National Young String Quartet Weekend, 22nd - 24th February 2008
The first Symposium will be held at Chetham's School of Music, Manchester from Friday 22nd - Sunday 24th February 2008.
LSQF and Chetham's School of Music both believe passionately in developing the art, skill and joy of string quartet playing in young string players. We have jointly created this project, for young string quartets from the UK to spend a long weekend working with four highly distinguished chamber musicians who have also developed the art of string quartet pedagogy, together with the members of one of the UK's leading young String Quartets.
The faculty will be:
Levon Chilingirian (Leader of the Chilingirian Quartet and Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at RCM);
Simon Rowland-Jones (Former violist of the Chilingirian Quartet and Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at RCM, currently Senior Tutor in Viola at RNCM and editor of the new Urtext complete Haydn Quartets for Peters Edition);
Graham Oppenheimer (Founder and former violist of the Schidlof Quartet, now Senior Chamber Music Tutor and Viola teacher at Chetham's School of Music);
Nicholas Jones (Former cellist of the Bochmann Quartet, now Head of Strings at Chetham's and cello faculty member RNCM)
The Carducci String Quartet is recognised today as one of Europe's top young string quartets. Half Irish, half British, they have won prizes at no less than 6 International Chamber Music Competitions, including 1st prize at the 2004 Kuhmo International Chamber Music Competition in Finland, winners of the special prize for "Communication & Culture" at the 2005 Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition and winners of the Jury prize at the 2006 London International String Quartet Competition."...the Carducci String Quartet were stunning...they are clearly musicians of high intelligence." The Times
The weekend will take place from Friday 22nd - Sunday 24th February at Chetham's School of Music, Manchester. We will be able to invite approximately 12 String Quartets of school age to the weekend. Each quartet will receive 6 sessions with 6 different teachers. There will also be working presentations and a performance by the Carducci Quartet. This will include a session on Quartet technique and rehearsal advice with Levon Chilingirian and Graham Oppenheimer and a presentation on Haydn Quartets by Simon Rowland-Jones.
There is a registration fee of £120 per quartet, which is refundable if a place is not allocated. Tuition and a shared room at the Premier Travel Inn near Chetham's (if required) are free of charge; the quartets will need to pay for their own travel and food (in the Chetham's dining room) which will be £30 per head (breakfast, lunch, dinner included) for the entire weekend
Quartets will need to bring a teacher or adult supervisor with them to provide pastoral care. There are rooms reserved at the hotel for the adult supervisors at £62 per night. You will be expected to arrive at Chetham's between 2pm - 4pm on Friday 22nd February for registration and a briefing session. The weekend will finish by 4pm on Sunday 24th February.
Some places are still available, so if you would like a quartet from your institution to be considered for this exciting opportunity, please complete the application form (click here to download the form) and return it with your cheque as soon as possible. We urge early application, as the weekend is sure to be oversubscribed.
For those quartets or institutions who would find this of help, we are able to offer a visit in advance of this weekend from Graham Oppenheimer (subject to availability).