EGMA

[Jim Garber]

I got this sent to me from a couple of sources. Are any of our group going? I wish I could be there, but it would be a stretch. Has anyone been there in the past?

Jim

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attached please find the invitation for the "III. International Mandolin Symposium" from 29th September to 3rd October 2004 in Bundesakademie Trossingen (Germany), organized by Bund Deutscher Zupfmusiker and European Guitar and Mandolin Association.

Dear Mandolin Friends,

as decided on the General Assembly of EGMA in Patras (April 2003), EGMA is organizing in connection with Bund Deutscher Zupfmusiker and Bundesakademie Trossingen the “3rd International Mandolin-Symposium” from 29.9. – 3.10.2004 in Trossingen (Germany, ca. 100 km in the south of Stuttgart). The idea of the Symposium is to perform an international conference for information about music, instruments and musical education all around the mandolin. A chance to meet and exchange for people from nations all over the world!

[vkioulaphides]

Well, were the actual event scheduled to take place in Patras (on the west coast of the Peloponnese), I might have attended A relatively short train trip from Athens...

As is stands, however, I am indisposed; the fall season at the opera will have begun by then.

[Arto]

Hi Jim,

do you have more information or links about this symposium? There´s some information here (see "Kurse und Workshops") but not much. I´d like to know if they have courses for players of different levels - my German is not good enough to get too much from lectures, even if the content is interesting. In any case, many thanks for telling us about the event!

greetings, Arto

[Jim Garber]

Boy, I wish I could be there...

Below are the details:
It looks like our own Alex Timmerman is part of it as well as Alison Stephens, Ugo Orlandi and Carlo Aonzo.
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Schweizerischer mandolinen- und
Gitarrenorchester Verband (SMGOV)
Frau Heidy Leeb
Zumhofstr. 28

CH-6048 Horw
Schweiz

# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #30th May 2004 # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #


I N V I T A T I O N #
for participation in
III. International Mandolin Symposium
29.9. – 3.10.2004 #in Bundesakademie Trossingen (Germany)

Dear Mandolin Friends,

as decided on the General Assembly of EGMA in Patras (April 2003), EGMA is organizing in connection with Bund Deutscher Zupfmusiker and Bundesakademie Trossingen the “3rd International Mandolin-Symposium” from 29.9. – 3.10.2004 in Trossingen (Germany, ca. 100 km in the south of Stuttgart). The idea of the Symposium is to perform an international conference for information about music, instruments and musical education all around the mandolin. A chance to meet and exchange for people from nations all over the world!

What will be offered?

Next to an attractive musical program, two subjects will be focussed in presentations, discussions and expert-teams:

• Historical performance: #Internationally renowned representatives from various countries have been invited, to give informations about interpretation, construction of mandolin from 18th – 21st century, history and original literature for mandolin.

• Musical education: #The current models of musical education concerning the mandolin at music-schools, conservatories, academies and universities in Europe and oversee will be reported. These are represented in short reports and teams giving information on educational standards, curacies and new trends.

Besides of that there are planned:

• Concerts: The attractive musical performances in these 4 days will be as manifold as the music for mandolin: mandolin solo or chamber music, mandolin and string-quartet or ensembles of plucked instruments played by well known interpreters from Europe and all over the world.

• Exhibitions: #“The mandolin – change and constancy in the period from 1700 to 2004”

• Bibliotheca of Bundesakademie Trossingen: #Between the performances you have the possibility to look at the big special holdings of musical sheets for mandolin and mandolin orchestras, especially the archive material of #Konrad Wölki and Hermann Ambrosius.

• Open Forum: #In an Open Forum the participants can make things a subject of discussion and can ask as well the experts about all subjects around the mandolin.

To this international meeting, we would like to invite experts/artists/teachers and in mandolin music interested people from all over the world.

The results of the “3rd International Mandolin-Symposium” will be printed and published in a final documentation after the Symposium. So this meeting is an musical encounter and the contacts and friendships resulting from it will be a big step forward for the music with and for the mandolin.

Planned lectures, #seminars and workshops

• Pieter van Tichelen, musicologist, Belgium: The mandolin from 1650 to 1720
• Alfred Woll, musical instrument maker, Germany: Copying historical instruments
• Dulio Galfetti, mandolinist, Switzerland: Antonio Vivaldi and the mandolin
• Jean Paul Bazin, mandolinist and musicologist, France: Master of classical mandolin: Gabriele Leone
• Ugo Orlandi, mandolinist and professor for mandolin, Italy: The romantic mandolin of Raffaele Calace and the family Vinaccia
• Alex Timmermann, guitarist, mandolinist and collector of musical instruments, Netherlands: The Roman mandolins from Luigi Embergher
• Alexander Becker, musicologist, Germany: The mandolin in the early romantic
• Marga Wilden-Hüsgen, professor for mandolin, Germany: The “classical” mandolin
• Detlef Tewes, mandolinist and conductor, Germany: From Arnold Schönberg to Frank Zappa
• Marijke Wiesenekker, mandolinist, Netherlands: The mandolin in the popular music

Invited mandolin experts

Avi Avital (Israel), Florentino Calvo (France), Pedro Chamorro (Spain), Ruth Gygax (Switzerland), Annemie Hermans (Netherlands), Jouni Koskimäki (Finland), Caterina Lichtenberg (Germany), Nokolai Maretzki (Belarus), Juan Carlos Muoz (Luxembourg), Ugo Orlandi (Italy), Alison Stephens (England), Thanassis Tsipinakis (Greece),Jose Antionio Zambrano (Venezuela), Takashi Kubota (Japan), Takashi Ochi (Germany), Reidar Edvarsen (Norway), Herta Habersam-Wenghoefer
(Austrian), A. Tsygankov (Russia), Steffen Trekel (Germany), Adrian Hooper (Australia), Shmuel Elbaz (Israel), Gertrud Weyhofen (Germany), Marilynn Mair (USA), Keith Harris (Australia), Fabio Giudice (Italy) , Carlo Aonzo (Italy).

[vkioulaphides]

And parenthetically: On EGMA's website, Florentino Calvo is depicted in duo with Ugo Orlandi. What make instrument is he playing? Any idea?

[Arto]

Oh God! Thanks, Jim!

[Plamen Ivanov]

Hello!

No doubt, that`s the biggest international mandolin forum! But why do I know nothing about the previous editions of it?! Is it organized every year or...?
Unfortunately, I`ll miss this one, because it will be very important for me to stay in Sofia during this period, but the next year I`ll be there.

Good luck!

[Plamen Ivanov]

Just picked up the new "Concertino" from the mail box and found the answers. The first and second Symposiums were in 1988 and 1992. So, most probably the next year there won`t be such a symposium, but... what can we do?!
I really hope some of you guys will be there this year!!!

Good luck!

[Arto]

Here is a link to the invitation (same as Jim has copied above), with additional information about lodging, registration etc. The last registration date to the event is July 1st.

best wishes, Arto

[vkioulaphides]

Well, one could sing the familiar, sad refrain about the total absence of an organized structure of mandolin-pedagogy in the U.S. but, as a matter of principle, I am against whining— unless, of course, the frustration can be turned to something pro-active.

I have mused on occasion with the idea of "playing diplomat": Some of the conservatories and community schools I have taught at have in fact asked me from time to time whether they could add something to their program offerings; I, in turn, have toyed with the idea of pitching the possibility that they engage a professional-grade mandolinist (not me, of course), who could theoretically build a studio of, say, half a dozen students, plus an ensemble curriculum for whatever small groups (duos, trios, quartetto classico/romantico) he/she might be able to assemble.

Still, it's the "theoretically" bit that is simmering, unable to come to a full boil. Hmm... Perhaps this is a topic for a whole new thread on the possibilities of a grass-roots institution of mandolin pedagogy in American conservatories or, for that matter, ANY teaching establishments offering a music program.

After all, it is reciprocity that drives the market: The Acme Co. builds the Acme Paperclip, which the public buys some of (because they are available) and uses (because they are useful), and subsequently uses more of (because applications multiply or alternative applications are discovered), only to raise demand for them and thereby stimulate the Acme Co. into churning out even more Acme Paperclips. At Step #1, however, SOMEone at Acme Co. has to be the catalyst and say "hey, whad'ya think about making some, errr... —that's it!— paperclips?"

[Jim Garber]

I imagine that the place to start would be the CMSA which does hold their annual convention, this year in Philadelphia in November. Victor, barring unforeseen consequences, I will be there. I think that would be the central organization to start the ball rolling.

It is disheartening for those of us over here, of course, to see the stellar lineup of both friends and folks we admire (some of whom cross over both catagories) and frustrating not being able to attend.

Jim

[margora]

I expect to be at CMSA and would be happy to participate in said dicussions.

On EGMA: anyone know or want to hazard a guess as to whether there will be a vendor's fair? Can't tell from the website information.

[vkioulaphides]

Well, #Robert, while the website does not mention anything specific, I find it hard to imagine that none would exist. Judging, that is, from my participation in double bass conventions (where, naturally, all sorts of bass-related items are peddled in profusion), I would almost assume the same would apply to EGMA.

Of course, you do have to verify before committing to the trip, if you are considering making it for the primary purpose of a purchase.

Jim, I, too, admire (and have joined) the C.M.S.A. Whether I make it to Philadelphia or not, however, really hinges on my schedule at the opera, which, alas, is not publicized to us orchestra yeomen/yeowomen until late August, early September. So, it is all pending...

Having said this, I believe that the C.M.S.A. (and all such, similar organizations) stand at another end of the "market reciprocity" dynamic I was speaking of earlier. Noble, yes, worthy, yes, important, yes; still, it is the administration of the individual, specific XYZ Community School for the Arts, as prompted by the mando-friendly faculty-member *diabolical snicker* that will put the actual course offering on the catalog, thereby getting the proverbial ball rolling.

That, of course, by way of voicing my own, catalyst vs. activist bias— I don't expect others to either agree or follow, nor do I wish to enter into a broader debate on the economics/politics of it all.

[Jim Garber]

I imagine that a few of our esteemed members are participating at this event. I look fwd to the report of how it went.

Jim

[Plamen Ivanov]

I`m also curious...