I was so excited to arrive in Dortmund for our Academy project this year. It has always held a very special place in my heart as organising the Academy is one of my main tasks as a board member, and I have seen it develop and mature from our first edition back in 2009.
Principally it gives our MCO members the chance to work with exceptional young talent from our various international partners, a real chance to reconnect with our past, as the MCO was born out of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra back in 1997.
It was great to see the young people I know from Spain, Colombia, Manchester, Australia and NRW, many of whom I have taught during the courses we run over the past few years. There is always a very special buzz as one arrives in the Orchesterzentrum|NRW in Dortmund and some of our members were already getting to know our academists.
I was especially excited to be working on Mahler 1 and Berg Violin Concerto this time. They are both works I know and love and I couldn’t wait to pass on what I had already learnt whilst performing them. I also knew that I would learn alot from the young people in our section, I am always astonished by the new ideas I get from working with people who are discovering such amazing repertoire for the first time.
Well rested and anxious to get on with our rehearsals, we embarked on our first rehearsal. The academists had already been preparing the repertoire and there was a tremendous sense of anticipation in the room as always. The first rehearsal threw up some real challenges as we all met each other for the first time in the orchestra, and started to connect with the various different approaches and styles we heard around us. However, I am always amazed by the speed with which things come together, and the second day was already sounding like we had been playing together for much longer.
We continued working over the following two days, this is always a very intense project as we also try to teach some of our academists individually, coach them for additional chamber music and hold talks and events to reflect on our own careers and how our experiences might help our younger colleagues.
Now well prepared and full of anticipation, we set off for Cologne where our first concert would be in the magnificent Philharmonie. This can be quite intimidating for some as the excellent acoustic is mercilessly revealing and precise, we would also be playing for a live stream. In very authentic touring style we found ourselves trapped in a gridlocked Cologne, everywhere we looked there were static queues of traffic and the time ticked away. This was nerve wracking at the time, but I think this was a great window on what we often have to deal with in the MCO as a touring orchestra. After nearly two and a half hours on the bus we decided to cut our losses, jump off and catch the metro to the concert hall. Our conductor, Omer Meir Wellber, had already parked up on the side of the road and made his own way to the hall. Finally we arrived at the Philharmonie and the concert went amazingly well, our academists really stepping up to the challenges of touring life. The customary complimentary “Koelsch” beer at the end of the evening also helped the atmosphere along.
Now we just had to tackle the remaining two concerts, both of which were wonderful, I was also happy and proud that our students had the chance to play with Isabelle Faust who gave thought provoking and moving performances in all three venues. She is an exemplary musician and professional and watching her work was a masterclass for all of us.
A particular highlight of the project, apart from our passionate concerts, was the impromptu performance of various Paso Dobles at the evening reception after our performance in Dortmund by our Spanish academists from the Jové Orquestra Nacional de Catalunya. I was also part of the proceedings, having lived in Spain for the last 20 years, but the Spanish musicians very much took the helm and it was wonderful to perform with them as they let their hair down.
Once again we had an invigorating time passing on our own experiences, helping our amazing academists to perform at the highest level at our sides, and seeing them connect and form bonds amongst themselves. It’s such a privilege to be part of this amazing academy and we are all looking forward to the next installment in 2018!!
Photos: Martin Piechotta / Petra Coddington
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