There were so many events I could have chosen to go to. Here are the events I dropped in on…

Read the rest of this entry…

First Day: Teacher’s Symposium

My contribution to the Teacher’s Symposium was a recital of exam repertoire (with Richard Shaw at the piano). It was a chance for teachers to hear some of the many pieces in the exam syllabuses and to encourage everyone to try new repertoire. Examiners often tell me that they have to listen to the same pieces from the exam repertoire books over and over again and that they are delighted when a candidate performs more unusual choices. It really helps in the exam if students get off to a positive start with varied repertoire choices and not all the “usual” pieces.

After lunch we were treated to a beat boxing workshop/recital given by Greg Pattillo. Amazingly over 12 million people have heard him on YouTube (follow the Greg Pattillo link to the right). In the evening, a fabulous recital was given by Wissam Boustany and Aleksander Szram, both performers giving their all. Post concert was in the bar with Bridging the Gap (Helen Louise Baker on flute) performing catchy late night Latin numbers.

Second Day (Friday)

7am (!) Yoga and then back to London by train for work so I missed some real highlights, including recitals by Daniel Pailthorpe, Philippa Davies, Ian Clarke, Jonathan Snowden, Michel Debost, Tim Hutchins, Denis Bouriakov and Lorna McGhee. What a day to miss! I returned to Manchester late that evening and had already planned my Saturday must-dos.

Third Day (Saturday)

Another recital for Richard and I, this time in the morning and covering pieces from grades 4 to 6. I hope I’ve encouraged lots of teachers to keep on exploring a wider range of repertoire for their students. A quick lunch and then a massed rehearsal of around 40 players for a special performance of the Tallis Motet “Spem in Alium”. An international mix of players for this one with most of the convention artists taking part, my immediate “deskees” were Denis Bouriakov, Ian Clarke and Kate Hill.

A flamboyant afternoon recital with Robert Dick playing his own works, which included the finest wispy whistle tones and a sliding headjoint which could have been comedic but ended up evoking the nostalgic folksy Chinese flute sounds. Following this I listened to Matthias Ziegler, a must see, who is an extraordinary performer with huge musical integrity and imagination. His performance of a piece he wrote at sunrise can only be described as sounding like a wordless Russian choir. As well as singing and playing, he uses foot pedals to record and overlay sounds and mixes them live as he is playing. After supper, a tour de force from Rachel Brown, performing all the Telemann Twelve Fantasies on baroque flute in the tropical heat of the Royal Northern concert hall. A commanding performance. Finally the late night Tallis Motet “Spem in Alium” performed by the convention artists.

Fourth Day (Sunday)

8.30am Pat Morris gave us some wise insights into her life as an orchestral piccolo player.  A mid morning talk with Barthold Kuijken on the pitfalls and problems of Baroquery. He took us through the importance of exploring the most appropriate solutions for ornamentation given the historical context and style of the music. Some terrific pre-lunch piccolo playing from Stewart McIlwham. I just about made it to the BFS Performance Plus Competition Winners, Helen Wilson and Alena Lugovkina, two fabulous young players making their mark. Then, Barthold Kuijken in an afternoon recital, amazingly simple playing with poise and flair (another must see). Marianne Gedigen and Richard Shaw were the early evening rectal. What beautiful and stylish playing in the Griffes Poem. A mad dash for a train to London and a 1.30am arrival at home.

If you missed it, see you at the next one!