Suzuki Day
Saturday 13th July 2013
This was the third Suzuki Day led by Vanessa Moore and the visiting UK Suzuki specialist, this time involving young cellists led by Emmanuelle Dumas. The day was filled with fun activities, giving the young violinists and cellists lots of games and activities to enjoy. The event concluded with a concert given to all the friends and families (pictured below).
Multi-Piano Extravaganza
Monday 8th to Thursday 11th July 2013
The main focus of this term’s Project Week was a multi-piano event involving all our young pianists. Thanks to the sponsorship of Voisin and the Jersey Arts Trust, we were able to bring over the Burrows Woo Piano Duo from London, and their input to the project was truly inspirational.
At the start of the week all the students involved were divided into different groups of varying sizes (trios, quartets, quintets, and even a piano sextet!). The music given to them was based on the different elements of melody, harmony, rhythm, and texture which make up famous tunes. Over the course of the week the groups pieced together their own versions of the tunes with the coaching of the Burrows Woo Duo alongside Sam Bisson and Chris George.
The concert took place on Thursday 11th July, and the first half of the evening was dedicated to the students’ performances, and a particularly memorable performance was given by the senior piano quartet performing a highly exciting and entertaining version of ‘Discombobulate’ from Sherlock Holmes by Hans Zimmer. The second half of the evening was led by the teachers, firstly with Sam Bisson and Chris George performing Mozart’s Sonata in D for Two Pianos, and then the Burrows Woo Duo took the evening in a whole different direction…!
The duo led the audience into the world of minimalist composer Steve Reich, firstly performing ‘Clapping Music’ to introduce the concept of ‘phasing’ which was then fully demonstrated in a complete performance of ‘Piano Phase’. This was an outstanding and mesmerising performance which introduced everyone to a whole new world of music, and brought the event to a dramatic conclusion. Our thanks go to the Burrows Woo Duo for coming over for this project, and to Voisin for enabling this to happen through their sponsorship.
JAM End of Year Concert at the Jersey Arts Centre
Sunday 7th July 2013, 7pm
The academic year was brought to a rousing conclusion at the Jersey Arts Centre for the academy’s End of Year Concert. The concert featured around forty students of many different ages and levels performing solos, duos and small ensembles. We would like to thank Digital Diggle for coming along to film this concert, DVD’s are still available so just contact us to order a copy.
Grand Hotel Musical Brunch
Sunday 30th June
This was the fourth concert in the series run in partnership with the Grand Jersey. Seven senior students performed a pre-lunch concert featuring music for piano, saxophone, voice and viola to an enthusiastic audience of families, friends, and hotel guests. All the performers enjoyed lunch in Victoria’s Restaurant following the concert, and we would like to thank Grand Jersey for continuing this concert series for the benefit of the young musicians involved.
Brass Day
Sunday 30th June 2013
Coordinated by Pippa Lumbard, the Brass Day brought together thirty young brass students from all over the island for a day of brass instrument activities. Featuring the All Brass Souls brass quintet, the assembled professional performers and teachers led the students through various solo and ensemble activities, including a ‘breathing gym’ and an introduction to the Sousaphone! The day culminated in a concert in which all the students performed, featuring performances from the All Brass Souls (pictured below) to a packed concert hall. We would like to thank Pippa for pulling together such an exciting programme for the students.
Jersey Youth Chamber Orchestra Summer Session
21st-23rd June 2013
For the orchestra’s third session they were led by conductor Aaron Burrows, the local pianist/conductor who has recently completed his studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. The programme focussed on Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks, performed with baroque timpani and harpsichord. The concert also featured saxophone soloist Grace Macdonald, who performed a special arrangement of Ronald Binge’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone composed by local young composer Ruben Maric.
The orchestra met for their first rehearsal on Friday 23rd June (pictured above), and through an intensive series of rehearsals over the weekend coached by Graham Cox (brass), Sarah Le Feuvre (woodwind), Young-Pyo Lee (upper strings), and Emmanuelle Dumas (lower strings), everyone worked extremely hard to get the programme up to performance level by Sunday 23rd June.
Following the final dress rehearsal (pictured above), the concert venue of St James attracted a good size audience that evening, and the concert opened with an outstanding performance given by Elliot Samphier, the PWC Young Musician of the Year 2013. Opening the concert alone on centre stage with a commanding performance of a Bach Partita for Solo Violin, Elliot set the tone for a wonderful evening of music-making and our congratulations go to all the young performers for rising to the challenge once again. The Jersey Youth Chamber Orchestra is run through the partnership of the Jersey Music Service and Jersey Academy of Music, and we are grateful for the continued support of the Strasser Foundation.
The next concert will take place on Sunday 24th November, and will be led by conductor Stephen Threlfall (Director of Music at Chetham’s School of Music) and focussing on a celebration of the music of Benjamin Britten, and the JYCO will be performing alongside the combined VCP/Janvrin children’s choir and a visiting string quartet from Chetham’s School of Music. Please check our website for further info.
Jersey International Festival for Amateur Pianists
25th May – 2nd June 2013
This new residential course for amateur pianists featured Idil Beret and Frédéric Aguessy. Coordinated by Michael Stembridge-Montavont, please visit www.normandypianocourses.com for further information.
Liberation International Music Festival 2013
8th-12th May 2013
Another remarkable line up of international musicians assembled for the Liberation International Music Festival. During this year’s festival the educational activities fell into three different areas:
Firstly, short student compositions based on Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale were performed to open the concert at the Noirmont Command Bunker on Friday 10th May at 1pm, based on the ‘March’ and ‘Dance du Diable’ movements. The student’s compositions were performed by clarinettist Michael Collins, violinist Boris Brovtsyn, and pianist Michael McHale. This provided a fun and dramatic start to a memorable concert of music and poetry.
Later that day at 4.30pm a short session of masterclasses took place for clarinet, cello and piano, in which local students received on-stage tuition from the visiting soloists:
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On the Saturday a large-scale flute project coordinated by Claire Boleat involved seventy eight young flautists in a day of workshop activities led by Philippa Davies, culminating in a massed flute choir performance:
The day ended with a chance for all the students to meet Sir James Galway and watch the final rehearsals of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra:
Our thanks go to Music In Action for involving the visiting team of musicians in these incredibly worthwhile education activities.
Coutances Music Service Residency
25th-27th April 2013
Thanks to a contact initiated by the St Ouen’s Twinning Association, the academy ran a project with a group of young wind players from the Ecole de Musique de Coutances, the region’s music service, led by their Director Philip Arnaud.
During their stay the trio firstly performed at Georgetown Methodist Church to celebrate the church’s 150th concert. Playing alongside Jersey soprano Gabriella Cassidy, the audience enjoyed a wonderful varied evening of music.
The following morning the trio performed a schools concert at Les Landes Primary School, taking it in turns to demonstrate their instruments, leading towards a trio performance of a set of variations by Beethoven on ‘La Ci Darem La Mano’.
During their visit, the students also joined forces with local young musicians to create a large ensemble to rehearse a traditional Klezmer song entitled ‘Bulgar from Odessa’. All the students then performed at St. George’s Church on Friday 26th April to bring the tour to a close, and in this concert a variety of flute ensemble works led by Claire Boleat complemented a variety of cello ensemble works led by Emmanuelle Dumas, and various performances from the visiting students. The concert was enjoyed by a packed church and culminated in the combined groups performing the Klezmer finale together.
Our thanks go to the St Ouen’s Twinning Association for enabling this link to be established, and the Jersey Arts Trust for their support. Dates are already in the diary for the return leg of the exchange to take place in 2014, in which a group of young Jersey musicians will travel to Coutances to perform and work with their young musicians.
Article in Quest France newspaper, 2nd May 2013:
Grand Hotel Musical Brunch
Sunday 24th March 2013, JAM
The concert series linked with Grand Jersey continued with performances from four students in the hotel’s Park Suites. The concert included a variety of pieces including Burgmuller’s Ballade, Chopin’s Mazurka in A minor, and Kabalevsky’s Sonatina no.1 for solo piano, and two contrasting works for trombone. All students and parents then enjoyed lunch together in Victoria’s Restaurant. The next concert in this series will take place on June 30th, and we would like to thank Grand Jersey for continuing to provide this valuable performance platform for the students.
