Bach’s Cello Suites are considered the Mount Everest of the cello repertoire, says local amateur cellist Marc Violette. But there is no surviving manuscript handwritten by Johann Sebastian Bach to help musicians reach the summit. There is only a copy, done by the composer’s wife, that contains no markings to tell cellists how to play the suites — how fast or softly, or what nuances to express when. And since the suites are solo works, each cellist simply struggles with interpreting them alone.

Two years ago, Albany residents Violette, 63, and his wife, Margaret Lanoue, 65 — a librarian at the Guilderland Public Library — began looking for a workshop he could take, designed to help adult hobby cellists master this greatest of works for the instrument.

“They can be interpreted in many ways,” said Lanoue about the Cello Suites, “and offer endless opportunity for expression throughout a lifetime.”

The couple couldn’t find a workshop anywhere. So they decided to create one.

This week the second annual Bach Cello Suites Workshop is taking place at Russell Sage College in Troy, headed by Zuill Bailey, whose recording of Bach’s Cello Suites was at the top of Billboard’s classical chart for a long time, Lanoue said.

The faculty also includes Robert Battey, Phoebe Carrai, and Melissa Kraut.

“The faculty was willing to come back,” said Lanoue. Last year the faculty had enjoyed teaching people who had no intention of forging a professional career. Several teachers told her it was refreshing to work with people who were there simply for love of the music, she said.

On Sept. 11, 2014, Violette said, he spoke to Zuill Bailey for an hour on the phone, after convincing Bailey’s agent that he should take his call. Bailey, who was in Alaska doing a week-long workshop with high-school cellists at the time, “asked a lot of probing questions,” Violette said, and at the end, said, “‘I’m in.’”

“Marc has a really great way of embracing people on the phone and by email,” said Lanoue.

The workshop includes solo lessons, master classes, group practice, and a lot of solo practice. Meals and dormitory lodging are both included in the $1,450 price.

Lanoue’s role, she said, is helping to run all of the logistics behind the workshop. She played cello as a child but no longer practices.

Violette did not take up the cello until age 55, a few years before he retired from a career as a reporter and press officer, including as spokesman for then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. He studied privately with a cellist with the Albany Symphony, Erica Pickhardt. Violette reports that he did not get much of a chance to participate in the workshops last year, because he was too busy with running things behind the scenes. This year, Lanoue said, Violette is getting lessons every day and taking part in the cello orchestra.

“It went really well, though,” Violette says of last year’s event, noting that the workshop is open each year to cellists of all levels and abilities. “Last year we had one cellist who was self-taught and had been playing for only two years,” he said, “as well as a professional from San Diego who was a member of an orchestra.”

“You could see the improvement in people’s playing right away,” Lanoue added.

About half the participants this year are from the area, Lanoue said. The rest come from Canada, Texas, Arizona, Idaho, Wisconsin, Virginia, Massachusetts, Vermont, and other parts of New York.

This year’s workshop culminates in a concert Friday night by the participants and faculty, with solos, duets, quartets, and a cello orchestra, performing works by Bach, Haydn, and Elgar, as well as several modern pieces.

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The workshop’s Big Bach Bash! will be held Friday, Aug. 12 at 7:30 p.m. at Russell Sage College’s Bush Memorial Hall at 65 First Street in Troy. The concert will feature performances by Zuill Bailey, Phoebe Carrai, Melissa Kraut, Robert Battey, and the workshop’s participants. Tickets are $5 for children 18 and under, and $25 for adults.