The ACADEMY

“Early music,” “historical performance,” or “historically informed performance practice” – at first glance, these terms may evoke images of museums, of a preserved and distant past. But the reality is quite the opposite: as the INTERNATIONAL HANDEL ACADEMY in Karlsruhe vividly demonstrates each year, so-called early music is anything but a relic. Handel’s music continues to touch and move audiences today with undiminished intensity. For this music to unfold its full expressive power, it needs capable interpreters – singers and instrumentalists who understand the musical language of, for example, the Baroque era and can bring it to life in the present. This is the essence of historically informed performance: not a dry academic exercise, but a vibrant, aesthetic engagement that reveals the richness of sound and expression in early music as a living artistic practice.

When the INTERNATIONAL HANDEL ACADEMY was founded in 1986, the early music scene was still in its formative, exploratory phase. The idea of offering courses in historical performance practice alongside the HANDEL FESTIVAL was born from the realization that true pioneering work was still needed in this field. Since then, however – and certainly since the turn of the millennium – historically informed performance has become a well-established interpretive approach. Numerous conservatories now offer programs in playing period instruments or in singing according to historical vocal traditions. So why, one might ask, is there still a need for an INTERNATIONAL HANDEL ACADEMY in Karlsruhe, now that the conditions have changed so significantly since the pioneering days of the late 20th century?

The answer offered by the INTERNATIONAL HANDEL ACADEMY is this: because engaging with the sources – the very foundation of performance practice and insight – is a continuous process that each generation must undertake anew. Much of what has come to be accepted as standard in historical performance practice is, as we now know thanks to more recent research, not always consistent with historical evidence. The time has come to critically reassess the foundations of current performance practices and to open up space for exploring and testing new approaches. The INTERNATIONAL HANDEL ACADEMY sees itself as a forum where internationally renowned artists and young musicians from around the globe come together to discover what is truly new in the realm of early music.