London Concert Day-Trip

December 12th 2010

The term was brought to a close with a wonderful short tour to London to attend an afternoon orchestral concert at the Royal Festival Hall given by the Philharmonia Orchestra.  Nine students and three adult supervisors took part in this event, which was sponsored by the Jersey Arts Trust. 

Following a bleary-eyed 6am meet at Jersey Airport, the flight and train to London was over in no time at all, and by 9.30am we were in central London making our way to the Southbank Centre.  The route walking from Victoria Station also presented the opportunity to visit a few key landmarks, firstly Westminster Cathedral:

The sunny walk also continued onwards past the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben:

The short walk along the Thames led through the large Christmas Market on the south bank, and finally to the destination of the Southbank Centre.  Free time followed for a chance to explore this vast facility, housing three concert halls and numerous musical and artistic shops.  After a picnic lunch, and with a couple of hours to spare before the start of the concert, we walked further along the river to visit the Tate Modern, a chance to experience some highly unusual modern works of art:

Upon returning to the Southbank Centre it was time to take our seats for the concert, and the programme of music performed was truly wonderful.  Following Prokofiev’s Suite from Lieutenant Kije, Benjamin Schmid took to the stage to perform Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, which was a performance characterised by a huge depth of tone and some moments of staggering virtuosity.  The second half presented excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, and the opportunity for the orchestra to display a wonderful variety of colours and textures, with some particularly impressive moments of sheer power from the brass and percussion sections, in which the entire hall seemed to vibrate from its foundations!

Following a short journey back to Gatwick Aiport and the flight home, we arrived back in the island feeling as if we had crammed a whole weekend’s worth of visits and activities into one fantastic day!  Our thanks go to the Jersey Arts Trust for sponsoring this event to ensure that many of the costs were covered.  We are looking forward to running similar ‘day-trip’ events in the future, as it is simply incredible just how much can be fitted into one day if you really try!

Adrian Brendel and Min-Yung Kim Masterclass

7th November 2010

Cellist Adrian Brendel and pianist Min-Yung Kim were visiting the island courtesy of the Sundeep Watts Memorial Fund, and were resident at the academy for their visit.  A group of students and staff from the academy attended their concert at the Jersey Arts Centre on Saturday 6th November, which presented four contrasting sonatas for cello and piano – Zemlinsky, Beethoven no.2, Debussy and Brahms no.1.  This event was very well attended and clearly this wonderful duo had the audience spellbound, leading to an encore of Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances.  The following morning the duo gave separate cello and piano masterclasses to a group of local young musicians who had enjoyed the previous evening’s concert. 

We would like to thank the Sundeep Watts Memorial Fund for offering the academy the opportunity to host these fantastic musicians, and for the inspiration they were able to pass on.

JAM Residency: Rococo String Quartet

29^th September – 3^rd October 2010

Music In Action’s outstanding ‘Concert for the Coastline’ with the Jersey Chamber Orchestra took place on Saturday 2^nd October, and as part of the event the wonderful Rococo String Quartet were brought over to the island for a residency at the academy.

During their stay here, the quartet performed an after-school concert which was very well attended by young musicians and their families. The quartet performed Frank Bridge’s Three Idylls for String Quartet, which was a performance marked by some truly impressive and almost ‘orchestral’ textures. This was followed by Mozart’s lively Divertimento in D, in which the group shared some moments of great fun and levity. An interesting Q and A session followed, giving everyone a chance to find out more about the quartet and the music they had performed.

Following this, the quartet were joined by some of the academy’s higher level string students to rehearse and play together Mozart’s Divertimento in D. The opportunity to play in the heart of a professional quartet such as this was a wonderful experience for all involved.

We would like to thank the Rococo String Quartet and Music In Action for this residency, which we hope to repeat in the future.

Tessitori Duo Residency

17th-19th July 2010

The outstanding Tessitori Duo of Isobel Leirera, viola, and Jaoa, classical guitar, visited the island through the support of the Jersey Arts Trust. During their visit they performed for Key Stage 2 children at Springfield School, exploring each of the different Spanish characters in Manuella De Falla’s entertaining Spanish Dances.

They completed their tour with a concert at the academy, in which, amongst other works, they performed Schubert’s ‘Arpeggione’ Sonata, originally for viola and piano but equally musicially convincing in this arrangement for viola and guitar.

Chetham’s School of Music Residency

24th-29th June 2010

For a week in June the academy hosted a wonderful group of young musicians from Chetham’s School of Music. The group comprised a string quartet and wind quintet, led by three members of the teaching faculty including Director of Music Stephen Threlfall.

The first event to take place was a Primary Schools Concert at the Jersey Arts Centre, coordinated by the Jersey Instrumental Music Service. Around 200 children attended this concert, which involved singing and dancing, and a memorable moment where children were invited onto the stage to sit and stand alongside the string quartet to follow their music through the performance of Shostakovich’s 6th String Quartet.

That evening, the group performed their full recital at the Jersey Arts Centre, which was well attended in particular by groups of local young musicians and their families. A wonderful variety of solo performances and ensemble works displayed the expressive and virtuosic qualities of all the different instruments on display.

The following day the group spent a full morning at Victoria College Preparatory School, firstly performing to the whole school, and then working alongside a group of children who had spent the term writing compositions to play alongside the Chethams students. That evening the Chetham’s students were joined by a large group of local young musicians to create a chamber orchestra, rehearsing Britten’s Soirees Musicales and Mozart’s Piano Concerto no. 12, with local soloist Georgina Sutton.

On the Saturday thee group met up at Durrell with all the VCP students to perform the ‘Concert in the Courtyard’. In the beautiful setting of Augres Manor’s courtyard, each of the VCP schoolchildren performed their own compositions alongside the visiting students, in front of an audience of families and holidaymakers. The evening was once again spent rehearsing the chamber orchestra.

On the final day of the tour, rehearsals in the daytime led up to the ‘Chethams and Friends’ concert at the academy, in which the chamber orchestra performed in front of a packed audience, alongside ensemble performances given by the visiting students.

The tour received the support of the Jersey Arts Trust, and by all accounts was a huge success and highly inspirational and motivating for all the local young musicians and schoolchildren involved. Plans are already in motion for next year!