Author: P Banks

The 2016 summer school is announced!

by P Banks, posted in News, Workshops

13241606_10208119393214491_213274137_oAfter last year’s incredibly successful workshops, we are delighted to announce today that our summer school will be taking place between 25th and 27th July at Poole Grammar School.

This is an exciting opportunity for young musicians of all levels to meet friends new and old and develop their musicianship in a variety of environments.

The Summer school will consists of a range of activities, each approximately an hour long and the days will be tailor made for each child depending on their age, instrument and ability. All the tutors are chosen due to their expertise, all teach and perform at the highest professional level.

There will be different standard music theory classes based on working towards ABRSM grade 5 level. Those who have passed grade 5 theory will take part in advanced musicianship classes with a highly qualified tutor aimed at educating and inspiring at the highest level. The chamber music groups will be allocated according to instrument and ability. This will include quintets, quartets, trios and larger ensembles and tutors will be visiting from the local Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra as usual. There will also be an improvisation class.

There will be one non musical structured activity during each day and each tutored group will take part in a demonstration of work at approximately 3.30pm on day 3. It is not essential to take part in the 3 days, but highly advisable as their work is leading towards this final performance.

See our feedback from last year’s summer school

For more information or to book your place click here to sign up!

What people have said about our workshops and summer schools

by P Banks, posted in News, Workshops

We run a wide variety of workshops each year including a summer school. This gives an opportunity for young musicians to meet and work together to produce high quality music that stretches and challenges them. Often they would not be able to achieve this on their own without the support from other like-minded young musicians and the teaching that they receive from world-class professional musicians and teachers.

We receive a huge number of lovely comments from parents and participants so don’t just take our word for how good our workshops are please feel free to read what they say about us too!

My daughter, an oboist aged 15, wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. Each afternoon, she returned happy and tired – the best combination. New people and old friends, inspiring adults, plus a massive range of music to enjoy and to challenge. She says that it’s her sight-reading skills that have benefited the most; she covered more music in those 3 days than in months before! The other new element was the chance to play chamber music – itself very focused and exposed – with new people, with the immediate need to listen and trust.

What we as parents appreciated was the absolute commitment, passion, and also sense of fun in the staff who ran the summer school, both administratively and musically. The final concert was relaxed, and yet had a real sense of urgency and a desire to communicate all that they had managed to learn and play together in 3 days.

 

Thank you very much indeed for all that you have done to prepare and direct this summer school. The boys have both thoroughly enjoyed it and benefitted. It’s really great to have had this opportunity so close to home and with such wonderful people taking part and leading – and BSO contacts too. Really great. Thank you. Hope it wasn’t too much for you to put into place. Have a great rest afterwards. Very much looking forward to the presentation this afternoon.

 

From his feedback each day I could tell he’d been busy and given plenty of different opportunities. I really enjoyed the performance too. I’m hoping that it will become a regular event….
Many thanks.

 

Next time we’ll try and make sure he can do the full course – it’s a wonderful opportunity. It’s great to add in the theory, too.

 

I’d just like to thank you Ali and absolutely everyone who has put time and effort into the last three days of BMS. I really hope it happens again next year.

 

Just to thank you for all your hard work with the summer school. Our three children were just able to attend it yesterday, but they enjoyed it and learned a lot. I know you and your team put a lot of preparation into it, and I just want to say that we appreciate it. May you have a well deserved rest!

 

It was fantastic, a great opportunity for children, it was my daughter’s first attempt of playing her cello outside of the school orchestra, she now has the confidence to try and join and outside orchestra. Thank you for everyone’s hard work.

 

I am just so so pleased she attended, despite lots of moans from her beforehand. She has come away so incredibly motivated, now wanting to take her grade 2 in flute and progress. We haven’t heard her play her her flute so much. Last night she wouldn’t put it down and was busy practising scales!! There must have been some magic included in your course. Thank you all so so much.

Workshops in pictures

by P Banks, posted in News, Photos, Workshops

Over the last couple of years we’ve run several very successful workshops and masterclasses with a wide range of age groups and abilities. Our last summer workshop included teachers from the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and several local outstanding schools.

In the summer of 2015 we started working with Soundstorm who have supported our workshops. We are very grateful for their support, without which we would not have been able to run these events.

Have you enjoyed our events? Do leave us some feedback by clicking here, we’d love to hear from you.

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Baroque Café in pictures

by P Banks, posted in Concerts, Photos

Our second event of the 2016 season was a very popular baroque café. With a large number of sweet and delicious goodies to nibble this laid back concert was a real treat!

If you missed out, do look at our photos to whet your appetite just in case we repeat the event in the future, with cakes like these don’t be surprised if it happens again!

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Magic of Christmas12_15

The Magic of Christmas

by P Banks, posted in Concerts

Our next concert is our annual Christmas affair. With mince pies and the smell of mulled wine, is there another concert more civilised? (Actually it will be non-alcoholic punch – still!) .

Join us at Broadstone Methodist Church,
Friday 18th December
7:30pm
£8 adults,
£3 students & children.
Conductor Lynton Atkinson & the Broadstone Music Series orchestra, consisting of local professional musicians.

Before the concert there will be more music from young musicians from 6:45.

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The concert aims to raise money to support the projects and concerts due to be held in 2016.

This year sees classical favourites from the repertoire for all to enjoy, including:

  • Handel Messiah excerpts:
    Singers Christopher Head and Adam Maxey
  • Grosser Herr from Bach Christmas Oratorio:
    Baritone: James Atkinson
  • O Holy Night:
    Singers Yolanda Harding and Jonny Di Garis
  • Laudamus Te from Mozart Mass in C minor
    Soprano: Izzy Atkinson
  • Vivaldi cello concerto in G minor movement 1
    Bonnie Schwartz and Dan Grinstead
  • Vivaldi flute concerto in C Major
    Emily Preston and Evie Cooper
  • Albinoni oboe concerto in D minor
    Polly Bartlett
  • Mozart sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola in E flat major, movement 1
    Nathalie Green Buckley & Gabi Jones
  • Excerpts from Tchaikovsky “Swan Lake”
  • Hallelujah from Handel’s Messiah
    sung by Broadstone Music Series community choir

 

This is one of our most popular concerts of the year so make sure that you get your tickets in advance.

For more details email concerts@broadstonemusicseries.info or call 01202 695773 or from Hintons on the Broadway, Broadstone.

Recital January 2016

Trio Asana

by P Banks, posted in Concerts

Our first concert of 2016 sees the return of Broadstone Music Series regular, pianist Helen Nicholas, performing with musicians from the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in Trio Asana on 23rd January 2016.

Trio Asana open their concert with the Kakadu (cockatoo) Variations by Beethoven. This is an amusing set of variations based on a popular song from the early 1800s.

Next on the programme is Debussy’s Piano Trio which is an early work in a light and lyrical style. The 18 year old Debussy was travelling with a family as resident teacher/pianist. He wrote this piece for his young charges and their talented friends.

The Dumky Trio by Dvorak is the most well known piece on the programme. The Dumkas are alternately slow and fast music which is easily accessible but not without deep running emotion throughout. It has been one of his most popular works since its first performance.

BMS-PIANO-TRO-2016-page-001Saturday 23rd January 2016
7pm
St Nicholas Church, Corfe Mullen
Tickets: £10 adults, £3 student / children

To avoid disappointment purchase tickets from Hintons Broadstone or available on the door. For more details call 01202 695773 or e-mail: concerts@broadstonemusicseries.info

Welcome to the Broadstone Music Series

by P Banks, posted in News

Welcome to our 2014 series of concerts and workshops. 2013 was full of a variety of enjoyable musical events and proved to be a great success. Professional and student chamber music concerts throughout the year were combined with workshops for young musicians. Our fund raising Vintage tea in July was thoroughly appreciated by the local community, when the audience enjoyed a selection of locally made sandwiches and delicious cakes in the United Reformed Church gardens, while entertained by young musicians and older members from the community here in Broadstone. This is something that we would like to develop into a summer tradition, so look out for another one this year, hopefully!

Our various workshops and recitals were successful again throughout 2013. A highlight was when we invited Bournemouth Symphony players to tutor young musicians, alongside Maxime Tortelier, the “Young Conductor in Residence”. 65 young musicians took part in this day and it wasn’t just performing music. We invited a zumba instructor to give everyone a gentle workout during the afternoon break!

Gala concert. Six talented advanced young violists, enjoyed a workshop in the summer from the viola professor Jon Thorne from Royal Academy of Music, and towards the end of the year, we were joined by the “Alauda” string quartet, post graduate students from Royal Academy of Music. They performed for us, but also tutored two young string quartets during the afternoon. This was closely followed by a fund raising quiz night when locals, young and old were challenged during a fun evening while they also enjoyed a ploughman’s meal!

Our Christmas concert was a great end to an action packed second year, when young players sat in an orchestra next to professionals for an evening of Haydn, Mozart and Handel, in candlelight, and solo performances around the Christmas tree. This was a very atmospheric and festive evening. We also formed our own community choir for the last part of the concert.

We are now excited about our 2014 series plans, which will hopefully be another full year of quality music making. Fund raising remains a priority, to enable us to continue at this level, but there will be concerts by seniors students, our returning young professionals, and we are delighted to be able to welcome further professional players to enchant us, and work with and inspire our up-and-coming young musicians. One highlight this year will be a violin recital on June 8th by Amyn Merchant, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s leader.

We continue to be dedicated to the highest standards of excellence and providing performing opportunities for young aspiring musicians alongside renowned professionals. It is our goal to integrate professional musicians, including those in the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, with local young talented musicians through workshops and joint performances. This enables these young musicians who historically further their studies away at Music College or University to have a performance platform at home to the pleasure of us all.

We once again plan to finish the year with a Christmas concert celebration, to include many musicians who have participated throughout the series. We will continue to work towards the objectives of providing education and opportunities to our young musicians and outstanding music for us all with the most generous help of our local professional players. We remain grateful to the advertisers in our programmes and all those who donate time and energy to help with the fund raising in order for our series to continue.

Violin Recital with Amyn Merchant

by P Banks, posted in Concerts

Violin recital
Amyn Merchant, violin
Daniel Tong, piano

Tickets £14.00 Students £5.00

Programme

Schubert Sonatina D.384 in D Major
Janacek Sonata

INTERVAL with Tea & Cakes

Debussy Sonata
Kreisler selection (tbc)

 

Amyn Merchant – Violin

Amyn Merchant studied at the Royal Northern College of Music, and was awarded a post-graduate degree with a distinction in performance in 2001. A keen chamber musician, Amyn has performed recently with other members of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in the Portsmouth Chamber Music series, and has appeared in the Chichester Festivities and Wye Valley Festival. He has also given recitals with piano throughout the UK. He has appeared many times as soloist, including with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Sir Michael Tippett’s Fantasia Concertante on a theme of Corelli, with performances in London, on Radio 3, and on tour in the Far East, and with the BSO in concerts in the UK and France. Most recently Amyn performed The Lark Ascending by Vaughan-Williams with the BSO at the Guildhall in Portsmouth.

Amyn has held posts in the Hallé Orchestra and in the BBC Symphony Orchestra, including Principal 2nd Violin. He has led the 2nd Violins in the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, and has appeared as Guest Leader of the Philharmonia and the Ulster Orchestra. In February 2012 he was appointed Leader of the BSO.
He plays a violin by Andrea Guarneri, which may date from the 1660s.

Daniel Tong – Piano

Daniel Tong was born in Cornwall and studied in London, where he now lives.
His musical life is spent performing as soloist and chamber musician, as well as directing two chamber music festivals, teaching and occasionally writing. Outside the UK he has performed in Sweden, France, Belgium and Portugal. He has recently released his first solo CD of works by Schubert for the Quartz label. He also recorded short solo works by Frank Bridge for Dutton as part of a London Bridge Ensemble disc and broadcast Janacek’s piano sonata live on BBC Radio 3.

He has appeared at many of the foremost British venues and festivals – Wigmore Hall, South Bank Centre, St Georges Bristol, Birmingham Town Hall, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh as well as the Cheltenham, Aldeburgh and Edinburgh Festivals. He is frequently heard on BBC Radio and his performances have been broadcast throughout Europe and beyond. His project, ‘unravelled’ in collaboration with musicologist Richard Wigmore, has seen a series of lecture-recital weekends on Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert amd Schumann piano works. It continues throughout 2013 and 2014 in Oxford and Winchester. In autumn 2012 he was invited to curate an Elgar festival at Kings Place in London and he will curate a Dvorak programme there in 2014. This year he has presented lecture-recitals on Beethoven piano sonatas at St Georges.

His London Bridge Ensemble has established itself as an exciting presence on the UK music scene, combining different combinations of strings, piano and voice to form challenging and inspiring programmes. They were resident for several years at the Ponte de Lima Festival in Portugal and have recorded two CDs of works by Frank Bridge for Dutton (the most recent of which was shortlisted for the Gramophone Chamber Music Award) as well as Schumann and Faure for Sonimage. These releases have each been praised and recommended in the press. The ensemble recently gave performances at the Wigmore Hall and Kings Place in London and broadcast a live concert from Champs Hill in Sussex on BBC Radio 3. In 2009 they established their own festival in Winchester.

Daniel has collaborated with the Elias, Navarra, Callino, Barbirolli and Allegri quartets. He has a regular duo with baritone Ivan Ludlow. Each year Daniel plays with an array of wonderful individual artists, often at his own chamber festivals; in Winchester and also in the Wye Valley. Founded in 1999, the Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival attracts many of the most exciting chamber musicians of the younger generation to spend ten days making music in an area of outstanding natural beauty. The Festival has become a well-established and treasured event in the region’s cultural life, also gaining national attention for its creative spirit and artistic vibrancy.

For 2015 and beyond, Daniel is teaming up with violinist, Krysia Osostowicz for Beethoven Plus! They will present the ten sonatas by Beethoven for violin and piano alongside ten new pieces, each written by a different composer as their reaction to one of the Beethoven works. The project is expanding quickly, but the series is already set to take place at St Georges Bristol and Kings Place in London.

Daniel teaches at the Centre for Young Musicians in Westminster, St Paul’s Girls’ School and privately. He has given classes for Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Junior Guildhall, the Gothenburg Conservatoire and Oxford University. He studied piano with Hilary Coates at school and with Irina Zaritskaya and Paul Roberts at music college. He then went on to work with Grorgy Sebok, Andras Keller and Ferenc Rados at IMS Prussia Cove.