Sunday 15th November
Professor Viktoria Grigoreva from the Royal College of Music Junior Department visited the academy with three of her students aged 13-17. The day was divided up into various activities, in the morning two groups of four local young violinists had the opportunity to receive tuition from Professor Grigoreva in two 2-hour blocks. During this time the visiting young violinists had the opportunity to rehearse in the concert hall with the visiting professional pianist Maria Tara sewicz.
We then held a buffet lunch for all students, teachers and parents to meet, leading into the afternoon concert in which the stage was handed over to the three visiting young violinists Sienna Bramwell-Pearson, Denis Sahnovics, and Mila Ferramosca. A truly outstanding concert enjoyed by all! We would like to thank the Jersey Arts Trust for their support towards our ongoing friendship with the Royal College of Music Junior Department, and look forward to welcoming Viktoria back next year.
August 2015
During August the Jersey Academy of Music flute group were invited to perform around the island to support the charity Music in Action. The group chose to visit a number of nursing homes to bring some musical cheer and entertainment into the lives of the residents.
We hope to be involved in more of these visits in the future to give something back to our local community.
20th-25th July 2015
The academy’s ever-popular summer music course was enjoyed by thirty-five students this year, led by a team of nine teachers. The course is open island-wide, and this year it included children ranging from 9yrs to 17yrs of age, playing violin, viola, cello, piano, flute, saxophone, trumpet, tuba, cornet, and percussion.
The mornings were committed to music tuition, with a variety of one-to-one lessons, chamber music coaching, theory and aural coaching, individual practice, and large ensemble rehearsals using every nook and cranny of the property! All the childrens’ time was fully timetabled, and in the break-times and lunchtimes we all had the opportunity to stretch our legs and let off some steam on the lawns.
The afternoons were dedicated to activites, and the first was an action-packed three-hour session at Creepy Valley, including the Aerial Trek, Powerfan Jump, King Swing, and Zip-Wire. Exhilarating and challenging in equal measure!
The second afternoon was a chance to relax at the Aquasplash leisure pool, and on the third day we had great fun with Lawn Games (including rounders, football, racing, wink-murder, and sleeping lions!). The Thursday evening presented the first concert of the course, and this took place at Georgetown Methodist Church in front of a packed audience. The concert featured a mixture of student and teacher performances.
On the Friday afternoon we were based at St. Brelade’s Bay with Jersey Seafaris, and everyone had the chance to experience the high-speed thrills of the speedboat, and despite the sun not shining at its brightest we were still able to hold the obligatory sand-castle building competition:
The Saturday of the course was dedicated to the final concert, with preparations and final rehearsals all morning before parents, family and friends arrived for the afternoon concert. All the course participants performed the pieces they had worked on all week, and congratulations to all the performers for giving us such a wonderful concert to complete the course!
