Bruno Giuranna and Mark Lambrecht, 9 years of presidency for ESTA: memories and looking at the future
Special session
Sunday, 8th November 2020- 15.00 (Porto Local time)
Chair
Kjell-Åke Hamrén
Socially affiliated cultural administrator, musician, educator and music publisher with an interest in idea development, cultural policy and future education issues. Particular interest in the development of digital solutions in the areas of culture and education. Experienced project administrator. He is PhD student at Department of Musicology, Uppsala University and former President of ESTA.
Panel
Born into a family of musicians, he was one of the founders of I Musici, of the Quartetto di Roma and of the Italian String Trio. He began his solo career by presenting, under the direction of Herbert von Karajan, the world premiere Musica da Concerto for viola and string orchestra written for him by Giorgio Federico Ghedini. He has played with orchestras such as Berliner Philharmoniker, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, and conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Sir John Barbirolli, Sergiu Celibidache, Carlo Maria Giulini and Riccardo Muti. Holder until 1998 of the chair of viola at the Hochschule der Künste (today Universität der Künste) in Berlin, he taught in Musik-Akademie by Detmold, in S. Cecilia Conservatory of Rome, in Royal College and in Royal Academy in London and in master classes around the world. Frequently invited to the Marlboro Festival in the United States, he currently teaches in the courses of W. Stauffer Foundation of Cremona, and ofChigiana Academy of Siena. From 1983 to 1992 he was artistic director of the Chamber Orchestra of Padua and Veneto and in 1988 he chaired the jury of the First International Bruno Giuranna Viola Competition in Brazil. His extensive discography includes recordings for Philips, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI; as a violist he got one Grammy Award Nomination and as director he won a Grand Prix du Disque ofAcadémie Charles Cros of Paris. Deeply convinced of the importance of “playing together” as an irreplaceable tool in the development of the musical personality, he has been dedicating himself for years to the realization of chamber music projects that see him engaged alongside young musicians in Europe and the United States. Knight of the Grand Cross of Merit of the Italian Republic, in 2003 he received an honorary degree in letters from the University of Limerick. After presiding over the Italian section, in 2011 he was elected European president of ESTA, an association that brings together teachers of string instruments in Europe.
Studied Germanic Philology (Swedish and German) at the University of Ghent and then solfège, cello (with A. Messens) and chamber music at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent. Then he specialised in the interpretation of ancient music on periode instruments with Lidewij Scheifes and Anner Bylsma in masterclasses and in 1995 he obtained the diploma of baroque cello with Hidemi Suzuki at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. He plays concerts with baroque specialists, such as Paul Dombrecht, Florian Heyerick and Erik Van Nevel. Besides of that he likes to coorporate in creating new compositions (Agsteribbe – 1995, Van Weerst – 1996). He recorded CD’s with the following baroque ensembles: ‘The Great Charm’, the ‘Telemann Consort’, ‘Le Rondeau’, ‘Il Fondamento’ and ‘Currende Consort’. At the moment he is specialising in Scandinavian music, thus combining both his studies. He is the cello leader in the ‘Orlandus Ensemble’ at Ostend and since 1987 he works as a teacher of cello and chamber music at different music schools in Belgium. His interest in music pedagogy also shows up in the refounding of the Belgian-Flemish ESTA (European String Teachers Association). branch in 2004. He plays a baroque cello copy of J. Guarnerius (Franz Kirschnek, Erlangen/Germany 2011) and a modern cello model J. Guarnerius (Franz Kirschnek, Erlangen, Germany, 2011). Mark have been the president of ESTA Belgium-Flanders from 2004 until 2016 and vice-president of ESTA International from 2011 until 2020 and acting director of the Municipal Conservatory of Bruges in Belgium from July 2019 until now.
Géza Szilvay
Professor Géza Szilvay, born in Budapest, Hungary, studied the violin at the Béla Bartók Conservatory and Pedagogics at the Budapest Music Academy where he graduated in 1966. He also studied law and political science at the ELTE University in Budapest and took his doctor’s degree in 1970. In the 1960’s he played violin in the Budapest Symphony Orchestra and taught and conducted the Children and Youth Orchestra of the Hungarian State Radio and Television. In 1971 he started to teach the violin at the East Helsinki Music Institute, Finland, and 1978-2010 also at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. In 1984-2010 he was Principal of the East Helsinki Music Institute. In 2012 he embarked on an ongoing project “International Minifiddlers” incorporating videoconferencing as a teaching tool, whereby in real time he works with Colourstrings pupils and teachers across the world. Géza Szilvay is the originator of the meanwhile internationally renowned and successful Colourstrings teaching method which at present comprises 42 publications. He has developed the method step by step from the very beginning of teaching small pupils, adding exercises constantly. By integrating the development of musical hearing, musical intellect and emotional world of the child to his teaching of violin technique he applied the principle of reinforcement of perception through joint functioning of the senses. Right from the start he added group teaching to individual tuition and established string orchestras. His 1972 founded and conducted The Helsinki Junior Strings orchestra (now known as The Helsinki Strings) has become renowned through 38 international concert tours worldwide and 28 published recordings under Fuga, Finlandia, Apex and Warner labels. Szilvay’s way of teaching the violin had soon a strong impact on the musical education in Finland and a large percentage of his students over the years became professional musicians. He inspired young parents and little kids all over the country with his TV programme “Minifiddlers in Musicland” in 55 series being broadcasted in the 1980’s by the Finnish Television YLE. As author of the screenplay and performer-tutor throughout the series he smuggled in violin teaching whilst visiting the various places of the “Musicland” with his little pupils. Géza Szilvay gained international recognition not only as violin pedagogue and creator of the Colourstrings method but also as educator and conductor of children’s and youth orchestras. For 10 years he headed the yearly training camp Prima Nota, bringing together young string players from all over Finland and practising and performing with them an appropriate repertoire for youth string orchestras. He has given more than 200 lectures and workshops on his teaching method and philosophy not only in Europe, but further afield in China, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, USA, Canada and Australia. Within the ongoing project “International Minifiddlers” he teaches pupils, violin pedagogues and university students weekly over the videoconference screen in many countries. Participating countries in 2015 include Alaska, Australia, Denmark, England, Faroe Islands, Finland, Germany, Greenland, Israel, Italy and South Korea.
John Shayler
John Shayler’s musical life began with violin lessons at Bedford School with Helena Langford. While studying sociology at Sussex University, he had part-time lessons at the Guildhall School of Music with Joan Spencer, who persuaded him to do a postgraduate year full-time. His association with Bedfordshire Youth Music began in 1968, when he led the then new County Youth Orchestra for a while, before becoming tutor of the violins. After his studies at the Guildhall the then new Music Advisor, Michael Rose, offered him a violin teaching job with the Authority, and after a year, John became Head of String Instrument Teaching, a post he held until his early retirement in 2002. As well as his association with Bedfordshire, John has been a member of the Management Committee and Council of the European String Teachers’ Association for many years, and was appointed Chair of Council in December 2012. Since his retirement, John has been travelling a lot, exploring the sights and beers of over 50 countries.