Review of BREMF Live! 2007

Brighton Early Music Festival 2007

Report about Early Music Live! Scheme

“[It was an] Invaluable experience, great people committed to helping young professionals find their feet…”!

Christopher Bucknall, harpsichordist with Acis

“I found it very refreshing as it was quite different to recent projects. Performing in a more informal venue helped remind me why I'm a musician and the help with promotional materials was very useful”

Anonymous feedback from participant

“It has really inspired us to work harder….. We got a lot of inspiration from you to promote and believe in ourselves”

Karin Bjork, violinist with Triologue

Introduction to the Report and Appendices

The pilot scheme first year of Early Music Live! -an apprenticeship scheme for young musicians in ensembles – was funded by Arts Council England, Brighton & Hove Council, The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust, Awards for All, The Idlewild Trust, The Stanley Picker Charitable Trust and The Early Music Network. Further in kind support was received from the Royal Academy of Music, who supported the scheme by generously providing a number of rooms for the training sessions, Trinity College of Music and The Brunswick in Hove.

We hope that this report gives a flavour of the impact of this exciting new scheme. The feedback from participants makes for incredibly uplifting and encouraging reading and we would like to thank all these supporters for making possible a project which has received such positive feedback.

Early Music Live! Apprenticeship Scheme for Young Ensembles

“I just wanted to say a Big Thank you for making Thursday's gig happen. There was such a fantastic atmosphere and I can honestly say I've enjoyed few concerts more… It also gave me a wonderful sense of freedom which was extremely refreshing, and reminded me just why I'm doing what I'm doing.”

Hilary Michael, violinist with the ensemble Acis

Early Music Live! included a package of support for 31 young musicians in 9 ensembles, including performance opportunities, delivery of education and outreach sessions, training/workshop sessions and an accreditation process.

The project brought young professional musicians into contact with experienced professionals and the whole community in a project which was very much about “joined-up” thinking and programming. The performances by the young musicians also took the festival into new cabaret/club style settings to reach new and younger audiences.

The aim of Early Music Live was to bridge the gap between the needs of young musicians and classical music promoters. We wanted to help nurture young musicians so that they are equipped to deal with the wide range of skills, which promoters demand from 21^st century musicians. We believe that as well as outstanding musicianship, young musicians need to be able to develop marketable programmes and publicity materials, know how to interact with promoters and be able to deliver innovative education and outreach work. They need to develop a considerable amount of skill and knowledge if they are to compete on equal terms with their more experienced counterparts.

“It has really inspired us to work harder….. We got a lot of inspiration from you to promote and believe in ourselves”

Karin Bjork, violinist with Triologue

Selecting the Musicians

26 Early Music Live! participants (8 ensembles) were paired with 2 jazz musicians, Joe Erber (piano) and Adam Waldmann (saxophone) and world music group The WATU (4 musicians including one cellist who also played in one of the early music ensembles). Therefore, a total of 31 individual musicians took part. The festival also used the scheme to take early music into trendier, more informal settings, reaching people who would not attend a concert in church or a concert hall and enabling them to experience early music for the first time.

Brighton Early Music Festival worked with department heads at Trinity College of Music and The Royal Academy of Music and held 25 auditions. We have since had emails from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and The Royal College of Music who have indicated that they would like to arrange similar auditions in 2008 and beyond. We also plan to hold open auditions in the future.

Early Music Live! participants Acis

after their performance

at the Brunswick Pub

11^th October 2007

© Maurice Shipsey, 2007

The jazz musicians were hand picked by Simon Purcell of the jazz department at Trinity College of Music and the world musician ensemble approached us directly through their connections with the Royal Academy of Music. One ensemble, viol consort Chelys, was also proactive in involving an additional singer-songwriter, Greg Hall, in their programme. The scheme enabled them to work with Greg and to develop some new material which they are planning to develop further and tour in 2008.

The early music ensembles we selected were currently in their final year of undergraduate or postgraduate study or were recent graduates from various music colleges. The selected ensembles were:

Acis (4 musicians - 2 violins and continuo)

Triologue (3 musicians - violin, gamba, harpsichord)

Claire Troth (soprano) and Jamie Akers (lute)

Sensus (4 musicians - recorder quartet)

Treblemakers (also known as Leger de Main) (2 musicians - recorder duo)

Chelys (3 musicians - viol consort)

The 1607 Ensemble (vocal SATB quartet)

The Little Baroque Company (5 musicians - 2 violins, viola and continuo)

Two musicians were in two ensembles and were offered a slightly reduced fee as they were both asked to led the education and outreach work with one ensemble. These were Tomasz Pokrzywinski, Cellist (The Little Baroque Company and The Watu) and Rachael Hatton (Sensus and Treblemakers).

We can supply a full set of Early Music Live! Appendices upon request, these include:

· Full collated survey responses from musicians on the scheme

· Full collated survey responses from the schools who benefited from the education sessions

· Full collated survey responses from the day centres who received the outreach sessions

· Unsolicited email texts received from participants

· A full list of the musicians in each ensemble with:

o the instruments they play;

o the crossover partner they worked with;

o the ensemble’s concert dates;

o the ensemble’s education and outreach dates;

· a biography for each ensemble

· eg of an audition poster (for Trinity College of Music)

· audition timetable at Royal Academy of Music

· the offer letter to successful participants on the scheme

· Introduction to Education and Outreach notes supplied to participants to help them prepare for the education training session

· rotating timetable for the five workshop/surgery slots on the training day: 30^th September

· handouts from Louise Bradbury for the education and outreach training session: 4^th October

An overview of the programme:

Early Music Live! provided each early music ensemble with:

· at least 5 training/mentoring/workshop sessions – the exact number and content of the sessions varied from group to group and from collaboration to collaboration

· a performance platform in the festival in an informal venue

· a chance to devise and deliver both a school workshop programme and a programme to take into day centres for the elderly

Early Music Live! participants The 1607 Ensemble

Publicity shot

The training sessions

“The really passionate / engaging lectures were fantastic and really fired us up to do a good job!”

Christopher Bucknall, harpsichordist with Acis

The exact form of the training programme varied according to the needs of each ensemble. In general, each ensemble had a promotion and publicity surgery, attended an evening education and outreach training session (not including the jazz/world musicians), attended a group presentation / discussion on working with promoters and benefited from between 2 and 4 practical workshops. We also worked around the musicians’ and tutors’ availability, which meant that each ensemble had a bespoke training programme, where possible, tailored to both their needs and their availability. This required a great deal of planning into the small hours for the organizers! One of the respondents to the survey commented on how they really valued this aspect:

“I liked the way each group had flexibility over how they spent the sessions.”

The training and workshop sessions took place throughout the day and evening on Sunday, 30^th September and there was also a three hour education and outreach training session on the evening of Thursday, 4^th October. All these sessions took place at the Royal Academy of Music who supported the scheme by generously providing a number of seminar rooms for the two training sessions. This extremely generous in-kind support demonstrates The Royal Academy of Music’s interest in and support for the scheme. The festival is incredibly grateful to Laurence Cummings and Tabitha Cheyne at the Royal Academy of Music – it was wonderful to have the resources and facilities that the Academy offered, including three rooms with both harpsichord and piano! Without the support of the Royal Academy of Music, we would have struggled to have provided such a flexible training day.

The practical workshop sessions on 30^th September were led by leading musicians who specialise in leading cross-genre work such as:

Angus Smith of medieval ensemble The Orlando Consort/ Mark Lockheart of jazz group Perfect Houseplants
folk/early music performers Laura Cannell and Adrian Lever of Horses Brawl
recorder player Evelyn Nallen of the ensemble Respectable Groove, known for their jazz/baroque crossover work

The education and outreach session was led by Louise Bradbury of Passacaglia and Fontanella and Peter Walker, Primary Music Adviser, Brighton & Hove Music & Performing Arts. The sessions on how to promote your ensemble to, and work with, a promoter, were led by the festival’s Co-Artistic Directors, Deborah Roberts and Clare Norburn.

The idea of the scheme was to encourage artists to take a much more holistic view of themselves and the classical music industry. We encouraged them to think ‘with a promoter’s head on’ and to concentrate on creative programming, marketing and presentation.

“Giving us the opportunity to really solidify in this way as a group is very much appreciated.”

Greg Skidmore, baritone, The 1607 Ensemble

“The discussion about working with promoters was invaluable. The time spent on promotional material was also useful. This was very thought provoking”

Laura Tivendale, harpsichordist with The Little Baroque Company

Early Music Live! participants Treblemakers collaborate with Adrian Lever, guitar

of Horses Brawl

at the Komedia

24^th October 2007

©Maurice Shipsey, 2007

What is important about the scheme

Early Music Live! is a truly unusual and innovative scheme. While some Orchestras run schemes to support young musicians, there is simply no equivalent run by a promoter or focussed on young ensembles. Many promoters have a “performance platform slot” for young musicians, but in some cases this seems as much motivated by a desire to promote a cheap ensemble, as to support the development of young musicians. There is certainly no other scheme run by a promoter which is a cohesive, joined up and integrated package of training, mentoring and performance opportunities for young musicians, which also incorporates education and outreach performances which likewise benefit the local community.

No other scheme enables participants to explore crossover work – many of the participants found this particularly freeing and several commented on how this element put them back in touch with why they had chosen to become musicians. No other scheme incorporates training on how to promote an ensemble and how to work with promoters. Several students commented that the Royal Academy had run a fantastic course focussing on music as a business, but that course was no longer being run. Many participants commented that they found the promotion surgeries and group discussions really helpful, as they gave them a real sense of how the musical world works.

Opportunities for media exposure for young artists

As well as promoting the Early Music Live! scheme and performance in our interviews on BBC Radio 3’s The Early Music Show and through a dedicated press release, we also provided the following media opportunities for three ensembles:

· Muso Magazine, the specialist music magazine for young people, wrote a feature about the scheme and followed it up with a podcast which included an interview with Camilla Scarlett, violinist with Acis – this was Camilla’s first interview. You can hear the interview at http://www.musolife.com/podcast.html

· We pushed hard to get one of the ensembles to appear on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune programme. The duo Claire Troth (soprano) and Jamie Akers (lute) performed live in the studio and were interviewed by presenter Sean Rafferty. This was Claire’s first live broadcast and interview. You can see the picture of Claire, Jamie and Clare Norburn (Co-Artistic Director) in the In Tune studio. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/intune/picturegallery_2007_October.shtml?select=29#imagelink

· The three members of the ensemble Triologue appeared on BBC Southern Counties Radio’s Breakfast Show, together with Co-Artistic Director, Deborah Roberts. This was the ensemble’s first broadcast and interview.

Feedback from Schools and Day Centres

As part of the Early Music Live! scheme for young musicians, participating ensembles attended training on delivery education and outreach work and took performances into 7 day centres for the elderly and 7 schools, benefiting over 200 elderly people and over 800 children.

58% of respondents in day centres had never experience “music like this” before, yet 82% said they would attend a similar performance. Areas for suggested improvement included looking for the musicians to think more about including repertoire which was familiar with the day centre users. For example, one ensemble, Acis included a solo slot for violinist Hilary Mitchell who played some Scottish reels which immediately created a fantastic connection with the audience.

The school reports were also very appreciative of the workshops and it was clear that the musicians had gone to considerable trouble to ensure that they tailored their programmes to the needs of each school.

Feedback from Schools

“This workshop worked so well. The round singing was very appropriate because it encouraged participation as well as placing music in its period.”

[Teacher, Middle Street Primary on a workshop by Early Music Live! ensemble Acis]

“I thought it was great - very interactive, child friendly and fun - loved the dancing! Children loved it too”

[Teacher, Hertford Primary School on a workshop by Early Music Live! ensemble, The Little Baroque Company]

Feedback from Day Centre Users

“Put my faith back into the younger generation”

“I would like to come again”

“I loved watching them play - nice of them to come”

Staff feedback

“It was an interesting and stimulating event, good to have visiting musicians”

“Makes them feel good, cheers them up, it's lovely music”

“Some service users said they found it moving. Everybody appeared to enjoy it”

“I think they really enjoyed all the performances. It brightened their day”

“They got to hear music they have never listened to before”

BREMF Live! Performances and Performance venues

We used three informal venues for the five performances. Three of the performances took place at the Brunswick Pub in Hove in their performance space which is separate from the main bar and therefore was less noisy. The venue was set up for live performances and had excellent P.A equipment. Many of the performers commented in their feedback on what a good space it was. The BREMF Live! performances formed part of the Brunswick’s regular Thursday night live music spot, which encompasses a wide range of musical genres. Staff were very supportive of and open to the scheme and all the performances were packed – attracting at least 70 people on each occasion.

The opening BREMF Live! performance took place at the Old Market arts centre. The “show-case performance” took place on 24^th October at the Komedia downstairs. This was a hybrid event, being both a BREMF Live! concert and a mainstream festival performance. Festival performers, young folk/early music crossover duo, Horses Brawl, were supported by two young duos with folk elements, Claire Troth and Jamie Akers and recorder duo, The Treblemakers. The Treblemakers also collaborated with Horses Brawl in two pieces. The venue was filled with a capacity 250 people.

One of the Brunswick events has attended by one of the promoters at local world, folk and jazz venue, Joogleberry, with whom we had hoped to work this year. They had rejected the idea, feeling that the music would not work in an informal setting. Having seen the success of the scheme and the audience we generate, they have now expressed an interest in hosting a BREMF Live! performance event in 2008.

The Future

Brighton Early Music Festival wants to act as ambassadors for the young ensembles. The festival is currently putting together an assessment document for the participants. This document will not simply focus on musical ability. It will also provide constructive feedback and assessment on issues such as creative programming content and ability to deliver effective marketing material. We believe the feedback document will enable participants to evangelise their successes to other promoters.

We have encouraged each ensemble to submit a concert and outreach proposal for the 2008 festival by the end of the year and have received several proposals. We will choose two of the most creative ideas, based our knowledge of the ensembles. We are looking to show case the ensembles we select for 2008 in a fundraising event on 6^th April, where they will provide the supporting acts for

Early Music Live! participants:

Ivana Cetkovic (violin) and Tomasz Pokrzywinski (cello) of Little Baroque Company

with Adam Waldmann (sax)

and Joe Erber (keyboards)

performing

at the Brunswick Pub

18^th October 2007

©Maurice Shipsey, 2007

extremely popular ensemble, Red Priest. We therefore believe that this kind of showcase will help us to work with the young ensembles to build an audience for their performance in the 2008 festival. We have already used this “show case” model of pairing supporting performances by young unknown artists with our most popular performers, when the largely unknown young ensemble Eclipse were paired to perform with Red Priest in a fundraising event in 2006. Layil Barr of Eclipse writes of the impact this has had on the group’s trajectory:

“We are grateful for BREMF for having faith in us and inviting Eclipse to perform when we were just at the beginning of out journey. It is always difficult to be invited to festivals when one is still 'new in the field' and BREMF was our first major booking.

The exposure that Eclipse received in your festival - concerts, community workshops and radio appearances, opened many more doors for us and as a result we are now booked to many more concerts.”

We are going to approach the Early Music Network to help us to send details round to their other Early Music Network Fundholders. We have also written a Business Plan to show how we intend to develop the scheme in 2008 and beyond. Next year we specifically hope to develop the scheme, so that we have more administration time to more actively invite other promoters to attend performances by the 2007 and 2008 Early Music Live participants. By involving some of the 2007 BREMF Live! participants in 2008 and beyond, we hope that they will be able to share their experiences with the 2008 participants to champion the scheme more widely.

The fact that venues such as Joogleberry and institutions such as The Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama have all expressed an interest in getting involved in the scheme next year, speaks volumes about the profile and success of Early Music Live! in its first year. We have also already received a pledge of £1000 from The Fenton Arts Trust and the encouragement of a further application from The Stanley Picker Charitable Trust (who also supported the 2007 scheme) towards the 2008 scheme.

Feedback from the 2007 Early Music Live! pilot project scheme

The following comments are selected from our in depth full survey (see a copy of full collated comments in the Appendix), which had several sections to it. 10 participants returned forms, some only completed sections that were relevant to them – some ensembles submitted more than one response, most responses were made “on behalf of” the ensemble. The full responses to all 21 questions in the survey makes for interesting reading – see appendices.

Feedback about the crossover workshop / promotional surgeries training day:

“I think you’ve hit on a great balance between allowing the participants to meet one another, meet great tutors, have time to practice on their own, work on exciting new ideas, and generally enjoy the day.”

Greg Skidmore, baritone with the 1607 Ensemble

“It was very helpful to have the brainstorming-type discussion. Many useful and interesting points were raised. I particularly enjoyed the crossover sessions with Mark [Lockheart of Perfect Houseplants] and Evelyn [Nallen, recorder] – it was hugely inspiring and led to an exciting concert.”

“I thought the atmosphere created by the tutors and other participants was one in which experimentation and creativity was really easy. The tutors especially really put me at ease right away.”

Greg Skidmore, baritone with the 1607 Ensemble

Early Music Live! participants Triologue

Publicity shot

“The opportunity to brainstorm ideas with Clare and Deborah. Also the fantastic crossover class we had with The WATU - really nice, creative atmosphere and some really excellent guidance!”

Christopher Bucknall, harpsichord, Acis

What difference do you think today’s training will make to the way you devise programmes?

“It helped us to plan much more efficiently what we were going to do as it had given us clear objectives from the start, making it therefore much easier.”

“The session we had with Angus Smith [The Orlando Consort] and Mark Lockheart [Perfect Houseplants] has really revolutionised the way we plan to work together and given us a lot of direction as we plan for the concert.”

Greg Skidmore, baritone with the 1607 Ensemble

What difference do you think today’s training will make to your ability to promote your ensemble more effectively?

“[the training day] should help us to market ourselves in such a way that we stand out to promoters, but for all the right reasons. It was particularly useful to hear the promoters’ perspective, which is not normally available.”

“The insight into promoters' needs was crucial. There was a lot of very good advice on this.”

Camilla Scarlett, violinist, Acis

What did you like most about the education and outreach training session?

“I thought that what Louise [Bradbury of Passacaglia and Fontanella] had to say was particularly useful. She was very inspiring and gave a good idea of what sort of thing we were expected to do. Before that training day I had absolutely no clue what we were supposed to do, so her session was very informative and useful.”

Karin Bjork, violinist with Triologue

“I found it very inspiring how enthusiastic Louise [Bradbury of Passacaglia and Fontanella] and Peter [Walker, Primary Music Adviser, Brighton & Hove Music & Performing Arts] were. There was a good balance between information on the National Curriculum etc and real life situations. Even having completed a Music in the Community course, I still found it very informative and took away plenty of ideas.”

What difference do you think the education training will make to the way you plan any future education and outreach work?

“It was very encouraging (probably because Louise and Peter were so enthusiastic about what they are doing).”

“[the education training session] will be the basis for any further education and outreach we do. We will remember what we were taught and start from that always”.

Greg Skidmore, baritone with the 1607 Ensemble

What skills / new experience did you gain from taking your performance into a more informal setting?

“It was a very refreshing experience to perform baroque music in a pub. (who knows - maybe much more 'authentic' than performing it in a big concert hall?). I think it was quite a brave idea but it definitely worked!”

Tomasz Pokrzywinski, Cellist, The Little Baroque Company and The Watu

“I used to find it impossible to talk to the audience; now I realized it's actually not that scary.”

Kinga Gabojani, gamba player with Triologue

“[I gained] Confidence in the power of our work to break conventional boundaries - and motivation to take the ideas we encountered further”

Christopher Bucknall, harpsichordist with Acis

“We gained the ability to create something new in a must less structured way than we are used to... We had to allow for flexibility in performance and divorce ourselves from our reliance on the score.”

Greg Skidmore, baritone, The 1607 Ensemble

“It made us look at the music from a different angle giving a new slant to our playing”

What did you MOST enjoy about the experience?

“Playing with such fantastic musicians, and having the chance to create something unique.”

“This finished product in the actual performance was quite effective, and really artistically valid. It was fun to perform.”

“the spontaneity of music making and the lack of pre-conceived ideas”

“it was thrilling then to find common ground within these [different musical] traditions”

What would you say to anyone thinking of auditioning for a future BREMF Live! scheme?

“It's one of the most exciting musical projects I have ever done!”

Tomasz Pokrzywinski, Cellist, The Little Baroque Company and The Watu

“[It was an] Invaluable experience, great people committed to helping young professionals find their feet…”! Christopher Bucknall, harpsichordist with Acis

How has the scheme complemented your other musical studies?

“It’s given a helpful taste of the world of promoters and festivals at a fairly crucial point in my career.”

Camilla Scarlett, violinist with, Acis

“It made it clear for me how important it is to take music to people who would enjoy listening to concerts if they had the opportunity.”

Kinga Gabojani, gamba player with Triologue

“Excellent information about publicity and presentation was given by Deborah and Clare. The encouragement to use non-traditional performance practices was absolutely vital to today’s emerging musician. It is so rewarding to be supported in something like this.”

Jennifer Barron, with viol consort Chelys

Any other comments

“In particular, BREMF has shown me the importance of believing in the product that one is selling to promoters and agents and this something that will shape the projects that I decide to manage and put forward in the future.”

Camilla Scarlett, violinist with, Acis

“The day spent in Brighton on the October 18^th was a thoroughly enjoyable day, the likes of which I haven’t had in a very long time. Giving us the opportunity to really solidify in this way as a group is very much appreciated.”

Greg Skidmore, baritone, The 1607 Ensemble

“I'd like to thank the superb organisational skills and support from the BREMF team. We loved every bit of it.”

Helen Kruger, violinist with The Little Baroque Company

“I wanted to say thanks to you both for the experience we had in the BREMF Live programme. It was good fun, and last night was great!”

Jennifer Barron, player with the viol consort Chelys

“Let me say again how much I enjoyed the scheme. Thanks for giving us a kick start!”

Greg Skidmore, baritone with vocal ensemble The 1607 Ensemble

“just to say how much I enjoyed the experience of doing BREMF live. It was really illuminating in so many ways and left me thinking very carefully about what my priorities in performance and education are and should be.”

Christopher Bucknall, harpsichordist with the ensemble, Acis.

In what ways do you feel we could improve the scheme?