In Lyon, a new string quartet class will open early December with the collaboration of the Conservatoire de Lyon (Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional). The auditions took place November 7th 2011. Four quartets auditioned and two of them were chosen: the Varèse Quartet and the Quatuor opus 80.

The selected quartets will benefit from exceptional opportunities: seven sessions of two days during the year, participation in one final concert and invitations to two intensive academies/festivals.

• The Debussy Session: prelude of the Epau Festival from 16 to 20 May.

Those five days of intensive practice destined to five experienced quartets, students at the best musical institutions, or already preparing international competitions include two daily classes with the members of the Debussy Quartet and one concert per evening: an intensive program intended for young professionals!

• The Summer Academy, from 6 to 15 July, inseparable of the Festival “Cordes en Ballade”

During ten days, experienced young quartets as well as ensembles constituted for the occasion join the Debussy Quartet, thirsty for chamber music knowledge; everyone is welcome, aged 10 to 90.

Other quartets wishing to deepen their knowledge may still apply for participation in one or both of the academies separately, and without being part of the quartet program at the conservatory:

In résumé:

• Programme reserved for pre-formed quartets upon audition
• 2-year course, which 7 sessions each year of 1-2 days
• Invitation to two academy/workshops with the Quatuor Debussy

Debussy Quartet Courses 2011-2012 >>

1. Course for cellists with monthly meetings in Rome - teachers Prof. Michael Flaksman and Prof. Jelena Ocic. Accademia Internazionale Musicale di Roma. Information: Eleonora Malavasi, secretary (email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
2. Chamber Music Festival "Carl Orff" in Putignano, Apulien, Italy, September 2012 - Artistic Directors Michael Flaksman and Vito Amatulli. Information from V. Amatulli (email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
3. Chamber Music Festival "Ascoli Piceno Festival" in Ascoli Piceno, Marche, Italy, September 2012 - Artistic Director Michael Flaksman. Information from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
4. Newly released CD (Challenge Classics) with Jelena Ocic, cello and Federico Lovato, piano. The CD contains: Ignaz Moscheles Preludes based on J.S. Bach, L.v. Beethoven "Kreutzer Sonata" in Carl Czerny's version for cello and piano, Hindemith Sonata op.11 no.3

The Scuola di Musica di Fiesole is the dream of a great musician who was so enamoured with the deep sea of music that he felt the urgency to share this extraordinary cultural heritage with all of his fellow citizens. Italy has been for many centuries a synonym with music, but this primacy has slowly faded and musical language has become an unknown expression for most Italians: an unforgivable waste that Piero Farulli wanted to remedy in concrete terms by offering the keys to this secret world to everyone. Therefore in two rooms in Fiesole, as guest of the local Band, the viola of the never forgotten Quartetto Italiano founded a small School open to both children and adults who wished to make music either as a profession or simply as a passion.

We are pleased to announce a workshop in solo piano and chamber music with Professor Roberto Galletto, December 8-11 2011 at the Accademia Musicale "Ludus Tonalis" di Riano (situated just outside of Rome). The last day of the workshop will feature a Final Concert with the most promising participants. During the workshop there will also be a selection of participants to perform in the concert season of the Accademia for 2012. At the discretion of the workshop instructor, participants may also perform in 2 concerts on December 9 and 10. 

Professor Galletto teaches at the Conservatorio "S.Cecilia" di Roma and has a long career as a concert artist. He recently taught masterclasses at the prestigious Academy "I. Pederewski" in Poznan, and was a guest at the Dutch Classical Music Meeting and the Amsterdam Conservatory in the fall of 2011.

• masterclass announcement
• inscription form

Masterclasses of prof. Avedis Kouyoumdjian (UDK Wien, 05-08 of May) and of members of ARTIS string quartet (Austria, 19-23 of May) took place. Masterclasses attracted interest among students, prof. Kouyoumdjian worked with 13 ensembles and 20 ensembles came to the masterclasses of the members of ARTIS quartet.

A beautiful example of partnership of ECMTA members was the final exams of the year 2011 (19-23 of May) where colleagues from Academy of Gdansk where asked to be the heads of the juries: prof. Ana Prabucka-Firlej was a head of chamber music jury and prof. Krzysztof Sperski was the head of string quartet jury.

Trio CLAVIOLA (class of prof. Julius Andrejevas) won the first prize in the 12th International Academic Music Competition JŪRMALA 2011 (Latvia, 24-28 of May, head of the jury prof. Alexander Bonduriansky, member of the jury prof. Gunta Sproge).

The string quartet TOTO (class of prof. AugustinasVasiliauskas) participated in the festival Lycka Kammarmusik (Sweden, 3-10 of July, invited by prof. Per Lundberg) and in the courses of Academy Musicale de Villecroze (France, 12-22 of July).

Both of these quartets participated in the courses of Internationale Sommerakademie Pragwienbudapest (Austria, 16-28 of August)

The department organized cycle of chamber music concerts in LAMT (27-30 of April), where the students of prof. Petras Kunca (27th of April, Concert hall), prof. Dalia Balsytė (29th of April, Chamber hall) and the students of the department (28th Concert hall, 30th Juozas Karosas hall) performed.

Also, the concerts of students of the Department took place on 11th of April and 05 of May in the Concert hall of LAMT.

Prof. G. Sproge (Latvia) was asked to lead the masterclasses on 30th of November to 4th of December and to be a member of the jury of 11th Lithuanian Composers' Chamber Music Competition on 3rd of December 2011.

Report from the Head of the Chamber Music department prof. Dalia Balsytė

The Competition for Piano Teachers’ Duets was held in Petrozavodsk 11-12 November 2011 within the framework of the International Youth Festival Movement ”Vmeste! Together!” and the 10th Regional Open Festival of Chamber Music ”Let us fill our hearts with music!”. The competition was organized by the Mily Balakirev Children’s School of the Arts and implemented the original idea of 4-hands music performance competition among teachers from Children Music Schools and School of Arts in groups.

In November 2011 the Children School of Arts will celebrate 20^th anniversary!  What kind of school is this school? It is the Children School of Arts.

Big, young and very creative, positive, endlessly energetic and cozy, this is the way the Children School of Arts.  It is not just an educational institution but also an institution that gives concerts and holds other events. During the whole academic year the School holds concerts, exhibitions, competitions, conferences and master classes, theatre performances, press clubs. 18 creative groups form the School are a kind of School’s “Visiting Card”.  These groups include the Brass Band (led by Mr. K. Kolessov), Folklore Groups “Veresok” (led by Ms. E. Potamoshneva) and “Skomoroshina” (led by O. Gabukova), the String Orchestra “Northern Light”, Choruses “Vdoknovenie” and “Podsnejnik”.

New and interesting initiatives have been implemented in School’s concerts and creative projects, including the Children’s Music & International Festival  ”Golden Keys” and the Youth Festival of Arts Movement “Vmeste! Together!”. These projects let people of arts share their experience and achievements.

The Children School of Arts has been involved in international cooperation for more than 10 years. Karelia is located close to Finland and this fact has facilitated studies of both countries’ cultures more deeply and shared experience between them. As an example, a first joint educational project was devoted to studies of pedagogical technologies and innovations and was held by the Children School of Arts from Petrozavodsk and Niinivaara School from Joensuu (Petrozavodsk). As a result pedagogical staff from each school has got new knowledge in the field of teaching process.

An individual approach to each child and the use of new technologies has made learning processes more bright and interesting. It is well known that children involved in Arts have better academic achievements; they are more adapted to modern life and open to new dialogues. Graduates from the school have continued their studies in High Educational Institutions of Arts; they have been awarded with Grand Prix at international festivals; they have become laureates and received grants at prestigious competitions. During 12 years Ms. Valentina Markova has been School’s Director.

Since 2011 the Children School of Arts has been  a member of the European Chamber Music Teachers’ Association.

A Gala concert devoted to 20th School’s anniversary was held 11 November 2011 in the Big Hall of the Petrozavodsk State Conservatorium. The list of Anniversary events can be found on the Children School’s webpage www.shkolaiskusstv.ru.

Dear friends,

The IV Sergei Taneyev International Chamber Ensemble Competition was held in November 2012 in Kaluga– an old Russian city, not far away from Moscow.

The competition was organized by the Ministry of culture of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Kaluga region, the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, the Russian Gnesin’s Academy of Music, the Association of chamber ensembles of International Union of Musicians, the Composer’s Society of Russia, along with the support of the European Chamber Music Teachers Association (ECMTA)

It is one of the most remarkable chamber ensemble competition in Russia and internationally. Its history dates from 1996, when there was the first All-Russian Competition. One of the founders of the competition was Tatiana Gaidamovich – a famous Russian musician, musicologist, professor of chamber music. After her death in 2005 the Organizing Committee decided to establish a special audition round during the competition – all participants may compete for the prize in her memory and honour.

Jury of the competition consisted of such renowned musicians as Alexander Bonduryansky, Irina Anastasieva, Alla Zhohova, Sergei Roldugin, George Fedorenko, Rubin Abdullin (Russia), Saulus Sondeckis (Lithuania), Gunta Sproge (Latvia), Farhad Badalbeili (Azerbaijan). Among Jury panel there were two ECMTA members (Bonduryansky and Sproge). Due to bureaucratic difficulties Evan Rothstein couldn’t come to Kaluga, also because of health problems Michael Flaksman had to cancel his visit to the competition.

The results of the competition:

1 Prize	Piano trio SHAIKIN Alexander, KRAVTZOV Kirill, ZEMLERUB Fedor (Russia, professors – A.Bonduryansky, I.Kandinskaya)	1st price winners
2 Prize	Piano duet Olga KOZLOVA, Nicolay KOZHIN (Russia, professor – A.Bonduryansky), Piano Quartet GAILE Elina, JAGMANE Marta, KALNIŅA Zane, ZALITE Dace (Latvia, professor – J. Maleckis)
3 Prize	Piano trio KEKO Soedjima, TANABE Ayako, PAK Chul Gyn (Japan – Korea, professor – I.Krasotina)
4 Prize	Piano Quartet SARWIÑSKA Ewa, BRUDEREK Adam, SIENKIEWCZ Karol, WISNIEWSKA Maria (Poland, professors – A. Prabucka-Firlei, R. Kvyatkovsky)
5 Prize	Piano duet Alisa STEKOLSHIKOVA, Nadezhda GERASIMOVA (Russia, professor – D. Galynin), Piano duet Andrey KUDRYAKOV, Alexandra STAROSTINA (Russia, professor – A.Tarakanov)
Diploma	Piano duet Hripsime AGHAKARYAN, Edita HAKOBYAN (Armenia, professor – R.Tandilyan)

It is necessary to note that Piano trio SHAIKIN – KRAVTZOV – ZEMLERUB recently took the 1 Prize at the I All-Russian chamber music competition. The information about this competition will come later.

Sincerely,
Alexander Bonduryansky

www.quartettodicremona.it

• Quartetto di Cremona just signed a contract with the German label AUDITE to record all the Beethoven String Quartets in the next three years.
• Starting from next October, the Quartetto di Cremona will teach string quartet and chamber music for strings with piano in the prestigious international Walter Stauffer Academy, whose faculty includes Salvatore Accardo, Bruno Giuranna and Rocco Filippini. Auditions will take place in October.

For complete information: http://www.fondazionestauffer.eu/accademia.htm

Simone Gramaglia, violist of the Quartetto di Cremona, writes:

"Master4Strings, courses for viola and chamber music founded by Simone Gramaglia and his wife Roberta Ardito, is starting its 3rd season. Based in Bari and completely financed by private funds, the program is designed to provide the highest possible level of training to young and gifted musicians in southern Italy with limited financial resources. The program has grown and this year counts 10 viola students and 5 chamber music groups. This year there will also be a guest teacher every month."

The monthly masterclasses by internationally acclaimed string quartet specialists as organized by the Netherlands StringQuartet Academy (NSQA) are also accessible for quartets not studying at the NSQA.   Existing quartets consisting of music students or starting professionals can subscribe for masterclass participation through this form; a brief audition is required. There is no tuition fee for active participation in the masterclasses (travel/accommodation costs to be covered by quartets).

For more information contact NSQA, Liesbeth Kok (call: 020 463 7494 or mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Post submission form to NSQA, Atlantisplein 1, 1093 NE Amsterdam or email to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Jubilee of Prof. Anna Prabucka-Firlej took place on the 7th May 2011 in the Academy of Music in Gdańsk. This event was celebrating the 40th anniversary of the pedagogical work and 50th anniversary of the concert activity of Prof. Prabucka-Firlej.

The ceremony consisted of three parts:

• In the first part Prof. Anna Prabucka-Firlej performed Joseph Haydn's Piano Concerto in D major with an orchestra consisted of pupils, students and friends, conducted by Robert Kwiatkowski. The concert was the repetition of a concert that was a debut of Prof. Anna Prabucka-Firlej 50 years ago.
• The second ‘official’ part included speeches and acknowledgements
• The third part was a chamber music concert performed by the Jubilarian and her assistants in the field of chamber music.

The program of this part was as follows:

Franz Schubert - Trio in E-flat major Op.100 (mov. 3 and 4)
Anna Prabucka-Firlej - piano, Paweł Kukliński - violin, Tadeusz Samerek - cello

Krzysztof Penderecki - 2nd Violin Sonata (mov. 4 and 5)
Robert Kwiatkowski – violin, Anna Prabucka-Firlej – piano

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Andante with Variations in G major K.V. 501 (for one piano four-hands)
Witold Lutosławski – Variations on the theme by Paganini for two pianos
Anna Prabucka-Firlej – piano, Mirosława Lachowska – piano

The ceremony was accompanied by an exhibition prepared by the Main Library of the Academy of Music in Gdansk, which presented the achievements of the Jubilarian.

• Concert program
• ECMTA Chairman Evan Rothstein's proclamation

Starting in October Simone Gramaglia (violist of the Quartetto di Cremona) will also be teaching viola for his second year at the Scuola Di Musica Di Fiesole. His wife, Roberta, will be his assistant. “In order to try to bring Italy near to other European nations, we'll start to teach viola directly to young children. We'll have 5 or 6 children in our class between 4 and 7 years of age that will start immediately with the viola. We obtained violas and viola strings specially made for children. It will be probably the first viola class in where is possible to study viola from the beginning, outside of Suzuki programs, developing immediately the sensibility for the sound and the role of this wonderful instrument. The idea is to write also a viola tutor in Italian language, which for the moment does not exist. All suggestions and experiences are welcome!”

The 6th edition of the International Johannes Brahms Chamber Music Competition will be held in Gdansk, 18-22 April 2012. It is organized by the Academy of Music in Gdańsk and the Chamber Music Faculty every 3 years. The initiator of this event is the Chair of the Chamber Music Faculty, Prof. Anna Prabucka - Firlej.

The competition is open to musicians born after April 18, 1982.

There are 3 categories of chamber music ensembles:

• Category A: TRIO  violin – cello – piano
• Category B: TRIO  clarinet – cello – piano
• Category C: QUARTET  violin – viola – cello – piano.

• Regulations
• Application form

More information is available on the website: www.brahms-competition.amuz.gda.pl
or at the following e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The 13^th edition of the Cordes en Ballade Festival brightly ended with the students’ concert on July 17^th. This year, quartets of all levels and horizons immersed themselves completely in the festival’s atmosphere, learning to work together, deepening their chamber music knowledge Quartets. And of course everyone could attend concerts of the festival’s renowned guest artists such as Marielle Nordmann, Emmanuel Rossfelder, Laurent Stewart….

Emotion, sharing, and fun were the key words of this edition.

In the continuity of this desire of transmission, a string quartet class will open early January with the collaboration of the “Conservatoire de Lyon – CRR”. Important project to the Debussy Quartet, this new step will provide regular gatherings throughout the year.

Summing up the pedagogical activity of the Debussy Quartet, there will be three meetings this year :

Results of Jurmala 2011 CHAMBER MUSIC, the 12th Competition in Academic Music

The event was a complete success. The 12th Competition in Academic Music Jurmala 2011 CHAMBER MUSIC was held in Jurmala Music Secondary School, with the support of Jurmala Municipality, the State Fund for Culture Capital, SEB Bank, Jurmala Music Secondary School and the Concert Agency „Mūza”. The international jury was presided by Prof. Alexander Bonduryansky (Russia). Other members of the jury were: violinist Anna Vayman (USA), viola player Tim Frederiksen (Denmark) and pianists Natalia Sakkos (Estonia), Normunds Viksne, Janis Maleckis and Gunta Sproge (Latvia).