From the Baroque violin to jazz improvisation

The April round of master classes is opened by Jeroen Berwaerts, on 8-9 April 2014. The extremely broad repertoire of this Belgian trumpeter spans Baroque music through the classics and contemporary works right up to jazz. In the course of his career he has clocked up numerous competition wins, including the Maurice André Trumpet Competition, considered one of the most important by players of the instrument. His outstanding technical capabilities and sensitive musicality have guaranteed him a major solo career, while he is a regular guest at music festivals and with top orchestras. He has been first solo trumpet player of the Radio Symphony Hamburg since 1999 and he is the trumpet teacher of the Hochschule für Musik in Hannover. He has devoted considerable time to chamber music and for several years played as a member of Canadian Brass, following which he moved on to the Stockholm Brass Ensemble. Jeroen Berwaerts holds his two-day Liszt Academy trumpet master class in classroom X of the main building on Liszt Ferenc Square. Active participation in the master class is open to students of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music only; students of other institutions can apply as observers only. Applications should be addressed to freytag.orsolya@zeneakademia.hu. The trumpet player gives a solo concert (free admission) prior to the start of the course, on 7 April, in the Old Academy of Music.
 

Jeroen Berwaerts

Liszt and Poetry is the title of the two-day course with lecture by Dr. Thomas Mastroianni, President of the American Liszt Society, on piano works of Liszt that have associations with literary works. The master class is held between 8-9 April 2014. Professor Mastroianni graduated from the Juilliard School of Music, and he earned his Doctorate from Indiana University, Bloomington, where he worked with legendary ex-professor of the Liszt Academy Béla Böszörményi-Nagy and Sidney Foster. Between 1961-1972 he was Chairman of Applied Music and Professor of Piano at Texas University, and between 1972-1981 he was Dean of Music at The Catholic University of America. From 1981, for nearly two decades he was Chairman of Piano at the same institution, and Professor Emeritus of the university since 2000. In addition to his teaching career he has also appeared as a concert pianist in 20 countries on four continents, and among his many recordings his CDs of selected piano works by Brahms, Liszt and Debussy are exceptional. He is a 1992 recipient of the Medal of the Hungarian Liszt Society for his cultivation of the Liszt oeuvre. In addition to his university teaching he has given many lectures and master classes in America and around the world, and besides being an expert on the art of Liszt and other Romantic composers he has taught courses in Piano Technique emphasizing the physiological aspects of technique. Professor Mastroianni regularly publishes articles and lectures on the subject of the physical and mental conditioning of performance artists, concentration, memory techniques, practice and stress management. The focus of his course arranged in classroom XXIII of the central building of the Liszt Academy is on piano works by Ferenc Liszt that have literary associations (Harmonies Poétiques et Réligeuses, Petrarch Sonnets,  Après une lecture du Dante, Mephisto Waltz, song and opera transcriptions etc.). During the lecture – illustrated with screenings and musical interludes – that accompanies the course Dr. Mastroianni will examine the significance of tonalities, figuration, scales, chords and formal elements that can be perceived after a close reading of the music and texts. Applications for an active role in the course (in English) will only be accepted from DLA students and regular students of the Liszt Academy majoring in piano, where possible with a Liszt work appropriate to the topic of the course. Participation as an observing student is free of charge for students of the Liszt Academy and the Béla Bartók Vocational Secondary School of Music, while outsiders can join the course on payment of HUF 3000/day. Participation – both active and passive – requires registration at szabo.agnes@zeneakademia.hu, latest by 28 March 2014.

Dr. Thomas Mastroianni

Simon Standage returns to the Liszt Academy between 9-12 April 2014. Former and current concertmaster and artistic leader of English Concert, Collegium Musicum 90, the Academy of Ancient Music and English Baroque Soloists, and first violinist of the Salomon String Quartet, he is holding a master class on the Baroque violin and chamber music for all students and musicians interested in early music performance practice. Chamber ensembles are also welcome to apply. Participation in the course being staged in the Studio of the Ligeti building is free of charge for students of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music and Béla Bartók Grammar School and Vocational Secondary School of Music; others may take part in the workshops as active participants for HUF 5000/day, and as passive participants for HUF 2500/day. Applications must be made by 4 April 2014 latest; completed registration forms downloadable by clicking here should be sent to orosz.dora@zeneakademia.hu.
 

Simon Standage

Szakcsi Lakatos Béla és Binder Károly are holding master classes entitled "Improvement of improvisational skills" for students of classical piano of the Liszt Academy on 12 and 26 April 2014 in Room 123 in the Ligeti building. Participation is exclusively open to students of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, and is free of charge. Applications for either or both of the two dates can be made to szabo.agnes@zeneakademia.hu by 8 April.

In the coming weeks we are opening applications for the cimbalom course by Daniel Skala (24-25 April 2014), and Baroque flute master class by Ildikó Kertész (23-25 April 2014). We would like to draw attention to the Liszt Piano Workshop (20-25 May 2014) being staged with the participation of Nelson Goerner and Sylviane Deferne, professors of the Geneva Conservatory of Music. The workshop is organized by the Liszt Academy in the framework of the "Liszt and Bartók pilgrimage years" project carried out in Swiss-Hungarian partnership together with the Bartók string quartet courses headed by Sándor Devich and Gábor Takács-Nagy in June.

Details can be found by clicking on the links above or by going to the new university site of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music at http://lfze.hu/en/master-classes.