Royal College of Music Junior Department Day-Trip

21st June 2014

On Saturday 21st June 2014 a group of eight students aged 11-14 had the opportunity to spend a full day at the Royal College of Music Junior Department in London.  Flying over in the morning, the sun was shining and the excitement was already building:

Upon arrival at RCM, their first activity was to join in the RCM JD String Orchestra rehearsal.  They rehearsed Piazzolla’s Libertango,  having prepared their parts in the build up to the tour.  The orchestral staff and conductor welcomed them into the orchestra in a most sensitive and encouraging way, and they sat side-by-side with their London counterparts:

Following this rehearsal, they participated in a Performance Class led by Katya Lebedeva (one of the RCM JD teachers who had come previously to Jersey on several occasions with groups of students) and pianist Leanne Singh-Levett.  All the students performed to each other and received feedback and advice from the teachers.  A picnic lunch in front of the Royal Albert Hall then followed:

After lunch, the students had a guided tour of the RCM, which included a visit to the spectacular library, with their 10,000 strong CD collection, and an interesting collection of old books including the ABRSM Violin syllabus from 1942 (which the students found fascinating to compare with nowadays).  A very engaging and stimulating session then took place at the RCM Museum, in which a series of ancient-instrument specialists gave demonstrations on keyboard, wind, string and brass instruments from different periods of history.  One student even had the opportunity to play a Baroque violin:

This brought us to the end of our day at RCM, and we would like to thank all the staff involved for a simply fantastic experience.  Our thanks also go to the Jersey Arts Trust for their continued support of our Projects and Events.  Plans are underway for their next return visit to Jersey in the next academic year.

 

Liberation International Music Festival 2014

May 7th-11th 2014

The academy is proud to be involved in the educational side of the Liberation International Music Festival, as well as being the centre for all chamber music rehearsals during the week, and the accommodation centre for most of the visiting musicians. A whole range of educational activities took place during the week to help inspire the next generation of local young musicians:

Composition Project

In the weeks leading up to the festival, a small group of advanced students wrote compositions based on ideas from Sergei Prokofiev’s Sonata for Two Violins, and had the opportunity to hear these new works performed by the outstanding Retorica Duo on Wednesday 7th May at the Russian Miniatures pre-concert event outlined below.

Russian Miniatures

A large group of young pianists aged 8 to 13 each performed one work from the great canon of miniature educational masterpieces from mid-20th Century Russia, from composers such as Kabalevsky, Shostakovich and Prokofiev.  This took place on Wednesday 7th May in front of an audience of family and friends.

Pre-Concert Platform at the Opera House

The opportunity to perform at the Jersey Opera House is always an important stage for a young performer, and this pre-concert event featured a quartet of violins performing Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins, and the Flutasia ensemble led by Claire Boleat performing various popular works. All students stayed on after their performance to watch the wonderful Liberation Celebration concert which followed.

Masterclasses and Workshops

On the morning of Friday 9th May simultaneous workshops took place at the academy.  Michael Collins led a clarinet workshop, in which various students performed and a Q&A session took place at the end:

Harriet Mackenzie led a violin workshop with the young violinists who had performed the Vivaldi Concerto for Four Violins:

Phillipa Davies led a flute workshop which combined tuition with a large flute ensemble playing session:

A morning of outstanding inspiration for the island’s young musicians!

 

16 New Street concert series with the National Trust

March 24th-28th 2014

For the academy’s Spring Term Project Week the beautiful Georgian property of 16 New Street, owned by the National Trust, became a centre for a whole week of student concerts.  In total, six concerts took place during the week, giving the opportunity for around one hundred young musicians to perform solos and ensembles.

The week was divided into six different concerts for the different instrumental disciplines of Flute, Percussion, Brass, Piano, Violin, and Cello.  The concert room itself presented a warm and intimate environment for the children to perform in front of family and friends.  At the end of each concert snacks and drinks were served in the lounge, and a retiring collection helped to raise funds for the National Trust.  In total the week raised over £500 for the National Trust.

We are very grateful to Chris Addy from the National Trust for all his help in allowing this project to take place, and to the Jersey Arts Trust for their continued support of the academy’s Projects and Events.

 

 

Musical Tour to Coutances

24th-27th February 2014

A group of five local students and three teachers from the academy spent three musical days in France with the Ecole de Musique de Coutances, the music service for Coutances and the surrounding area.  The Jersey students joined forces with their French counterparts to deliver three concerts during their tour, performing to over five hundred people during their stay.

This is the second leg of the new exchange programme between the Jersey Academy of Music and the Coutances music service, established through the St Ouen’s Twinning Association and supported by the Jersey Arts Trust.  In April 2013 a group of wind students visited Jersey, performing at Georgetown Methodist Church, Les Landes Primary School, and St George’s Church, in the Coutances Music Service Residency.

Rehearsals for this tour began at the start of the Spring Term, when the students devised a programme with teacher Claire Boleat to prepare for the tour, based on a mixture of popular light pieces and more classical flute ensemble repertoire:

The group travelling to Coutances comprised five students in total – four flutes accompanied by violin/piano, and was led by flute teacher Claire Boleat along with Emmanuelle Dumas and Chris George.

During the three day tour the students firstly had the opportunity to visit the Cathedral and Museum during the first morning, and this concluded with a guided tour of the Town Hall followed by a Welcome Reception from Josette Leduc, Minister for Culture (pictured centre below), with members of the St Ouen/Coutances Twinning Committee and teachers from the Ecole de Musique de Coutances:

Following lunch the visiting students gave a schools concert at the Coutances Primary School to over two hundred French children aged 6-11yrs, in which they performed a mixture of lighter repertoire including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang complete with piccolo and swanee-whistle:

That evening the group gave their first public concert at Saint Sauveur Lendelin, in which they met the group of young French flute students with whom they would be rehearsing the following day.  This concert gave all the students the opportunity to perform their ensemble repertoire, and the concert ended with a ‘public rehearsal’ in which all the students performed together the combined piece they had prepared in advance for the first time…in front of the audience!  Thankfully this went well and brought the concert to a fun conclusion.

The following day was dedicated to rehearsals with the combined Jersey/French students, in which they prepared a French suite for flute choir entitled Sardanes, by Joubert, to perform in the final public concert that evening.  The three flute teachers led one movement each, and pictured is Claire Boleat rehearsing the second movement:

There wasn’t a single seat spare at the concert hall at the Ecole de Musique de Coutances that evening, and the concert featured not only the ensemble works from the various flute groups, but also gave each of the Jersey students the opportunity to perform a solo.  The concert concluded with the combined performance of the Sardanes, and one nice addition to the performance were the ‘Concert T-Shirts’ designed by Lauren Gallaher, one of the Jersey flautists, who created T-Shirts for all the students to keep as a souvenir of the project:

 

We would like to thank all the organisations involved in this project, the Ville de Coutances, Ecole de Musique de Coutances, St Ouen’s Twinning Association, and Jersey Arts Trust, for enabling this project to take place, and plans are underway for a large-scale flute project in Jersey next year.