Programs
The Academy for the Study and Performance of Classical Concerti is multi-dimensional. We are about knowledge and the enthusiasm for learning. The success of our program each year results from our unique format of combining the following elements:
-
Information about the classical style (through private lessons and master classes)
-
Understanding and Experiencing the 18th Century Context (in lectures and cultural excursions)
-
Application and Development (in live rehearsals with orchestra), with a
-
Process of Refinement and Communication of Imagination (in public festival concerts with orchestra).
There are four ways to participate:
-
Festival Soloist - Single Concerto Movement
-
Festival Soloist - Complete Concerto
-
NEW! Teacher/Hobbyist Reading Session with Orchestra- Single Movement
-
Festival Auditor
Private Lessons
All Festival Soloists will receive two lessons with a Vienna-trained professor prior to their first rehearsal with the chamber orchestra. Lessons will focus on two broad objectives:
1. Viennese classical tradition of piano performance:
Understanding how touch, articulation and awareness of character and color bring these theatrically-inspired concerti to life.
2. Preparing for your rehearsals with chamber orchestra:
Lessons will focus on your participation in the lively dialogue and conversation between soloist and individual instruments of the
orchestra, and how to create a touch that matches their instrumental timbres.
Master Class
The Masterclass will supplement the private lessons by demonstrating through multiple examples how to effectively integrate the musical role of the soloist into the classical concerto scenario.
Each participant will have a chance to perform sections of his/her concerto that demonstrates the most musical possibilities of this interaction. Emphasis as always will be on the awareness of the theatrical role played by the soloist. The different categories of interaction will be examined, and how to employ touch, balance, nuance and pedal to maximize the result.
Lecture
“Welcome to the 18th century: Classical style at its Source”
Lecture
“Papageno at the Piano: those Mini-Operas Mozart called Piano Concerti”
Performing a Mozart concerto places us at the center of a miracle. To share it as a performer requires our understanding how he did it, i.e., how he transformed the piano concerto from a rather superficial 18th century form of entertainment and technical display into the art form that continues to pack our concert halls today. Mozart did it through his personal passion for opera and for instrumental music. This lecture will show you the path he took.
Lecture
Mozart’s Cadenzas “un-Masked” Tips for writing your own.
Rehearsals with Orchestra: The Moment Arrives!
You sit down in front of the Chamber Orchestra of the Slovak State Opera. They begin the introduction to your concerto. Immediately you notice the varied colors of the winds and brass, against the silky smoothness of the strings. A world apart from the 2nd piano accompaniments back home. It is thrilling and truly magical. Time to enter now, and as your fingers mix their colors with the orchestra you are carried somewhere you’d never imagined. It’s not a dream, of course. It’s the moment when you connect with the Source, and your new understanding of the classical style. The rewards are so unexpected and truly “life-altering.”
Let the journey continue!
