· 2016 · www.ecma-music.com www.ecma-music.com EUROPEAN CHAMBER MUSIC ACADEMY Oslo 2015 Vilnius 2015 Großraming 2016 contents 04 Preface Bern 2015 Fiesole 2015 08 Erasmus+ 10 ECma – Educational program 12 Partnerships 14 Partners 23 Cooperating partners 24 STaTEmEnTs about ECma i 26 Ensembles 29 Alumni 30 Guest Ensembles 31 Awards and achievements Vienna/Grafenegg 2015 41 General assembly, 2015 42 STaTEmEnTs about ECma ii Oslo 2016 44 Tutors 49 Cd releases Manchester 2016 50 Obituary – peter Cropper 52 Events Vilnius 2016 54 The association as of october 2016 EuropEan ChambEr musiC aCadEmy 3 PREFACE – ThE STORY OF ECMA t was piero Farulli who had the original idea and subsequently asked potential how to search for and find their own inter pre tations. The expansion his good friends hatto beyerle (alban berg Quartet), ­Norbert brainin from string quartets to ensembles with piano or other instruments was a i (amadeus Quartet), and milan skampa (smetana Quartet) to head the natural consequence. first accademia Europea del Quartetto with him in Fiesole. This course, held during 2001 and 2002, was an extraordinary success for the young Today, following more than ten years of excellent work and out standing participants: the incredible experience of spending one week with four great success under the leadership of its two artistic directors, ECma has come artists and masters, each of them so different from the others, was utterly to be regarded as an apex of chamber music training. and a continuously unlike any of the master classes in which they had participated before! increasing number of institutions, academies, and festivals have come to view ECma as an anchor point: not as a standalone school, but as a strate- so piero asked hatto to take the lead and fashion a true programme of ad- gic partnership of institutions, each of which makes its own contribution in vanced training for chamber musicians that would travel throughout Europe. the knowledge that ECma reaches a level that no one institution could hatto, for his part, invested effort and energy into involving Vienna (under the attain on its own. direction of Johannes meissl, who became the programme’s other “driving force”), as well as paris and a steadily growing group of music universities The goal of ECma is music. it is a goal to be reached together – as from other parts of Europe, as well. another central effort they made was institutions, tutors, and young artists – following a few very simple rules: to form a large pool of instructors that would guarantee the highest work together, think together, grow together. quality – teaching not individual interpretation, but the deepest-possible understanding of chamber music along with its history, rules, and back- grounds. in short: instructors who would teach young artists with great Mathias Deichmann LITHUANIA – VILNIUS 2016 Lietuvos muzikos ir teatro akademija September 28 – October 2, 2016 Session © D.MATVEJEV 4 EuropEan ChambEr musiC aCadEmy EuropEan ChambEr musiC aCadEmy 5 PREFACE – ECMA – ThE IDEA PREFACE – ThE FUTURE he idea of founding a new kind of “European string Quartet academy” fter twelve years of intensive work, ECma can be regarded a truly was first introduced to me by one of the greatest musicians i had the pri- successful project! The list of prize-winning and well-recognized T vilege to meet in my life, the unforgettable maestro piero Farulli, on a walk a ensembles is truly impressive! and based on the rich tradition of through the park of the scuola di musica di Fiesole. his idea met with my imme- European chamber music and the constantl re-evaluaton of our approach diate and enthusiastic agreement, and right on the spot, piero appointed me as we are striving to carry on the “ECma spirit” into the future. the first “direttore artistico” of this newly created academia Europea del Quartet- to. There followed a few wonderful initial years of fruitful cooperation between the The “ECma spirit”, which seeks to enable young, ambitious ensembles to instructors piero Farulli (Quartetto italiano), norbert brainin (amadeus Quartet), find their own ways of profound interpretation based on the understanding milan skampa (smetana Quartet), and myself. some years after, as a conse- of the philosophy and the musical language of the 17th and 18th centuries, quence of the death of norbert brainin, it became necessary to reform the aca- not only ought to become a “matter of course” for musicians and audiences demia, and i found it better to place it on a broader footing. after careful delibera- alike, but also enables us to design innovative concepts for the development tion, i decided to base the academia on a more international cooperation, and i of chamber music production and interpretation. therefore con tacted my friend Johannes ­Meissl and others in order to transform the academia into the European Chamber music academy (ECma), with the by embarking on the adventurous journey of the Erasmus+ strategic partnership intention of using this reorganisation to also include piano trios, string trios, project “ECma next step”, we will try to develop new forms of academic and other classical formations in order to convey our old European tradition to inte gration of ECma’s work at European institutions of artistic higher education the broadest possible cross-section of young musicians. while at the same time collaborating even more strongly with the music market. since the days of Guido di arezzo, our occidental music has gone through a ECma will face multiple challenges in the years to come. besides ensuring process of development that is unique among all those phenomena that we define sufficient funding for the further development of our activities in times that in general as “music”. as far back as in the early 16th century, it became intimately continue to be economically restricted, we are also starting to bring the linked with philosophy and mathematics – and it was in this context that music next genera tion into our family of tutors. There are so many wonderful proceeded to develop so rapidly over the centuries that followed. it is thus impos- musicians among our alumni whom we can trust to carry on ECma’s ideas sible for us to truly understand the music of the 17th and 18th centuries without and principles and to develop the project further in the future. and at the same having devoted thorough studies to the music of the 16th and 17th centuries. time, we will be working on a more equal gender balance among our tutors. in much the same way, romantic music is linked with the musical language oft the (Viennese) classical period. and our contemporary musical output is based on the i am convinced that especially right now, when European integration is principles of the 19th and even the 18th centuries. it therefore is of great importance threatened by renationalization and xenophobia, ECma has an important that we provide the next generations of musicians as well with an understanding role to play by enhancing our common strengths in music and culture! of past eras’ musical languages as well as of their national characteristics. For without such knowledge, it is hardly possible to realize good interpretations. Chamber music practice is not only an elevating experience for musicians and audiences because its great masterpieces certainly can be counted if we know occidental music’s rhetorical and harmonic characteristics as well as among the peak achievements of human civilisation, but at the same time its intellectual background and development, and if we know how to interpret the also a model of how to become a socially responsible autonomous philosophy upon which it is based, then all the music created later on becomes personality... clearly comprehensible – and we have a coherent basis for a mode of interpre ta- tion that affords great latitude to our creativity and our artistic imagination. i am happy that there will be new collaborations with presenters, organisations and festivals, and that there is a permanently increasing That is the essential thing that we seek to achieve in our work together with interest in ECma’s activities from all sides! young artists. Hatto Beyerle Johannes Meissl 6 EuropEan ChambEr musiC aCadEmy EuropEan ChambEr musiC aCadEmy 7 ERASMUS+ ERASMUS+ ecMa – next steP is an erasMus+ Project organisation: strategic PartnershiP PrograMMe The steering committee is located in oslo and coordinated with the ECma office in Vienna. The programme includes two working groups, focusing on teaching and in chaMBer Music. learning and on the joint master’s degree programme. The project will be evaluated by an external evaluator, and both students and teachers will participate in the programme until its conclusion on 1 september 2018. Background: Chamber music training is increasingly becoming a crucial component of ith chamber music’s heightened significance both in the labour market per formance degree curricula in higher music education institutions all over the and on European concert stages, educators and musicians are now world because of the shift from permanent forms of employment with fixed con- W facing new challenges and opportunities to develop and innovate so as tracts to employment situations where musicians are work freelance and combine to make possible chamber music activities at the highest level. one of the main different professional activities in the form of portfolio careers. opportunities in the goals of this three-year strategic programme is to ensure the utmost quality of traditional areas of employment such as orchestras and opera houses are growing chamber music training and proactively meet the challenges and opportunities that scarcer, while chamber music is experiencing a heightened degree of significance the increasing demand for chamber music entails. This strategic programme thus on the international concert stage.