14 excellent ensembles from France and Germany participated in the finals at the magnificent College des Bernadins in the center of Paris. The competition is co-organized by Aurélien Bernard (France) and Benedikt Strauss (Germany) with a team of enthusiastic volunteers, and offers non-monetary prizes of concerts, CDs, and workshops. 1^st prize was awarded to the duo Stephenson-Barbin, 2^nd prize to a piano quartet performing Dohnanyi’s Quartet in F-sharp minor, and 3^rd prize was awarded to a young German string trio which played Reger’s Trio op. 77b. The finals, presented as a formal concert, drew an exceptionally supportive full house, about 400 listeners. President of the jury, ECMTA Chairman Evan Rothstein was joined by pianist Simon Zaoui, clarinetist Franck Amet, violinists Eva and Emmanuel Hahn from the Arnon Quartet, and Veronique de Boisséson, musical artistic director for the College des Bernardins.

Program >>

The Fédération nationale des associations de parents d’élèves de conservatoires (FNAPEC) has announced the 2011 winners of its international chamber music competition Musique d’ensembles:

Read more >>

Upgrade of the professional level of teachers of chamber music in

The Latvian academy of music named after Jazep Vitola, on the International master courses of the Latvian young musicians and «Winter master classes for Chamber ensemble teachers

«We play music together with friends»

In this report the basic attention is given to possibilities of improvement the qualification of the chamber ensemble teachers in the Latvian academy of music named after Jazep Vitola (LMA), and behind. The chamber ensemble Department was created in 1959. Its founder, the professor and composer Janis Kepitis (1908-1989) lead it till 1981, later this duty carried out prof. Dajna Vilipa, and since 1991 and on the present time the Dean of the Department is prof. Gunta Sproge. On this Department, which is called since 2002 “Department of chamber ensemble and piano accompaniment”, we have well prepared teachers, who not only continue working, but also develop the traditions, which were set up in the Latvian state conservatory of Jazep Vitola (nowadays music academy, LMA), in State musical college named after Gnessin (nowadays the Russian academy of music named after Gnessin. Prof. Gunta Sproge and prof. Aldis Liepinsh finished Post-graduate course in a class of the prof. George Fedorenko), St.-Petersburg state conservatory named after N.A.Rimsky-Korsakov (Prof. Janis Maletskis finished Post-graduate course in a class of prof. Tamara Fidler) and the Moscow state conservatory named after P.I.Tchaikovsky (Inese Milzaraya finished Post-graduate course in a class of prof. Marina Jashvili). Now we try not only to save these traditions, but also to develop, creating new contacts to foreign musical high schools.

 Articles include the complete text of Gunta Melbarde’s conference at the ECMTA annual meeting in Rome, as well as articles by Hans Erik Deckart, Gunta Sproge, Alexander Kulikov, and Anneli Kuusk.

http://kamerfest.lv/en/content/e-journal-0

Contents

PROFESSOR`S VIEWPOINT

• Practical Advice After a Chamber Ensemble Competition
• Professor Gunta Sproge, Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music,
• Head of chamber ensemble and piano accompaniment department

GIVING AND TAKING

• Chamber Music as Training in Musical Teamwork
• Professor Hans Erik Deckert, Hamburg/Germany and Copenhagen/Denmark

NEWS FROM ESTONIA

• Chamber music for young musicians
• Anneli Kuusk, teacher of Heino Eller Music School in Tartu/Estonia

TEACHER`S NOTES

• About romanticism. Piano trio op. 49 d-moll by F. Mendelssohn
• Alexander Kulikov, teacher of Musical Institute Kungsvegen in Espoo/Finland

OUR EXPERIENCE

• Teaching musicians to teach chamber music
• Gunta Melbarde, teacher of Jazeps Medi_š Riga 1st Music School

AMMUNITION

• Festivals, Contests, New Music for the Chamber

Read more (press release) >>

• For Violinists Violists and Cellists aged 12-18.

http://music.indiana.edu/precollege/summer/string/index.shtml

June 18 - July 16, 2011

Intensive training in chamber music: two hours chamber music practice 4 days a week, two one hour lessons and one performance masterclass per week

Solo repertoire: 4 1/2 hours individual practicing every day, two one hour lessons and one performance masterclass each week. Supervision from teaching assistants, regular staff pianists for all sonata and concerto repertoire.

Evening masterclasses with guest artists, Concerts of the Summer Festival with world-famous performers.

Competition for Piano Performers/Groups of Teachers within the framework of the X Regional Open Festival of Chamber Music “Let us fill our hearts with music!”

«…Childhood and youth is a period in life, when human being’s future is designed it is a time when everyone tries something, opens something new for him/herself experiments and is afraid of nothing” D. A. Medvedev   (from RF President address to Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation)

The Children School of Arts (Petrozavodsk) organized the IV International Scientific & Practical Conference “Development of creative potential of the child’s personality. Pedagogical achievements, opportunities and development perspectives. Children & Youth Theatre”.

The first Republican conference about game technologies in creative development was held in 2001 at the Children School of Arts. Participants of the second conference discussed the issue of use of different methods of Art Pedagogy in 2004. In 2007 the holders of the third conference, t.i. Children School of Arts and Center of Informational technologies (Karelia State Pedagogical University) proposed to participants to discuss a very topical subject – Use of informative & communicative technologies in pedagogical activities to develop children’s creativeness.

...their first International Festival of String Quartets, in Sicily.

Take a look at the flyer >>

14th International Chamber Music Course for Young String Players
27th July-7th August 2011 - Pra Catinat, Torino (Italy)

• Special guest: Rohan de Saram
• Honorary President: Dr. Hugh Maguire

The course programme consists of four daily classes two quartet sessions, one mixed group (trio/quintet/octet) and a chamber orchestra session. Every student plays in three different groups, each one coached by a different member of the teaching staff. Specific programmes are devised for established quartets (trios/quintets) who wish attend the course. At the end of the two weeks, all students will participate in both Passeggiata musicale at the San Carlo Fortress of Fenestrelle and in the Final Concert.

http://www.xeniaensemble.it/eng/courses/presentation.php

• Mariana Sirbu, Violin
• Massimo Paris, Viola
• Mihai Dancila, Chelo
• Concerto Malaga, resident orchestra

For detailed information: www.concertomalaga.com/fiapmse/inscripcion

Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre was established 78 years ago. There are over 900 students studying and some 450 professors working at two Faculties: Music and Theater.

There are 530 students studying and 230 professors working in Music Faculty.

I will shortly introduce you to the activity of our department of the last two years.

More information and application forms: www.savonlinnamusicacademy.com

• Master Class for Opera I June 27 - July 5
  Kammersänger Tom Krause (Escuela Superior de Musica, Madrid, Spain)
• Master Class for Opera II July 6 - July 10
  Professor Barbara Bonney (Universität Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria)
• Master Class for Violin July 12 - July 22
  Professor Mi-kyung Lee (Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, Germany)
• Master Class for Cello July 14 - July 16
  Professor Erkki Rautio (Sibelius Academy, Finland)
• Master Class for Viola (& Chamber Music) July 17 - July 26
  Professor Diemut Poppen (Hochschule für Musik Detmold, Germany)
• Chamber Music Master Class (& Violin) July 19 - July 27
  Mark Gothoni (Orpheus Quartet, Universität der Künste Berlin, Germany)
• German Lied Master Class July 22 - July 27
  Professor Hartmut Höll (Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe, Germany)

 Practically all of Jean Sibelius’ early chamber music is now available on CD (the Sibelius Edition volumes 2 and 9 on BIS-records). On the records are some fragments, sketches and pieces of little interest for people besides those working with musicological activities. However, in the Critical Edition of Jean Sibelius' Works published by Breitkopf & Härtel, no volumes of chamber music have yet been published, and the whole project is expected to last still many years. The most important and interesting chamber works among those composed mainly between 1888 and 1890 are the Quartets in B flat Major op. 4 (1889–90) and my favorite: A-minor JS 183 (1889) [both published by Edition Fazer/Warner bros. Company]. A very fine work is the Piano Quintet JS 159 in G-Minor (1890) [Wilhelm Hansen, Copenhagen]. Edition Fazer/Warner has published also the String Quartet E flat Major (1885), two String Trios, A-Major (1889) and G-Minor (1893–94) plus a Piano Quartet in C-Minor (1891). The composer seems to have been rather productive on the field of chamber music at that time.

The style in Sibelius' early chamber music differs quite a lot from his later music. There are still very personal features which were not quite common at that time, especially in his treatment of harmony and form. 

The works published by Edition Fazer/Warner bros. Company are today available from:

Fennica Gehrman, www.fennicagehrman.fi

PO Box 158, FIN 00121 Helsinki Finland

e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

See also :  http://www.sibelius.fi/english/musiikki/kamari_triot.htm

Festival Musiq'3/Coup de jeune: A new branch of the Festival de Wallonie will be launched July 1-3 at the Flagey in Brussels combining students and professionals in an innovative, multidisciplinary, intergenerational concept.

www.festivalmusiq3.be

Benoit Debuyst, Director of Communications for the Festival de Wallonie, and round table participant at the Rome meeting, is pleased to announce the creation of a new festival in Brussels which combines students from the Brussels Conservatory and both national and international professional musicians. A collaboration between Musiq3, the Festival de Wallonie, the Royal Brussels Conservatory, and numerous other partners, the festival features both indoor and outdoor events, mixes soundpainting, flashmobs, and workshops with family workshops and cinema, investing every available space of the Flagey. More than 30 concerts, over a hundred musicians, a large group of chamber ensembles in residence, and a special tribute to Liszt for his 200^th birthday.

More details: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6198052/Programme-musiq3.pdf

Tickets and reservation: www.flagey.be