Report on Symposium 2007
Background to the Symposium
The London String Quartet Foundation continued its renowned pioneering work in the development of
young string quartets with its first London Symposium, held at the Royal Academy of Music from March
30th - April 1st 2007.
Twelve quartets who have not yet started on a professional career worked with six tutors in master class sessions over three days, culminating in a performance on Sunday 1st April 2007.
The quartets came from all over the UK from as far apart as Fort William and Winchester and ranged in standard from Grade 8 up to post-graduate level. All the Symposium sessions and the final performance on Sunday 1st April were open to the public and admission was free.
Application and Selection Process
Information about the Symposium was sent in October 2006 to all junior and senior music colleges and
conservatoires, specialist music schools, university music departments, secondary schools with
Performing Arts School status, independent schools, LEA music services and independent music schools
(just over 600 addresses in all). This mailing resulted in a total of 13 applications; one quartet
subsequently had to withdraw due to injury, so the remaining 12 were all accepted.
The participating quartets were:
Brighton College String Quartet (average age 16.25) - Brighton CollegeChetham's Quartet (average age 14.5) - Chetham's School of Music
Coningham Quartet (average age 23) - Royal College of Music
Cosmopolitan String Quartet (average age 23.25) - Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama
Da Capo Quartet (average age 27) - Guildhall School of Music & Drama
Diamond Quartet (average age 23.25) - Royal Northern College of Music
Galitzin Quartet (average age 25) - Royal Academy of Music
Hampshire Specialist Music Quartet (average age 17.75) - Peter Symonds College
Junior Trinity 1 (average age 17) - Junior Trinity College of Music
Junior Trinity 2 (average age 16.5) - Junior Trinity College of Music
Lochaber High School String Quartet (average age 16) - Lochaber High School
Massey Quartet (average age 21.25) - Trinity College of Music
The dates for the 2008 Symposium are already fixed, so an initial mailing can take place before the end of the summer term. Better follow-up to the mailing, as well as active canvassing of potential applicants known to Board members and LSQF supporters should help broaden the pool of applicants.
Tutors
The tutors, all drawn from the highest level of chamber music performance, were Seppo Kimanen (cello,
Sibelius Quartet and founder of the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Finland); Andras Keller (violin,
Keller Quartet); Johannes Meissl (violin, Artis Quartet); Vladimir Mendelssohn (viola, Enescu Quartet
and Artistic Director of the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival); Christoph Richter (cello, formerly of the
Cherubini Quartet, now with the Heine Quartet) and Roger Tapping (viola, formerly of the Takacs Quartet
and now on the faculties of the New England Conservatory, the Longy School and The Boston Conservatory).
As these musicians do not teach in the UK on a regular basis, it was a wonderful opportunity for the young quartets to benefit from their knowledge and expertise. By the end of the Symposium, each participating quartet had taken part in a session with each of the tutors, giving them a wide-ranging perspective on the art of string quartet playing.
In addition to the master class sessions, Peter Cropper, former leader of The Lindsays, gave an illustrated talk together with the Elias String Quartet (Second Prize Winners at the Ninth International String Quartet Competition 2003), entitled 'The Insiders' Guide to the String Quartet'.
Repertoire
The application information for the Symposium stated that "The repertoire that each quartet brings
should ideally include at least one complete quartet that they would be prepared to play in concert."
All the quartets managed to do this, apart from the two Junior Trinity quartets, who each prepared
two movements from different quartets. The idea was that each quartet had something different to play
for each of the six tutors, so that the quartets did not receive different (and perhaps conflicting)
advice on the same piece or movement. In practice, some of the tutors wanted to coach the same pieces,
and some quartets positively enjoyed hearing different opinions on the same music. The chosen
repertoire ranged from Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven through to Bartok, Britten and Shostakovich. Some
quartets would have welcomed the repertoire being prescriptive, i.e. stipulated by LSQF/the tutors;
this is something to bear in mind for 2008.