Europe’s most talented young chamber music ensembles to hone their skills and perform in Vilnius
Europe’s most talented young chamber ensembles will be in Vilnius for the whole week of St John’s Day to hone their performance skills. The European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA) session will conclude with the launch of the digital platform for performers’ career skills and two chamber ensemble concerts at the Museum of Energy and Technology and the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.
“This is the eighth edition of the European Chamber Music Academy masterclasses, lectures, workshops and concerts organised by the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. We feel honoured to be members of this prestigious organisation for more than 10 years. Lithuania is the only Baltic country that belongs to this organisation. Our sessions always attract a lot of attention from foreign professors and ensembles and are highly appreciated”, says Prof. Dr. Indrė Baikštytė.
This ECMA session will focus on career planning for chamber music ensemble performers and on developing skills in new performance forms. The practical lectures will be given by chamber music luminaries: the ECMA’s Artistic Director, violinist Prof. Johannes Meissl, Vice-Rector of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, pianist Prof. Avedis Kouyoumdjian, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, and violist Prof. Patrick Jüdt, University of the Arts Berne. Curator and consultant Andreas Vierziger, who has worked with brands such as Vivienne Westwood, Netflix and Sony Pictures, and Inga Uus, a coach, start-up mentor, strategic management and marketing consultant, will also share their experience.
The eighth ECMA Session is special because it will launch the ECMA Digital Knowledge Platform, a new digital tool to help young chamber music ensembles develop. On this platform, chamber music ensemble performers will find a wealth of useful information, lessons, lectures and presentations on chamber music performance, teaching and career opportunities. The new digital tool will be launched at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, from where it will be broadcast to many European music schools. Two piano trios participating in the ECMA session, Ensemble Ramé and Trio Susato, will play during the event.
The ECMA session brings together 6 ensembles from 5 European music schools: the Susato Trio, the Trio Sheliak, Ensemble Ramé, the Cuore Piano Trio, the Coda Quartet and the Helio String Quartet. It is truly impressive that these ensembles include musicians from as many
as 10 different countries – Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Belgium, USA, Philippines, Ukraine, Norway, China and Lithuania. Our country is represented this year by the young and promising Helio String Quartet. All these chamber ensembles participating in the ECMA Session will be heard in two concerts open to the public on 27 June at 7 pm. 27 June at the Museum of Energy and Technology and 29 June at 7 pm. The Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, Great Hall.
“In these concerts, which will take place in a special setting, we will hear refined interpretations of piano trios and string quartets. The programme includes time-honoured masterpieces of chamber music, as well as new works from the second half of the 20th century. This only confirms the great power of chamber music to bring the world and its people closer together,” says I. Baikštytė.
ECMA, or the European Chamber Music Academy, is an international network of European music academies whose mission is to nurture young talent by focusing on established chamber music ensembles such as string quartets, piano trios and others. In order to promote the chamber music tradition and the best young and driven ensembles, the ECMA organises training for top-class performers and provides opportunities for them to present themselves to the general public through concerts.
ECMA graduates and world-renowned ensembles such as the Boulanger Trio, Quartetto di Cremona, Minetti Quartet, Quatuor Zaïde, Trio Gaspard, Trio Bohémo, and many others have gone on to successful careers. Two Lithuanian ensembles – the FortVio Piano Trio (2012-2014) and the Mettis String Quartet (2014-2016) – have become laureates of renowned international competitions thanks to ECMA training, and have given numerous concerts abroad, featuring not only world classical and contemporary music, but also Lithuanian chamber music repertoire.