School for chamber musicians at Methven ski lodge

Press, 19 February 1986, Page 20

School for chamber musicians at Methven ski lodge

A ski lodge in Methven is the venue for the University of Canterbury’s third chamber music school.

The director, John Pattinson, senior lecturer at the university’s Department of Extension Studies, says the venue was chosen to create a “sort of holiday atmosphere away from the mundane.” Such an atmosphere is conducive to intense musical z study, he believes.

The four-day school over Easter will indeed be intensive. The programme allows for two coaching sessions in the morning and masterclasses in the afternoon, with evening concerts.

The University’s School of Music trio are the tutorial staff for the school. Maurice Till, Jan Tawroszewicz, and Walter

Godde will take the coa ching sessions. Maurice Till believes the atmosphere of the school with its intensive programme is ideal for musicians. The school is aimed at pianists and string players, he said. Applicants must be over 16. The university has held two previous schools, the first in 1982-83 was at Mt Hutt Station and was a great success. The second, a year later, was not as successful and this time the organisers have opted for the Easter period rather than the summer holidays.

“I think it is a better time of year for many people and it does not clash with a school already being held at

Christmas,” Mr Pattinson said. There was room to accommodate wind players but the emphasis was on the strings and piano, he said. The school, which runs from March 28 to 31, is aimed at improving the standard of playing of chamber music ensembles. Applications do not close until March 10 and the organisers expect several of the applicants to be from the university’s music students. The minimum number for the school is 20, the maximum 40. Provision has also been made, for the first time, for observers and already three observers, two from Wellington and one from Oamaru, have applied. “For those who enjoy listening to chamber

music it is a cheap holiday,” Mr Pattinson said. • * To hold the school, the organisers have to move seven or eight upright pianos from the School of Music to the ski lodge, Carlo’s Place. Mr Pattinson says that will not prove a problem. Fees for those attending the school range from $235 to $llO, depending on whether full board is required. Messrs Pattinson and Till are hoping participants in the school will come from outside Canterbury as well as from Christchurch. Information on the school has been sent to secondary schools and universities. More information is available from the Department of Extension Studies at the university.