Christmas Concert at the Jersey Museum
Thursday 6th December 2012, Jersey Museum
A wonderful and unique event to end the term with, the reception hall of the Jersey Museum was transformed into a ‘christmassy concert hall’ with over one hundred children, young musicians, families and friends packed in to hear the music performed. This ranged from some of the youngest students having their first opportunity to perform in a concert, to performances given by some of the older and more advanced students. There was plenty of Christmas Cheer to be found, with the Jersey Museum cafe/restaurant very kindly laying on mulled wine and canapes for everyone. Our thanks go to Jersey Heritage for their partnership in this event, and we hope to make this a regular feature of the winter programme of events.
Royal College of Music Junior Department and Friends
Sunday 2nd December 2012, JAM
For this visit, professor Katya Lebedeva from the Royal College of Music Junior Department visited the island along with three of her outstanding young pianists. Local advanced pianists from the academy had the opportunity to receive tuition from professor Lebedeva in the morning, following which the whole group had lunch together before rehearsing for the concert. The concert in the afternoon gave the opportunity for all students to perform, and a wide variety of works were performed to an enthusiastic audience of families, friends, and young musicians. Our thanks go to the Jersey Arts Trust for their sponsorship of this event.
Jersey Youth Chamber Orchestra Winter Session
Sunday 25th November 2012, St. James
For the second outing for this new orchestra, the students performed Bizet’s L’Arlesienne Suite no.2 and Mozart’s Violin Concerto in G with local young soloist Elliot Samphier. The concert opened with a solo performance of works by Prokofiev and Faure given by Jennah Smart, a local flautist who is in her final year of undergraduate study at Trinity College of Music. This was a performance marked by beauty of sound and moments of breathtaking speed and virtuosity.
The orchestra then took to the stage led by conductor Stephen Threlfall, Director of Music at Chetham’s School of Music. The orchestra opened with Elliot Samphier on violin and the first movement of Mozart’s Violin Concerto in G, which was a performance of huge confidence, wit and drama given by this outstanding young musician.
The orchestra was then in the spotlight with Bizet’s L’Arlesienne Suite no.2, and particular highlights were the woodwind solos in the 2nd and 3rd mvts, with Megan John on flute giving a beautiful rendition of the Minuet accompanied sensitively by Krystian Lamb on piano. The 4th movement, Farandole (March of the Kings), build to a huge climax and the resultant ovation from the audience demanded an encore of the rousing finale of this movement.
The orchestra is run through the partnership of the Jersey Academy of Music with the Jersey Music Service, and sponsored by the Strasser Foundation. For this session the instrumental tuition was provided by Young-Pyo Lee (upper strings), Emmanuelle Dumas (lower strings), Sarah Le Feuvre (woodwind), Graham Cox (brass), and Russell Abraham (percussion). The next session will take place in Summer 2013.