On Saturday 28 March, the Chamber Ensembles participants from the Community Music Centre (CMC) attended a full day Chamber Music Intensive hosted by Musica Viva (in collaboration with the CMC). Joining the hum of Open Day, the Intensive was held in various rooms in the Peter Karmel Building at ANU, CMC homebase.
The CMC Chamber program currently supports ten individual chamber groups who learn the art of chamber music-making each Friday during CMC term time. This program is a unique offering in Canberra, allowing participants to play in small, unconducted chamber groups. It is also one of fourteen programs at the CMC, all of which are 100% financially supported by generous grant funding from artsACT.
The Strike A Chord Chamber Intensive provided each CMC chamber group the opportunity to receive expert tutoring and mentoring from some of Australia's leading Chamber musicians, including Doretta Balkizaz, Larmorna Nightingale, Roman Ponomariov, Simon Powis, Adele Cummings, and Leigh Harrold. The day consisted of a series of workshops for variously-sized groups and culminated with a concert presented by the participants.
We have received glowing feedback from the tutors and participants alike and were pleased to hear at great length the value of this day for all involved.
The Community Music Centre will be entering two CMC Chamber Groups into the Musica Viva Strike A Chord Chamber Competition later in the year. Brass & Ivory (the brass and piano ensemble) and the Junior Guitar Trio have already begun preparation on their repertoire for the competition and will be recording their performance for their application into the competition in May. The Community Music Centre has been a part of the Strike A Chord competition for many years alongside various other groups from all over Australia.