On 22-27 June, the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre is hosting a session of the European of Chamber Music Academy (ECMA). The event has brought together chamber ensembles from seven European countries.  Although the ensembles are at the very outset of their professional career, they have already gained recognition. During the ECMA session, the musicians are going to hone their skills with acclaimed masters of classical music and give concerts in the LMTA Great Hall, the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, and perform for socially excluded communities.

Performances for the latter audience are part of the educational method Musethica, developed worldwide.  One of its founders, acknowledged Israeli-German viola player Prof. Avri Levitan is coming to Vilnius to present the Musethica method. Musethica sets not only artistic but also social goals.  Musethica’s motto – Learning by Doing – is put into action by holding concerts where young musicians perform together with recognised professionals. In addition, 85 per cent of the concerts are performed for socially excluded communities. The participants of the Vilnius session will perform at the Blessed Father Mykolas Sopočka Hospice, Valakampiai Social Care Home, All Saints’ Family Support Centre, Pravieniškės House of Correction, Day Center “Šviesa”, and other venues.

The European chamber music session unites two international educational platforms – ECMA and Musethica – and is an exceptional event in the realm of the Lithuanian chamber music.  The session is of particular importance for ensembles who are just starting their careers. Several Lithuanian ensembles that are well-known today – piano trio FortVio, string quartet Mettis, trio Claviola, and others – have received ECMA training.

In Vilnius, the young talents – ensembles from Lithuania, Switzerland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Norway, the Netherlands, and Denmark –  will practise under the tutelage of distinguished Austrian violinist, professor, and Vice-Rector Johannes Meissl and professor and pianist Avedis Kouyoumdjian (both representing the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts), as well as Imke Frank, a cello professor from Germany, and cellist Povilas Jacunskas, an associated professor at the LMTA (who himself was a ECMA session participant 10 years ago). 

The ECMA participants are going to attend performance-focused theory lectures by Professor Nancy J. Uscher of the University of Nevada Las Vegas (USA) (Designing Global Careers for Artists: Inventing Creative and Innovative Opportunities for the 21^st Century), Professor Dario Martinelli of Kaunas University of Technology (The “Chamberization” of Popular Music: From “Yesterday” to Today), and LMTA Professor Lina Navickaitė-Martinelli (Performers’ Gesturality in Sound, Expression, and Communication) (The full programme is available here).

The outcomes of the European chamber music session will be presented to the audience at two free concerts: in the LMTA Great Hall (June 25) and at the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania (June 27).  The concerts start at 6 PM, the admission is free. The programme includes masterpieces of European chamber music. The performance in the LMTA Great Hall on June 25 features the Andersson Duo (Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre), Heathcliff Trio (the Royal Danish Academy of Music), Piano Quintet Profugo Ensemble (Royal Conservatory of The Hague), and Trio Alces (Norwegian Academy of Music). The audience will enjoy works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Antonín Dvořák, and Maurice Ravel.

The performance on June 27 at the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania will feature Rubik Quartet (Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts) with Avri Levitan (viola, Israel-Germany), Trio Chimera (University of the Arts Bern), Duo Cinqordes (Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre) with Povilas Jacunskas (cello), and Trio Bohémo (the Czech Republic). The ensembles will perform chamber music by Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann, Zoltán Kodály, George Gershwin, Joseph Haydn, and Ferenz Liszt.

LMTA information 
15 June 2022

ECMA-MUSETCHICA session is a part of the project „ECMA Pro“ partly funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Commission.

2022 June 27, Monday, 18:00

 National Museum – Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania (Katedros sq. 4, Vilnius).

CONCERT OF THE EUROPEAN CHAMBER MUSIC ACADEMY (ECMA) SESSION 

Registration form for audience

PROGRAMME

Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) 
String quintet No. 1 F-major, op. 88 
Allegro non troppo ma con brio 
Grave ed appassionato 
Allegro energico – Presto 
RUBIK QUARTET (Musethica ensemble, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, Austria): 
Djanay Tulenova (violin) 
Zarina Imayakova (violin) 
Nic Elias Hughes (viola) 
Uhr Mrak (cello) 
AVRI LEVITAN (viola, Israel, director and co-founder of Musethica)

Robert Schumann (1810–1856) 
Piano trio No. 3 g-minor, op. 110 
Bewegt, doch nicht zu rasch 
Ziemlich langsam 
Rasch 
Kräftig, mit Humor 
TRIO CHIMERA (Hochschule der Künste Bern, Switzerland): 
Marta Ceretta (piano) 
Stefano Raccagni (violin) 
Giorgio Lucchini (cello) 

***

Zoltán Kodály (1882–1967) 
Intermezzo for string trio 
George Gershwin (1898–1937) 
Three preludes for string trio (arrangement made by Martin Stegner) 
Allegro ben ritmato e deciso 
Andante con moto e poco rubato 
Allegro ben ritmato e deciso 
DUO CINQORDES (Musethica ensemble, Lietuvos muzikos ir teatro akademija, Lithuania):
Erika Ieva Eriksonaitė (violin) 
Simonas Laučka (viola)  
POVILAS JACUNSKAS (cello, Lithuania, assoc. prof. of LMTA Department of Chamber Ensemble)

Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) 
Piano trio No. 43 C-major, Hob. XV:27 
Allegro 
Andante 
Finale: Presto 
Ferenz Liszt (1811–1886) 
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 9 Carneval de Pest (original trio version by the composer) 
TRIO BOHÉMO (ECMA, Czech Republic):
Jan Vojtek (piano) 
Matouš Pěruška (violin) 
Kristina Vocetková (cello)  

Free entrance

ECMA-MUSETCHICA session is a part of the project „ECMA Pro“ partly funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Commission.

2022 June 25, Saturday, 18:00

LMTA Building 1: Great Hall (Gedimino Ave. 42, Vilnius)

CONCERT OF THE EUROPEAN CHAMBER MUSIC ACADEMY (ECMA) SESSION 

Alces Trio, Norges musikkhøgskole (Norway) 
Andersson Duo, Lietuvos muzikos ir teatro akademija (Lithuania) 
Heathcliff Trio, Det Kongelige Danske Musikkonservatorium (Denmark) 
Piano Quintet Profugo Ensemble, Koninklijk Conservatorium den Haag (The Netherlands)

PROGRAMME

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) 
Sonata for violin and piano No. 7 c-minor, op. 30 
Allegro con brio 
Adagio cantabile  
Scherzo: Allegro  
Finale: Allegro – Presto 
ANDERSSON DUO 
Julija Ivanovaitė (violin) 
Paulius Andersson (piano) 

Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) 
Piano trio No. 3 c-minor, op. 101 
Allegro energico 
Presto non assai 
Andante grazioso 
Allegro molto 
HEATHCLIFF TRIO 
Jonathan Siahaan (piano) 
Ashley Tong (violin) 
Sebastian Kolin (cello) 
Det Kongelige Danske Musikkonservatorium

Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) 
Piano quintet No. 2, op. 81 
Allegro, ma non tanto 
Dumka: Andante con moto 
PIANO QUINTET PROFUGO ENSEMBLE 
Manuel Urios (violin) 
Sarah Nojosa (violin) 
Kaat Schraepen (viola) 
Carmen Ramírez (violoncello) 
Marta Fernández (piano) 
Koninklijk Conservatorium den Haag 

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) 
Piano trio (1914) 
Modéré 
Pantoum (Assez vif) 
Passacaille (Très large) 
Final (Animé) 
TRIO ALCES 
Tokiwa Onoda (piano) 
Ragna Rian (violin) 
Ema Grčman (cello) 
Norges musikkhøgskole 

Free entrance

ECMA-MUSETCHICA session is a part of the project „ECMA Pro“ partly funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Commission. 

2022 June 22–27

LMTA Building 2 (Vilniaus 6-2, Vilnius)

EUROPEAN CHAMBER MUSIC ACADEMY (ECMA) SESSION

Participating Ensembles:  
Andersson Duo (Lithuania)
Alces Trio (Norway)
Trio Bohemo (Czech Republic)
Trio Chimera (Netherlands)
Heathcliff Trio (Denmark)
Piano Quintet Profugo Ensemble (Netherlands) 
Rubik Quartet (Austria)
Duo Cinqordes (Lithuania) 

SCHEDULE

 

Free entrance

 

Project funded by Lithuanian Council for Culture

 

ECMA Pro is a cooperation project, co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the EU

Founded in 2004, the ECMA – European Chamber Music Academy has established itself as the leading further education program for young professional chamber music ensembles in Europe: educational institutions and festivals from all over Europe and beyond cooperate in promoting young formations on their way to artistic independence. At the heart of ECMA are the ECMA Sessions, international coaching sessions lasting several days for young ensembles from all over Europe, which take place alternately at the various partner institutions.

The ECMA Pro cooperation project aims to take the existing ECMA work to another level by adding and proving new formats and activities. Twelve partner institutions from nine different European countries will realize this project cooperatively in the course of the coming four years.

Core aims of the project:

• ECMA Pro will enhance the transnational mobility of artists within the field of chamber music by testing and organizing “show cases” – concerts for a “professional” audience such as concert and festival organizers and agencies – in order to support young ensembles in their international career development.
• The project will strengthen the social relevance and raise the awareness of the social responsibility of musicians as individuals. It aims to deepen the relationship between musicians and their audience by addressing audience development in both traditional and non-traditional performance venues.
• Capacity-building in the field of chamber music will be fostered: beside artistic training and education it tackles career-skills training, audience development and societal outreach.
• ECMA Pro will enhance digitization and encourage students and teachers to use new technologies. Activities will include developing formats of blended mobility; creating an online learning platform for career-skills training and an openly accessible bank of exercises of educational material for chamber music education; and finally building a digital switchboard to facilitate contacts between concert operators and chamber music ensembles.

Project activities

• 12 Showcases, during ECMA Sessions and partner festivals
• 6 ECMA Sessions with Musethica
• 8 ECMA Sessions with Career-Skills Training
• 8 ECMA Sessions with New Performance-Method Training
• ECMA Digital Career-Skills Platform
• ECMA Career Development Switchboard
• ECMA Digital Knowledge Center for Teaching Chamber Music

The ECMA Pro Consortium

ECMA Pro is a cooperation project involving 12 partner institutions and festivals from 9 European countries:

• mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (AT)
• Royal Conservatoire The Hague (NL)
• Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris (FR)
• Norges musikkhøgskole, Oslo (NOR)
• Scuola di Musica di Fiesole – Fondazione Onlus (IT)
• Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, Budapest (HU)
• Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, Vilnius (LT)
• ECMA – European Chamber Music Academy (AT)
• Grafenegg Festival (AT)
• Musethica (DE)                 
• Flanders Festival Ghent (BE) 
• AEC – Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et Musikhochschulen, Brussels (BE)

Background

The situation in Europe in professional chamber music has changed over recent decades: the quality of chamber music ensembles has risen considerably due to better training in higher music education institutions.

For some young musicians forming a chamber ensemble has become a part of their “portfolio career” and therefore plays an important role in securing their economic stability.

As an equivalent to (small) band formations in other genres of music (jazz, rock, pop, world music, etc.), chamber music has acquired a different general appeal to young people. Audiences can relate to the intimacy of small group performances and to the strong individuality of the presentations.

Digital distribution plays an increasingly important role in the dissemination of artistic content as well as in marketing and for booking itself.

Young chamber-music ensembles are still faced with obstacles when starting an international career, primarily having difficulties in making professional connections in other countries.

To avoid an even bigger gap between offer and demand, and to work towards a realistic employability situation for qualified ensembles, it is essential to enhance international co-operation between musicians and “professional partners”, i.e. concert venues, agencies, festivals and organizers of cultural events and social activities.

It is this situation that ECMA PRO wants to address.

Project management

The mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna is the coordinator of the ECMA Pro project and responsible for its overall implementation. The project partners develop the concrete implementation of the project cooperatively in working groups and realize it both individually as well as collectively. The project, which will be evaluated by an external evaluator, runs from 1 September 2020 to 31 August 2024.

Contact
Veronika Leiner
Project Management ECMA Pro
University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw)
email: leiner@mdw.ac.at
phone: +43-1-71155-7451