Suzuki Christmas Concert

11th December, JAM

An opportunity for all the young Suzuki Violinists and Mini Cellists to perform in front of family and friends.  Led by Vanessa Moore (violin) and Emmanuelle Dumas (cello), with thanks to Cathy Elliot on piano, the children all got to play together in various groups and many performed short solo pieces too.

Various fun musical games also took place, with movements, dancing and singing, and to help their bowhold position the children got to place chocolate baubles on the christmas tree using only the tips of their bows!  The concert ended with chocolates and squash for the children, and mince pies and mulled wine for the adults!

 

Flutes and Strings at the Jersey Museum

5th December, Jersey Museum

A festive and atmospheric concert to give the opportunity for all flute, violin and cello students to perform.  The Jersey Museum provided a festive feel to this event, which featured performances from Claire Boleat’s ‘Flute Choir’ alongside cello solos and ensembles, and solo performances from all instruments.  Our thanks go to Jersey Heritage for hosting this event and providing the mulled wine and nibbles!

 

JYCO, Benjamin Britten, and Friday Afternoons

21st-24th November 2013

This project was a large-scale collaboration between the Jersey Academy of Music, Jersey Music Service, Jersey Youth Chamber Orchestra, Chetham’s School of Music, Victoria College Preparatory School, Janvrin Primary School and Grouville Primary school, with the support of the Strasser Foundation (Jersey Youth Chamber Orchestra) and Jersey Arts Trust (Chetham’s School of Music involvement).  Delta Conference Systems and Aldeburgh Music  assisted with the live streaming and recording elements of this project.  Concerts took place on Friday 22nd November for schools, and 24th November for the public.

Combined Schools Choir

The combined choirs of Victoria College Preparatory School, Janvrin Primary School and Grouville Primary school were rehearsed by Jane Silvester (VCP and Combined Choirs), Rebecca Lawrence (Janvrin), and Katy Key (Grouville), and enjoyed learning Britten’s ‘Friday Afternoons’, a set of 12 songs composed between 1933 and 1935. The simple songs, with witty piano accompaniments, are dedicated to Britten’s schoolmaster brother, Robert, and the boys of Clive House preparatory school, Prestatyn – a school in which choir practice and singing lessons regularly took place on a Friday afternoon.

Local young composer Ruben Maric composed arrangements of three of the songs for chamber orchestra, Begone Dull Care, New Year Carol, and Old Abram Brown.  The choirs sung on Friday 22nd November to 200 local schoolchildren at a concert coordinated by the Jersey Music Service.

Jersey Youth Chamber Orchestra

At the heart of this project was the Jersey Youth Chamber Orchestra.  This was the orchestra’s fourth session together, and this time they were joined by several students from Chetham’s School of Music, and the orchestra was conducted by Stephen Threlfall, Director of Music at Chets.  The orchestra is run through the partnership of the Jersey Academy of Music and Jersey Music Service, and sponsored by the Strasser Foundation.

For this session the students were coached by Young Pyo Lee (upper strings), Emmanuelle Dumas (lower strings), Julia Arnett (woodwind), Victoria Laurens, Graham Cox, and Allan Jones (brass).

Chetham’s School of Music

Through the support of the Jersey Arts Trust, a group of six young musicians from Chetham’s School of Music accompanied Director of Music Stephen Threlfall and Alice Herbert to the island for this project.  Forming a string quintet with piano, the ensemble performed various pieces by Benjamin Britten including his ‘Simple Symphony’.

The group was also part of the Jersey Youth Chamber Orchestra, and it was lovely to welcome back the four local young musicians currently studying at Chets; Iona Russell (cello), Grace Macdonald (saxophone), Liberty Spears (vocal) and Lylis O’Hara (vocal), to involve them in this project.

Aldeburgh Music

We were delighted that both the Schools Concert and the Public Concert were broadcast live throughout the UK via Aldeburgh Music.  Inspired by the legacy of Britten, Aldeburgh Music is responsible for a year-round programme of artistic endeavour.  This Jersey project was connected to Aldeburgh Music’s Britten Centenary programme and the worldwide ‘Britten 100’ celebrations.  These recordings were also be made into a wonderful professionally produced ‘Concert DVD’.

Logo Design Competition

All the choir children had the opportunity to design a logo for this project, and the entries were adjudicated by Sasha Gibb from the Jersey Arts Trust earlier in the term.

The winning entries for each school were James Murphy (VCP), Rachel Shaw (Janvrin), and Amy Kempster (Grouville), who all received certificates.  The overall winning entry was James Murphy’s striking ‘BB’ design, which was on the T-Shirts of all the choir children, the cover of the programme, and at the top of this article.

 

Eisteddfod Preparation Concert

Friday 25th October

A fun and informal evening concert given by students who are entering this year’s Eisteddfod.  The concert featured a variety of piano, vocal, violin and woodwind performances, a ‘dry-run’ before the festival which will take place from 6th-16th November.

 

Jersey International Masterclasses

Friday 26th July to Tuesday 6th August 2013.

 

In partnership with the Royal College of Music, and with the support of the One Foundation locally, and the Vladimir Spivakov International Charity Foundation and Tsukanov Family Foundation internationally, we have worked closely with Viktoria Grigoreva (professor of violin at Royal College of Music Junior Department and Eton College) to help establish a new international music course for students either studying at music college, or in the final stages of preparing for music college auditions.  The  Jersey International Masterclasses brought together an outstanding faculty of thirteen leading teachers to guide and inspire a total of forty-two students from all over the world in ten days of exceptional music-making.

The teaching faculty featured for violin – Zakhar Bron (Russia), Nina Balabina (Russia/Sweden), Mark Messenger (UK – Head of Strings at RCM), and Viktoria Grigoreva (UK – RCM and Eton College), and for piano – Dmitri Bashkirov (Russia), Leonid Margarius (Russia/Italy), Vanessa Latarche (UK – Head of Piano at RCM), Yekatarina Lebedeva (UK – RCM).  This truly outstanding faculty was supported by Olga Danilova from the Kazakhstan Arutau Specialist Music School and Irina Grebneva from the Ukraine Kharkov Specialist music School, and UK-based accompanist Stephen Meakins.

The visiting students attended from countries as diverse as Russia, China, Singapore, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Italy, France and Sweden.  During the course of the ten days a full programme of lessons, concerts, lectures and masterclasses took place.  Chateau Vermont was the main venue for all tuition, and we were grateful for the support of Grainville School to allow a wing of their facilities to be transformed into additional teaching and practice facilities.  Island Music assisted with the provision of pianos and piano tuning, and concerts took place at the Jersey Arts Centre, Georgetown Methodist Church, and here at the academy.  We were grateful for the partnership of the Stafford Hotel, Revere Hotel, and Grand Jersey to provide a central location for accommodating the visiting students.  We would also like to thank the families of the local students involved for hosting some of the students.

The connections which allowed such an event to get established go back to the March 2011 Madeira International Music Competition and Forum, during which we met Viktoria Grigoreva.  The link developed further with various visits from herself and her colleague Yekatarina Lebedeva (November 2011, May 2012, December 2012).  During these exchanges we started to discuss and plan a more substantial yearly event, and the concept of the masterclasses grew from there.

The Jersey International Masterclasses have been established as a locally-based charitable foundation, entitled Jersey Music Masterclasses Foundation, and we hope that from this solid base and after a wonderful opening year we will be able to make this course a yearly event to bring some fantastic teachers and students from all over the world for the benefit of our local young musicians and the island as a whole.