The FSAF will be held from July 16 to July 30, 2017. The Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival is a music festival that takes place at multiple locations in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Accordionist Jamie Maschler will present several workshops at the FSAF this July. From the website: Jamie Maschler is carving her name in the music scene as a virtuoso accordionist. She has accompanied multiple symphonies, starting at age 15 with a premiere performance with the Pueblo Symphony. Most recently she accompanied The Seattle Symphony during the live scoring of Lord of the Rings film and opened Seattle Opera’s Hansel and Gretel. Maschler teaches at the Jazz Night School in Seattle and is a music festival favorite performing and presenting workshops on stylized Brazilian & Tango music all around the country. Maschler is a lead accordionist for the band En Canto, Seattle’s only Brazilian forró group.

Maschler has played in venues all over the world including St. Lucia, Canada, Brazil, and Mexico. Her original music has been aired on the Radio in Seattle, Austin, Salvador BR, and Canada. In 2017, her accordion playing will be featured in PopCap mobile games.

Jamie will present four workshops:
Accordion Workshop
Price: $150
Days: TWThF/MTWThF, July 18–28
Times: 10:30–11:50am
Instructor: Jamie Maschler
Location: Fairbanks Lutheran Church

Designed to help the accordionist become a better musician, this class will be performance based. You will learn the basics of playing from a lead sheet and tricks to help you play more authentically in multiple music genres including: french, tango, zydeco, jazz, brazilian and more. We will look at creative ideas for warm-ups and theory that will help you learn how to play better faster. The class is crafted to accommodate beginning to advanced students.

Brazilian Music Ensemble: Forró
Price: $100
Days: MTWThF (week 2), July 24–28
Times: 5:00–6:30 PM
Instructor: Jamie Maschler
Location: Fairbanks Lutheran Church
In this ensemble we will be working with music from Northeast Brazil. Traditional instrumentation includes accordion, zabumba (drum), triangle, and voice but in a more modern tradition has several instrumental variations. We will play works by Luiz Gonzaga, Gilberto Gil, Sivuca, Hermeto Pascoal, Marcelo Caldi, Toninho Ferragutti and more. We will learn from charts as well as by ear — focusing on how to comp, solo, and play specific to the genre.

Intermediate Tango Ensemble
Price: $50
Days: TW (week 2), July 25 & 26
Times: 3:00–4:30pm
Instructor: Jamie Maschler
Location: Fairbanks Lutheran Church

We will explore tango in its most traditional roots in Buenos Aries, Argentina and it’s evolution to popular culture as Tango Nuevo. We will read through a tango, milonga and vals in order to learn comping patterns, performance practices, and specific articulations used in the style. Music will be provided. Open to the following: Piano, Guitar, Bass, Accordion, Flute, Clarinet, Trumpet/Trombone/Sax, Violin.

Beginning Tango Ensemble
Price: $50
Days: TW (week 1), July 18 & 19
Times: 3:00–4:30pm
Instructor: Jamie Maschler
Location: Fairbanks Lutheran Church

We will explore tango in its most traditional roots in Buenos Aries, Argentina and its evolution to popular culture as Tango Nuevo. We will read through a tango, milonga and vals in order to learn comping patterns, performance practices, and specific articulations used in the style. Music will be provided. Open to the following: Piano, Guitar, Bass, Accordion, Flute, Clarinet, Trumpet/Trombone/Sax, Violin.

About The Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival
Core Purpose: To Awaken Everyone’s Inner Artist
The Festival’s mission is to provide highly qualified guest artists who offer multidisciplinary study and performance opportunities that increase both personal growth and arts appreciation to all participants. Our philosophy is to enrich the lives of all with whom we associate—through study and performances—by engaging their spirit, intellect and energy in an empowering way.
The Festival gives people who are enthusiastic about the fine arts an outlet to release their passions. We offer classes and workshops at various ability levels, so beginners will find plenty to do. Given the multi-disciplinary nature of our course offerings, a participant with one main area of study has the opportunity to branch out and the explore other arts: a violinist can take ballroom dance before their orchestra rehearsals, or a painter can play in a steel drum band after spending all day in watercolor classes.

Think of the Festival as summer camp for adults. You get to make new friends, hone your artistic talents, and just plain have fun. There are concerts nearly every day, so keeping busy is not a problem. The Festival takes place in Fairbanks, which often has beautiful weather at that time of year, so you can enjoy some extremely long days, and maybe take a weekend trip to Denali to see nature at its best.

If spending your whole days for two weeks with the Festival is not a possibility due to work or travel commitments, you may be pleased to see the number of evening classes and one-day mini workshops available.

For further information on the workshops:
Coordinator Louise Kowalski (louisek@acsalaska.net)
For more information on the FSAF: Call the Festival office
907-474-8869 or email info@fsaf.org