April 2011 – Project Week, Escola Das Artes Residency

Project Week, Escola Das Artes Residency

March 28th-April 2nd 2011

The term was brought to a close with a wonderful busy week of musical activities centering around the visiting group of young musicians and teachers from the Escola Das Artes, Madeira. The group comprised a brass quintet and string septet, led by violin teacher Vladimir Proudnikov, brass teacher Fabien Filipe and the conservatoire’s director Ines Jardim.

The group’s first day involved a concert at the Town Hall followed by a performance for Portugueuse Mass at St Thomas’s Church (pictured above). The group even got their instruments our for a spot of impromptu ‘busking’ in the church’s Welcome Centre following the service (pictured below).

 

Following this, the tour was based on two main activities. Firstly, during the mornings they visited various schools, including VCP, D’Auvergne, JCG and Springfield, and by the end of the week they had performed to over one thousand children in total! Their visit also fell during the week of the VCP Music Competition, and so the Madeiran students also had the opportunity to help adjudicate various sections of the competition (pictured below).

Secondly, each evening they were joined by academy students from the Upper Intermediate and Advanced departments to form a chamber orchestra, rehearsing together towards a concert at the end of the week. One of the particularly entertaining highlights was the use of one of the academy’s Harmoniums (pictured below), an antique chamber organ which involved pumping air through the pipes with foot pedals whilst playing!

During the week, students from the Junior and Lower Intermediate departments also had Improvisation and Composition workshops with Russell Abraham, giving some new musical ideas. The term concluded with the End of Term Concert on Saturday 2nd April. Our thanks go once more to the Jersey Arts Trust for their support of the academy’s projects.