Performers have a great many opportunities to do their thing this summer!

Ruby Joust – Memorial Day Weekend – Master Richard Wyn, this year’s Kingdom Bard, is hosting a competition for bards!  He requests that each Barony send their Performing Arts or Bardic Champion or a representative for them to come compete. It is scheduled to take place on Sunday. Richard sez: “You will be expected to perform three pieces: a documented period piece ( prior to 1620) , a Historical piece (either SCA or Period), and a performance to inspire others.
YIS,
Master Richard Wyn OL”

Highland River Melees – June 1-3 – http://highland-foorde.atlantia.sca.org/hrmelees/ans.php  In the Barony of Highland Foorde, Baroness Lanea verch Kerrigan will host Bardics! Specifically, bardics in the style of Bardic Madness! See here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NLxHgppcTzW0g0Y-ZgD-6hs78DgdPPiIIiH3wT3sNgw/edit 

Storytelling and Bardic Workshop – June 9 – http://atlantia.sca.org/137-events/167-event-flyer?event_id=3d5d23f0   The Barony of Nottinghil Cuil hosts this interactive workshop for story tellers, poets, and others interested in the bardic arts. Whether you are already performing, or are interested in giving it a try, come and learn and exchange ideas.

Summer University – June 16 – https://university.atlantia.sca.org/  The Barony of Black Diamond hosts an amazing 99th session of the Atlantia University with a TON of great music, dance, theater, and other performing classes! When the catalog is released in a few days, check it out!

Novice and Unbelt Tourney – June 23 – http://atlantia.sca.org/137-events/167-event-flyer?event_id=e73f06c1 Barony of Storvik. There will be a special Performers’ Pavilion with shade and drinks for all! Hosted by Mistress Fevronia and Master Igor. <3

Return to Crecy – June 22-24 – http://www.returntocrecy.com/ Sir Axel said: “Sat night will again be the Fete de Rue. We are still looking for performers. So, if you are interested, please drop me a line so I can schedule your stage time we are looking at 10-15 minutes sets. (music, song, poetry, story telling, juggling, etc.)”

Performers’ Revel South – June 30 – http://windmastershill.org/calendar/events/performers-revel-south/  The Canton of Elvegast again brings you a day full of JUST PERFORMING! A mildly structured day of relaxing, some workshops, and lot of playing!

King’s Assessments – July 6-8 – http://www.black-diamond.atlantia.sca.org/assessments/   Something fun always happens in the realms of bardic and dance in Black Diamond!

And that brings us to Pennsic!  If you need any help finding your way around Pennsic as a Performer, you can always ask this year’s new Dean of Performing Arts, Lady Scholastica Joycours!

Have fun performing this summer!!

Atlantia’s Twelfth Night event is again overflowing with amazing opportunities to enjoy the Performing Arts!

The Magnificent Lady Jeane Kilmeny has organized an embarrassment of riches for both performers looking to perform and audience looking to relax and be entertained.  If you have questions, please contact Lady Kilmeny via facebook by posting on the Atlantia Bards and Performers group at this link:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/BardsandPerformers/  If you wish to post a comment on this blog post, your question will be forwarded to Kilmeny.

The reveling begins this Friday night!

• Friday night bardic circle: starting 8:00pm in the Hunt Room

• Saturday Wandering Minstrels schedule/sign up sheet here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1a6nQC-aYbVhdnvZyIozoMlHHfU3I15kZO00jLTzZWFo/edit?usp=sharing

• Shakespeare Performance of selected scenes from Twelfth Night by i Firenzi: 11:30-12:30
• Commedia Performance of “The Mystery of the Doge’s Swan” by i Firenzi at 4:15pm

• Dance Band Rehearsal:

• Dance Classes:

1. Gathering Peascods
2. Gracca Amoroso
3. New Yer
4. Rawty
5. Grene Gynger

• Royal Bard Competition: 

• Dancing, Main Hall, after Feast (hopefully starting ~7:00pm)

• An evening bardic circle will be held on Saturday night in the Amphitheatre, hosted by Mistress Dervila, starting at 8:00pm

The Performing Arts community achieved new heights at this year’s Twelfth Night event in the Barony of Sacred Stone! Peruse the pictures below and watch out for these gentles in the coming months if you want to come join in the fun!
1) European Dance! Sacred Stone’s own Lady Elizabeth of Northumberland led the dancing with excellent teamwork and support from Lady Nicolosa d’ Isenfir, our Royal Player in Dance. These two ladies brought dance education and graceful leadership to the event such that over 50 people got to enjoy the noble art of dance at the evening ball.

2) The dancing was supported by skillful and joyful efforts of Mistress Azza and the pick-up dance band under her direction! Ten instrumentalists followed Azza’s fearless direction and organization to produce high energy, live dance music deep into the night. Mistress Azza also serves as a Royal Player and will be producing live pickup bands at more events in the future. Watch for her at Ymir!

3) Our Royal Player in Theater, Lady Meriorie Matheson, produced an enlightening competition for actors to present their favorite Shakespeare pieces! Nine actors presented a wide variety of scenes from The Bard. The winner of the competition was a pair of amazing actors, Lady Machteld Cleine and an SCA newcomer, Cody, portraying Benedict and Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing. See the video clip of their scene here:  https://www.facebook.com/Lara.Coutinho.Orange/videos/1877274525623126/?l=6072083277919904046

It’s one of the most excellent pieces of theater I’ve seen at an SCA event in years! These still pics are of some of the other excellent monologues.

4) One of Sacred Stone’s multi-talented performers, Lord Akiyama Kazuhiko, took on the great challenge of producing the Twelfth Night Murder Mystery play… and it was a hoot! The cast was talented and engaging as they kept us laughing and guessing at the causes of sudden death all day.

5) The Royal Bard competition proceeded per tradition at Twelfth Night with a long list of talented participants. Royal Bards for 2016, Lord Gideon ap Stephan and Master Ruaidhri an Cu, presented three brilliant performers to Their Majesties for the final competition during feast that night. Despite the most extremely challenging conditions of noise and interruptions in the feast hall, all three competitors, Lord Hakon Erfikvaethiskald, Harper an Cu, and Lord Richard Wyn, proved worthy of the position. The young lady Harper An Cu finished the evening with the title of Royal Bard!

6) The Rotunda, the circular area between the staircase and hall of art, hosted a non-stop stream of performers bringing music to the people throughout the day. Performers in the Rotunda included: Lord Johann von Solothurn, Cornelia Caeciliana, Baroness Margaret Cochrane, Baroness Morgan Wolfsinger, and the amazingly talented instrumental group Lillies Among Thorns!

7) The lunchtime tavern also brought some musical thrills when “Painted Wheel” band took the stage and kept the lunch patrons entertained!

8) Laughter brought the event to new heights with i Firenzi’s performance of Italian, 16th Century, improvised comic Commedia dell’ Arte in the afternoon’s play “Arlecchino of La Mancha!” The premier of this play included many new commedia actors enjoying their first performance. We were blessed by the presence and service of a silent herald who interpreted the whole improvised show into sign language! A special moment was also brought to us when the final scene was interrupted (with permission of the director) by Their Excellencies of Windmasters’ Hill bringing an award to one of our actors in the name of TRMs. Lord Jaume de Monco was honored with an Award of the Coral Branch for his many artistic talents including acting, stage magic, bardic performance, and brewing. See the video of the whole play and Jaume’s honoring here:  https://youtu.be/MKedlRJ-VwQ

Twelfth Night again brought too much fun to cram into one day! Many thanks to the event’s Autocrat, Baroness Caitlin Macdonoughue for her tireless efforts at organizing and providing event space for the Performing Arts Community to enjoy their arts!

Performing Arts Schedule for Twelfth Night is here!

The holiday season brings a joyous occasion for our kingdom to gather in friendship and celebration of our many blessings! Many of us will enjoy the kingdom’s Twelfth Night event on January 14th, 2017 in Greensboro, NC: http://www.twelfthnight.atlantia.sca.org/

Performers and those who enjoy being an audience will revel in an embarrassment of riches at Twelfth Night! See the schedule of Performing Arts Activities below, and don’t hesitate to contact the Performing Arts Coordinator, Lady Sophia the Orange via orangesophie AT gmail DOT com for more information.

Atlantia Performing Arts Guild meeting at Unevent: December 3, 2016

Video recording link: https://youtu.be/Ee6vHBwngw4

Agenda & Notes:

• Google resources for sharing files like class handouts etc:
  • Googlegroup email list – adding 5 more emails to the list today –  brings the total to 81 members
    
  • Membership in the googlegroup email list creates access to the Google Drive shared folder where we keep many resources like class handouts, meeting notes, links to videos, and links to many other resources:
    • https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-ta6p8JkuHPOVc0Tk0tellxcEU
    • Guild Roster is one of the spreadsheets in that folder, and anyone on the googlegroup email list can access the Guild Roster or add their name and info to it:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1b_hh_0avEed-GEWwTLigKL5VSFYhatiXiSHBESZPNKg
• Royal Players program is going strong – 10 people across the kingdom and covering many skills in Performing Arts. Monthly check ins. Creating many opportunities for performing arts to happen at events.
  • Search Facebook with the term “Royal Players” to find their Facebook group and engage with them. Here’s the direct link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RoyalPlayersofAtlantia/ 
  • The Baroness of Marinus, Baroness Catalina, is interested in producing a run of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, so she will reach out to the Royal Player Lady Meriorie Matheson who is a Shakespeare scholar.
    • Anyone can reach out to the Royal Players via their facebook group to consult on any Performing Arts topics.
• Administrative separation from MOAS office:
  • Lord Etienne, the Kingdom MOAS, decided in June that the Guilds all needed to be completely separate from the MOAS office.
  • We (Etienne and Sophia) agreed that the one required duty for supporting performing arts in Atlantia that would remain with the MOAS office, specifically the duty of the MOAS Deputy for Performing Arts, would be creating the quarterly report on the status of Performing Arts in Atlantia. For an example of this report, see the last report submitted by Sophia for the October 2016 quarterly report here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-ta6p8JkuHPOUpmRWdXODBZcWc
  • The remaining tasks for supporting the Performing Arts in Atlantia remains with the Performing Arts Guild.
• Royal Bard competition is January 14th at the Kingdom Twelfth Night event: http://www.twelfthnight.atlantia.sca.org/activityPERF.html
  • The description offered by Royal Bard of the North, Master Ruaidhri an Cu, is this:
    • “My Lords and Ladies, Most Worthy Peers, and dearest cousins, Once more the time has come to select those who will serve as Royal Bards for Their Majesties and Their successors. At the celebration of Twelfth Night a competition will be held and Lord Gideon, the Bard of the South, and I encourage all bards to come and compete. The competition will be comprised of three rounds.
    • In the first and second round competitors should perform pieces in different modes. For example, if a story is performed in the first round, the bard should perform a song, instrumental piece, poem, or some-such for the second round. One of the pieces performed in the first two rounds must be period, documentation should be provided. Please limit pieces to five minutes. Extra consideration shall be given to bards who perform original compositions in addition to the period piece.
    • Those bards who are selected for the final round shall perform for Their Majesties and the populace during feast. Pieces should be limited to eight minutes.
    • Should you have any questions, concerning the competition, appropriate pieces, etc., please feel free to contact me. Your servant, if you would have me, Olaugh Ruaidhri an Cu (Bard of the North) Email: raidhriancu@gmail.com  Facebook: Ruaidhri an Cu
  • The description of the Royal Bard duties from Kingdom Law is this text from Appendix E of Kingdom Law availabile here: http://atlantia.sca.org/offices/seneschal/clerk-of-law/book-of-law/laws-of-the-kingdom :
    • E.1. Duties and Responsibilities of Kingdom Royal Notables The Kingdom Royal Notables are expected to encourage the disciplines for which they are selected.
      • Suggested goals and duties are:
        • • Services in their discipline for the Crown
        • • Sponsoring at least two competitions in their field during their tenure
        • • Working with Branch Officers to encourage the growth of their discipline
        • • Teaching in such venues as are available and reasonable
    • E.2. Kingdom Royal Notables
      • E.2.1. The Royal Bard for excellence in the individual performance of any of the following fields: Singing, Instrumental music, Poetic rendition, Storytelling. The Royal Bard is encouraged to be proficient in at least two of these fields. One or two bards will serve at the same time, depending on the whim of the Crown.
  • Additional ideas about what the assembled members of the Guild wanted to see produced by the Kingdom Bard were generated:
    • Random acts of Entertainment
    • Entertainment during breaks in Crown Tourney
    • Supporting and promoting the concept of “Mug the Gate” where, at camping events, camps can issue an invitation to wandering performers to come into their camp to entertain by hanging a mug decorated with ribbons from their camp gate. See the song from Lord Drake Oranwood called “Mug Your Gate” here” https://drakethebard.com/bardic/mug-your-gate/
    • Leading groups of bards to crawl campfires at camping events to find mugged gates.
    • Passing on their knowledge by sharing lyrics and sheet music and links to recordings on You Tube
    • Producing sing alongs where people can sing along even when they’re new and don’t know the words.
    • Bringing back social and silly songs
    • Pre-court entertainment
• Conference call for discussing Performing Arts Competitions
  • Interest was moderate for participating in a conference call just to discuss Competitions
• Upcoming events with performing opportunities:
  • Twelfth Night, January 17 – ongoing mini-concert series all day; performers can sign up for 10 or 20 minute time slots.
  • Winter University, February 4 – Performing Arts Track being organized by Lord Jaume de Monco – email him at: Craig Daniel <craigbdaniel@gmail.com>.  http://university.atlantia.sca.org/
  • Ymir, February 25:  Bardic Circles in afternoon and evening, European Dancing in afternoon and evening, Commedia show and mini-class in afternoon. http://ymir.windmastershill.org
  • Kingdom Arts and Sciences Festival: March 4 – Many hours of performance opportunities and a demo hour. http://atlantia.sca.org/137-events/170-event-info?event_id=6bf73f21

The next meeting of the Atlantia Performing Arts Guild will be in January after Twelfth Night and include an introduction to the new Royal Bard who will be determined at Twelfth Night.

Link to these notes in the Google Drive shared folder: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jpTCB25lDwouuEQQGMwC-5PJxWWSNeKYbDC-Je_L6Jk/edit?usp=sharing

During the Royal Court at Pennsic, August 10, 2016, Their Majesties Dietrich and Thora kicked off a new program for supporting the Performing Arts in Atlantia beyond their reign:

The Royal Players of Atlantia

The Royal Players of Atlantia is a group of 10 talented performers (just 3 shown above), spread geographically throughout the kingdom, who have well developed skills in a wide variety of Performing Arts:

• Vocal and instrumental
• Solo and ensemble
• Music and theater
• Scripted and improvisation
• Secular and sacred
• Dance – both Middle Eastern and European
• And those performing arts that don’t fit into a category!

The mission of the Royal Players of Atlantia is to serve as resources for event staff to help make time and space for all Performing Arts to happen at events throughout the kingdom and then to model excellence in performing themselves.

Their term of service is one year, September to August, ensuring that among them at least one performer can travel to Gulf Wars and Pennsic to represent Atlantia in the Performing Arts communities there. For this first year, the Royal Players were appointed by Their Royal Majesties Dietrich and Thora, and future teams of Royal Players may be chosen by appointment or audition at the whim of the Crown. The Royal Bard(s) work as partners with the Royal Players and may serve as a Royal Player at the whim of the Crown. Administrative support to the Royal Players is provided by the Atlantia Performing Arts Guild.

When you have need of music, entertainment, and the environmental richness that performing arts brings, reach out to these people and they will help you create the magic!

• Lady Scholastica Joycors
  • Specialty-Storytelling
  • Location: Barony of Lochmere
• Lady Harper an Cu
  • Specialty-Instrumental Solo Music
  • Location: north end of kingdom
• Lady Meriorie Matheson
  • Specialty-Scripted Theater
  • Location: Barony of Caer Mear
• Lord Hákon Erfikvaethiskald
  • Specialty: Solo and Ensemble singing
  • Location: Barony of Black Diamond (during academic year)/Barony of Ponte Alto (home)
• Mistress Fevronia Murometsa
  • Specialty: Solo & Ensemble instrumental music and singing
  • Location: north end of kingdom
• Lady Reynsa Keyferin
  • Speciality: Ensemble instrumental music
  • Location: Barony of Nottinghil Coil
• Mistress Azza al Shirazi
  • Specialty: Middle Eastern music
  • Location: Barony of Sacred Stone
• Mistress Kisaiya Zingara
  • Specialty: Middle Eastern Dance and culture
  • Location: Barony of Sacred Stone
• Lady Nicolosa d’Isenfir
  • Specialty: European Dance
  • Location: Shire of Isenfir
• Lord Johann von Solothurn
  • Specialty: Solo instrumental and singing
  • Location: Barony of Black Diamond

Lady Sophia the Orange and Mistress Dervila Ni Leanon are serving as mentors and admin help for the team.

You can connect with The Royal Players of Atlantia in their public Facebook group here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/RoyalPlayersofAtlantia/

If you’re not a facebooker, please contact Lady Sophia the Orange via orangesophie AT gmail for email addresses to contact the Royal Players.

The next Atlantia Performing Arts Guild Meeting & Conference Call will be held at Atlantia University on February 6, 2016 from 12:30pm to 1:30pm. This is during the lunch time of Atlantia University, and the members gathered at University will get lunch and find a quiet corner to eat lunch and gather around Sophie’s laptop to share the web cam and conference call using the Zoom.com online conference room.  Please join us using the log in information below.  You can also call in from a regular phone with the phone number below:

Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/638392316

Or iPhone one-tap: 14086380968,638392316# or 16465588656,638392316#

Or Telephone:
Dial: +1 408 638 0968 (US Toll) or +1 646 558 8656 (US Toll)
Meeting ID: 638 392 316

The Meeting will include discussion on the following topics:

Status Update of Ongoing Projects:

1. Creation of Best Practices list for Bardic Circles by Johann and Richard
2. Creation of Best Practices list for Competitions by Scholastica and Reynsa
3. use of the Googlegroup is growing constantly!
4. Reaching out to specific people to join the Googlegroup for networking – especially to help the Kingdom Bards!

Status of recruiting:

1. The two new Kingdom Bards, Master Ruaidhri and Lord Gideon are still figuring out their strategy
2. Lady Machteld is thinking about volunteering to be the liaison for Atlantia University for Summer, but we need someone for long term.
3. Mistress Dervila has accepted the position for Librarian! She will work with our WordPress blog to find the right plugin to allow people to upload documents and other files like MP3s to share and keep organized. This will, however, take some many months, so Sophie is going to establish a simple Google Shared Drive as an interim solution.

Special Projects:

• Royal Travel Fund song writing service for Ymir silent auction
• Ladies of the Rose song, poetry, and other performance event for new, Golden Rose inspired event
• We need heraldry for the Guild – and a graphic for it!
• Performing Arts Demo Hour at Kingdom A&S Fest, March 5!

Next Guild Meeting is at Ymir, February 27, at 11:00am, immediately after morning court.  Zoom/call in option will be available!

The competition to select the next Kingdom Bard will take place at the Kingdom Twelfth Night event on January 9, 2016. The letter below was published by our current Kingdom Bard, the Magnificent Lord Johann von Solothurn. Make note that anyone wishing to compete for the position of Kingdom Bard must submit a letter of intent to Lord Johann, and his deadline was published as December 18th.  If you are considering competing, have not yet submitted a letter of intent, and would like to have more time to consider taking on this significant position, please email Lord Johann to express your concern and he might extend the deadline.  (Keeping the bar as high as he and Lady Scholastica have raised it is a task worthy of some other magnificent performers in our Kingdom, and worth taking serious time to consider.)

Please read and make note of Lord Johann’s email address and directions below, and Bona Fortuna to any performers ready to step up and compete for this position!

Lady Sophia the Orange, Kingdom MOAS Deputy for Performing Arts

Letter text from Lord Johann von Solothurn:

The upcoming smorgasbord of entertainment opportunities at War of the Wings includes Competitions, Classes, Shows, and opportunities to sign up, jump in, and perform yourself! You can claim two minutes to shine in the spotlight, your whole 15 if you want them, or just kick back and watch the amazing performers from all over Atlantia as they pop out of the woodwork at War of the Wings! http://warofthewings.com/performing_arts.html

This first of four blog posts will explain in detail the Competitions at War of the Wings in the Performing Arts Program.

There are 3!  The number of the counting shall be THREE!

I.

First, on Friday afternoon from 3:00 – 5:00pm, there will be held an UNBELTED Bardic Tournament! This “UNBELTED” business means that if you have been elevated to a noble Order of Peerage, of any kind at all, you must join with a partner who is not also a Peer in order to compete in this competition. No documentation is required, but since the SCA is a 501c3 non-profit organization built on supporting pre-1600 historic research, material that is documentable to pre-1600 or of a similar style is heartily welcome and encouraged.

Voting for this tournament shall enjoy the following simple format: All performers who wish to compete will perform once and the audience will vote using beans in cups.  The top half ranking performers will move on to the second round.  Those performers will perform again and the audience will again vote on those performers using beans in cups.  The top half ranking performers from that vote will move on to the next round. This process will be repeated until one performer is left. That performer is the winner who will be showered in glory, bragging rights, and a very spiffy prize. This competition, the “Unbelted Bardic Tournament” will bring a very special and valuable prize to the winner sponsored by Lady Sophia the Orange.

Baronial Champions have been challenged to show up to this Tournament by the Kingdom Bard himself, Lord Johann von Solothurn! This is NOT, however, the “official” competition for Baronial Bardic Champions… that comes on Saturday.

A few experienced performers will be attending and are ready and willing to provide constructive feedback to any performer who wishes to get feedback in order to improve their performance.  Those performers interested in getting feedback need to just sign up to get feedback at the tournament.

II.

Second, Her Excellency, Baroness Alianor, OL, has again designed the annual War of the Wings “Bardic Smackdown” in order to determine the winner of the Bardic War Point for War of the Wings.  Immediately following the Torchlight Tournament on Friday night in the Marketplace there will be a “Bardic Smackdown Warpoint Challenge.” Their Excellencies of Hidden Mountain and Nottinghill Coill will pick their team of five people from their own baronies or from their allies to represent them in this Challenge. Their Excellencies of Highland Forde and Black Diamond will do the same. At the “Smackdown,” a performer from each team with come forth and perform. The populace will choose a winner. The next pair will perform until all five pairs have performed. The side with the most winners will get the War Point. For any questions regarding this competition, please contact Her Excellency Alianor directly. https://sites.google.com/site/sscoronets/contact

III.

Third, on Saturday evening, as the first part of the Bards and Brewers Concert at the White Phoenix Inn, those performers who have earned the title of Baronial Champion in the Bardic Arts or Performing Arts for their barony are invited to sign up to compete in a competition starting at 9:00pm in Vingulf Hall.  Those Baronial Champions who wish to compete on Saturday evening need to sign up by noon on Saturday with the MC, Lady Sophia the Orange, for the sake of organization and creating the line up by emailing dmoas-performance AT atlantia.sca.org with your name and which Barony you represent or leaving a message at Windmasters’ Hill camp on bright orange unmistakable paper (Ok, any paper will do, but please make it UNMISTAKABLE!). This competition, the “Inter-Baronial Bardic Competition” will bring a very special and valuable prize to the winner sponsored by Lady Sophia the Orange.

Per the request of the hosting barony, there are no official limitations or criteria on the material performers can perform in this competition.  If performers are interested in performing material that is documentable to within SCA period or of a similar style, assistance can be had from the following sources both online and personal:

• Lady Sophia the Orange, Atlantia Kingdom Minister of Arts and Sciences Deputy for Performing Arts, dmoas-performance AT atlantia.sca.org
• Lord Johann von Solothurn, Atlantia Kingdom Bard 2015, (guitar and vocal) RoyalBard AT atlantia.sca.org
• Lady Scholastica Joycors, Atlantia Kingdom Bard 2014, (Professional Storyteller) totallystories AT
• Atlantia Performing Arts Blog Links Page: https://perform.atlantia.sca.org/?page_id=12
• Facebook SCA Bardic group files section: https://www.facebook.com/groups/bardicarts/files/

The VOTING FORMAT for this competition is very new, different, and deserves your attention ahead of time…

Judging will be by beans-in-cups method by the populace with a twist! All members of the populace will get one bean to vote for their favorite performer PLUS one extra bean for every hour they have done service to support the event! If you sit at Troll for 3 hours, you get 3 extra beans to vote for your favorite performer! If you serve on Security for 5 hours you get 5 extra beans! You will be on your honor to report how many hours you performed volunteer service to the event when the voting beans are handed out. So, do more service, and have a more powerful vote in who wins the Inter-Baronial Bardic Competition!

Immediately following the competition will be the regular concert. Performers wishing to sign up for a 10 minute performance slot can sign up here: http://goo.gl/forms/JiIE2sKVm3

So, jump in and enjoy the thrill of competition as you step up into the spotlight or applaud the performers before you! Don’t hesitate to ask questions of the WoW staff or hosting baronage – everyone wants to enjoy the riches of the event and help you join in!

Stay tuned for the next three blog posts covering the rest of the extensive Performing Arts Program at War of the Wings!

Sincerely Yours,

Lady Sophia the Orange

War of the Wings, Deputy Village Steward for Performing Arts

Kingdom of Atlantia, Minister of Arts and Sciences, Deputy for Performing Arts

Capocomico, i Firenzi

Fan of Anything That Comes To Life On Stage!

Lords and Ladies of Atlantia – pay heed! The new Kingdom Bard of Atlantia, the highest representative of the most noble art of performing in all the kingdom, presents himself to you!

Lord Johann shown here in the front row with the guitar at the Bardic Bear Pit of Spring Coronation 2014!

Lord Johann von Solothurn is a bard and musician. As a bard, he performs both period and SCA-themed music, and he writes original SCA- and period-themed songs (some of which are serious, others not so much). As an instrumentalist, he performs period guitar, lute and vihuela pieces. He plays mostly on classical guitar or sometimes on a reproduction five-course guitar. He is currently exploring composition for the four-course and five-course guitar. Johann also believes that the kazoo is seriously underrated as an instrument.

Prior to being selected as Kingdom Bard for 2015, Johann served as Black Diamond’s Bardic Champion in the court of Their Excellencies Aldemere and Juliana from 2012 to 2015. Johann has organized entertainment for events, sponsored and judged bardic competitions, and taught bardic-related classes, including Bardic 101/102, History of the Guitar, and Late Period Music for the Lute, Vihuela and Guitar. Johann resides in the Barony of Black Diamond, with his Lady, Helena Isabelle de Soleure and their son Jakob von Solothurn. Johann can be contacted at johann_von_solothurn@yahoo.com.

So… that’s what Johann wrote about himself…

Now, I’m here to tell you that this gentleman has some significant shoes to fill in following the yearlong act of awesome that was the year our good friend Lady Scholastica Joycours served as Kingdom Bard 2014. I am, however, completely confident that he will bring his own magnificent skills and joy for performing to this position. I know this because every time I’ve heard Johann talk about music, he’s mentioning some new tune he’s written or old tune he’s revisited, which kind of tablature it comes from, and which period musician inspired it. I knew he was “one of us” crazy bards when he mentioned that his music talks to him. In his response to the Artchain Challenge on the Book of Face, he said “The original song was in 3/4 time and really begged to be a galliard tune.” I can see it now… “PLEASE Johann! Make me a galliard! Please! You know you want to!”

So, in case you haven’t enjoyed the beautiful music or amusing antics of the magnificently talented Lord Johann von Solothurn, your first chance to see him as Kingdom Bard is at the Tournament of Ymir in the fine Barony of Windasters’ Hill this Saturday, February 28th (http://ymir.windmastershill.org). He is running a Viking Bardic Challenge at 2:00pm and also taking on the challenge of accepting a green apprentice belt from the legendary Master Efenwealt. Be there to help him escape or cheer him on!
(You also don’t want to miss the even more legendary Mistress Dervila (because she tells legends) take on her own apprentice in Lady Morgan Wolfsinger at the same circle!)

We are in for another year of enriching bardic wonders from the Kingdom Bard, so watch this space for announcements so you don’t miss a thing! – Sophia The Orange