, including Melissa Kraut, Phoebe Carrai, Mike Block, Jennifer Morsches, Matt Haimovitz, and Elinor Frey.
Since 2015, The Workshop has welcomed cellists from all over the North America and beyond who have found it to be just the thing they've been looking for.