CONDUCTING MASTER CLASS 2012
Klaus Arp
Dates | 20th – 25th July 2012 | maximum 8 participants
In 2012 Klaus Arp’s Conducting Master Class with “Maribor International Orchestra 2012″ will takes place in Slovenia for the fourth time.
The repertoire of the first year was Stravinsky’s “Pulcinella” Suite, Mendelssohn’s “Schöne Melusine”, Schubert’s 5th symphony and Haydn’s “Surprise” Symphony. The second year, we had Tchaikovsky’s 5th and “Romeo and Juliette”, Beethoven’s “Eroica”, Rossini’s “Guglielmo Tell” overture and Elgar’s “Enigma-Variations”. Last year was even more challenging with R. Strauss’ “Don Juan” and “Till Eulenspiegel”, Berlioz’ “Harold en Italie” and Mahler’s 4th symphony. This proves a truly impressive development of the project, which corresponded perfectly with the level of the young conductors, who were invited to work with the orchestra. The master class is appropriate for professional conducting students or professional music students, who would like to or already have experience in conducting an orchestra. There are different ways of becoming a conductor: being a pianist and studying the orchestral scores, being a composer or being an instrumentalist in the orchestra, who has the feeling to be better than the one in front of their orchestra.
Every year, before we start with young conductors, one part of the repertoire of the Master Class has already been performed by Klaus Arp with the MIO2012. Another part is not rehearsed and will be performed in the second symphonic programme after the Master Class, with Živa Ploj Peršuh conducting. So the participants of the Master Class have the chance to show their skills in rehearsing and performing techniques.
There is such a difference in conducting an orchestra which knows the piece very well or has never seen it before; therefore it is even more interesting for both parts. In this course, we can offer both, which is close to reality: as a young conductor, you must be able to perform a (well known) piece with only one rehearsal, and also to work with orchestras showing them, how to play. And even good well prepared and skilled orchestras need help sometimes, for rhythmical accuracy or intonation perfection.
The first two days are normally filled with theoretical preparation and baton technical work with pianos. It is necessary to be well prepared in advance, because the Master Class is not for learning a piece, but to get more ideas to work on it and how to perform it. The students have to learn and be informed about the background of the repertoire, before the course starts. The repertoire for 2012 is: Haydn’s Symphony N°102 in B-flat Major, Brahms’ “Haydn-Variations” and Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony in F-Minor. These pieces will be performed by the orchestra just before the beginning of the master class.
The non-rehearsed repertoire will be: Dvořak’s Symphony N°8 in G-Major, Stravinsky’s “Jeu de cartes” and Nino Rota’s Concerto for Trombone (with Branimir Slokar as the soloist). The first program is standard repertoire, which exists in countless recordings and versions. For the Haydn-Symphony, the students must consult the later editions, mostly concerning the articulations and bowings, sometimes even tempi. For Tchaikovsky’s music, we always have to decide if we follow the composer’s indications or a special “tradition”, or do we try to find a balance, which is always the question of interpretation and style.
In the next 4 days with the orchestra, conductors get the chance to try everything we have prepared and learned before. Five hours of rehearsals per day, with an open, young and positive orchestra is a privilege hard to find. Klaus Arp always gives freedom to the conductors on how to rehearse: there is not only one way of rehearsing and interpretation. But there is a meaning in all masterworks, and we have to find it and fill it with life.
KLAUS ARP
In his long and abundant international career Klaus Arp successfully combines composing and performing, distinguished by the broad knowledge and the pedagogical engagement for young future highly qualified musicians, all rounding up his incredible agility in the field of classical music.
Since 1981 he was principal conductor in the Philharmonic and the Opera House in Koblenz, where his lyric opera Ogygia was performed in 1988 for the 200th anniversary of this theatre. 1987 – 95 he was chief conductor of the Southwest Radio Baden-Baden / Kaiserslautern Orchestra. 1993 he was appointed to the chair for conducting at the Mannheim University of music and performing arts. He is at the same time a recognised composer whose work has been performed in Europe and Russia. Amongst other guest conducting activities he worked regularly with the Symphony Orchestra of the Croatian Broadcasting Service (Croatia), at the Opera Company of Philadelphia (the USA), with the Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra in Seoul (South Korea) and has conducted in most of the famous concert halls in the USA and Europe.
Profile of Participants
Students, professionals
Course language: English, German
Enrolment fee: 640 €
Application deadline 25th May 2012
