The European Foundation for Support of Culture (EUFSC) launched a major educational project on September 4-23. The Middle East Classical Music Academy (MECMA) opened in Dubai.
Over 120 young musicians from more than 25 countries of the world took part in the Academy’s master classes of piano, violin, cello, bassoon, trombone, trumpet, oboe, clarinet, French horn and flute. Famous musicians, professors and pedagogues of higher educational institutions of music taught at the academy: violinists Pavel Vernikov (Israel/Switzerland), Boris Kushnir (Austria), Daniel Hop (Great Britain), Sergey Dogadin (Russia), Hayk Ghazazyan (Armenia/Russia), Sergey Khachatryan (Armenia), Graf Mourja (Hungary/Russia), Stella Chen (USA), Svetlana Makarova (Russia/Switzerland), Igor Petrushevsky (Great Britain), pianists Pavel Gililov (Germany/Austria), Giuliano Mazzokante (Italy), Hei Young Kim (South Korea), Stepan Simonyan (Germany/Armenia), Dmitry Alexeyev (Great Britain), Rudolf Buchbinder (Austria), cellists Alexander Ram (Russia), Dmitry Yablonsky (Russia/USA), bassoonists Richard Paley (Israel), Andrey Shamidanov (Russia), trombonists Natanel Bikov (Israel), Vasiliy Kozlov (Russia), trumpeter Vladislav Lavrik (Russia), oboe players Lior Michel (USA), Pavel Orlov (Russia), French horn players Hagayi Shalom (Israel), Vadim Shvedchikov (Russia).
The classes were held in two stages: from September 4 to 13 և from 14 to 23. On those days, in addition to the master classes, day concerts were held, during which the best students of the Academy were able to perform with famous soloists accompanied by the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra and the Kaliningrad State Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of famous conductors.
The Middle East Classical Music Academy, first held in Dubai as part of the InClassica Classical 10th Jubilee Festival, is a project of the European Foundation for Support of Culture. The history of the establishment of the academy began in the distant 2011 with master classes, for which experienced specialists from around the world’s leading conservatories were invited.
Today, according to the President of the foundation Konstantin Ishkhanov, the Academy itself has become a higher school of music. “It is unique in that children gain valuable knowledge and useful practice in a short period of time. They get to communicate with professors and famous musicians from different countries, as well as perform as a soloist with famous orchestras on a big stage. In order to become a student of the academy, you need to fill in the application form on the website. And in order to participate in the open master classes, and to perform on the stage, you will need to go through an additional serious selection stage.”
In this educational project Armenia was represented by 10 scholarship holders from the “Music for the Future” Cultural Foundation, as well as 6 young pianists who were selected in 2020 but were unable to attend the Academy’s master classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
Pianist Ariana Karapetyan attended two master classes of virtuoso pianist Giuliano Mazzocante. “These were two wonderful master classes. In addition, I had the opportunity to learn from world-famous musicians for two weeks. It was an incredible experience and a wonderful memory for me.”
The dream of young cellist Mary Hakobyan came true in Dubai. “I came back from the master classes in Dubai with great impressions. It was a unique opportunity and a great luck for me to listen to such famous musicians as Dmitry Yablonsky and Alexander Ram.”
“The knowledge given to me during the master classes by famous musicians Pavel Gililov, Giuliano Mazzocante and Stepan Simonyan is very useful for me,” said pianist Gur Sargsyan.
“I am very impressed and amazed by the master classes held by the best musicians and teachers. These are not only positive feelings, but also a lot of knowledge which is very important for me. During the classes my lecturers Vladislav Lavrik and Andrey Zdunyuk gave me tips for better performance.” During her 22 days at the Academy, violinist Asya Anisimova managed to attend 44 concerts and numerous master classes. “It was a great experience, a huge opportunity for any musician. Listening to the performances of world-famous artists Sergey Khachatryan, Hayk Ghazazyan, Maxim Vengerov, Graf Mourja, Gil Shaham, Daniel Hop and others, I was able to get a lot of knowledge, new ideas, useful tips, which I will naturally apply in the future.
The lecturers of the Middle East Classical Music Academy mentioned the huge laborious work done by the organizers. “Everything was well organized. The master classes were held in a wonderful atmosphere. It is always a pleasure to work with young musicians with different personalities and talents. It is not possible to correct the performance technique in one or two classes, but you can always give young musicians ideas to think about,” said violinist Sergey Khachatryan.
“The classes at the academy were very intensive, everything was ideal in terms of organization. Cheerful, talented and great children came together and performed complex compositions. I am pleased to see such an aspiration for knowledge. Music is a knowledge that you learn throughout your life. It is very important that children have the opportunity to perform on stage. And not just to perform, but to play with the orchestra. It is a unique opportunity. Learning to play with an orchestra is possible only during practice. And often students have problems with that. They study at the university for 5-6 years, and during those years they get to go on stage and play with the orchestra in a few cases. That is why the Academy is a unique project, where the days of study are remembered for a lifetime,” mentioned pianist Stepan Simonyan.
During the work of the Academy 20 concerts were held, where in addition to young participants, famous soloists Nikita Borisoglebsky, Hayk Ghazazyan, Sergei Dogadin, Andrey Baranov, pianists Constanza Principe, Andrey Gugnin, violist David Aaron Carpenter and others performed. The concerts were accompanied by the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra and the Kaliningrad State Symphony Orchestra. The conductors were Felik Korobov, Ilya Norstein, Giuseppe Bruno, Alexei Nyaga, Mikhail Kirchhoff, Konrad van Alfen, Oliver Weder.
It should be noted that the students of the Academy also had the opportunity to visit the 10th International Music Festival InClassica evening concerts. Upon successful completion of the academy, students were awarded honorary diplomas.
Good job!! So glad for such initiatives
Wow! That’s cool!