Bournemouth Chamber Music has a long tradition of providing performing opportunities for young musicians. The Young Musicians Development Scheme was created to enhance this.

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For more details about the Young Musicians Development Scheme please contact Rosemary Allen.

Our Young Musicians Development Scheme was started in 2003, primarily to introduce chamber music to young people, both as listeners and participants.As always, the core event last year was a masterclass for local young musicians, giving them the opportunity to receive personal tuition in the intimate art of playing chamber music. And by engaging music college students as tutors - this year a piano quintet, the Rosalyn Ensemble - we give them valuable experience working with young people.

To provide continuity, the lead tutor was Caroline Szram, of the Lycydas Trio, who had taken our first masterclass. This year we again had a mix of young players - strings, wind and piano. They all had the opportunity to play a wide variety of music, with more than one group, often on more than one instrument. The standard achieved, after intensive tuition over a relatively short time, was once again truly impressive. Many of the local players hope to go on to study music after leaving school, and the lunch and tea breaks gave them a chance to chat informally with their tutors about their future.

In May, on the day before their concert for us, the Carducci Quartet gave a masterclass for string quartets, arranged by the Dorset Music Service, and supported by funding from the National Association of Youth Orchestras. We hope to continue our association with the Music Service next year.

Anna Michel, one of our regular Masterclass pupils, adds her own comment.
The BCMS workshop run by Trinity students has become an annual highlight. In the first year the Lycydas trio gave stunning performances of Dvorak and Shostakovich piano trios. As well as this they chatted to us and gave us an insight into the works. We were lucky enough to be able to watch them rehearse before the concert which was useful as we could apply some of their methods to our own rehearsals.

The next two years we were coached by the students. I was put in a piano trio with two other girls (Gill and Amanda) and we have played together ever since! The success of the workshops has been due to the excellent advice the students have given us and their ability to chat to us as fellow musicians without being remotely patronizing. We were all inspired and had a great time.
Another highlight I cannot go without mentioning was the delicious selection of sandwiches and cakes which we stuffed in our lunch breaks! Many thanks have to go Rosemary Allen and the BCMS for organizing such an enjoyable event.

We have just heard that Anna will be going to Trinity College to study violin, so we may be seeing her as one of the tutors in a few years time!

New Initiatives

From 2005 we involved the young people themselves to some extent in the organisation of the scheme, which gave them, if you'll excuse the pun, another string to their bow.

Another peripheral extension of the scheme has been the series of informal lunch time recitals by young players on the last Saturday in the month at the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum in the cafe area. They were started as an experimental joint project with the museum just before Christmas and have proved to be so successful they have become a regular event at the gallery. The young musicians involved have all either attended or hope to attend our masterclasses. So far we have heard a piano trio, a flute duo, a wind group and two violinists, and we hope several groups will play there during the evening before the final fireworks display at Bournemouth pier. And we've had a request to arrange music for a local wedding reception. We hope to extend this aspect of our work next year by arranging a recital in partnership with Lighthouse in Poole in the Studio.

The BCMS Russell-Cotes Recital

The last event of the 2004-5 season saw the Blakemore Trio - the flautist, Zara Bolton, the clarinettist Charlotte Self, both of whom came to be tutors at the masterclass, and their pianist, Andrew Blakemore - give a recital at Russell-Cotes, enjoyed in equal measures by players and audience alike. For future recitals visit the events page for details.

The Blakemore Trio at their Russell-Cotes Recital: Zara Bolton, Andrew Blakemore and Charlotte Self

The Lycydas Trio

The final main concert of our sixtieth season was in a way an extension of the Young Musicians Scheme. The Lycydas Piano Trio, unknown to us three years ago, gave a sparkling and polished performance and we feel proud to have had a hand in getting them started on their professional careers.

Rosemary Allen