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THE National Philharmonic
Songs of Summer Chorus and orchestral students sharpen their skills at the National Philharmonic’s summer institutes By Roger Catlin
his summer, when many teens opt for beach trips before school starts, dozens of serious music students travel instead to the summer music institutes run by the National Philharmonic. The summer choral institutes, conducted in partnership with Montgomery College, provide high school, college and adult singers with instruction on vocal techniques, coaching and rehearsal time. Two different week-long string institutes, one for high school students and another for middle school students, include chamber coaching sessions, private sessions, two daily orchestral rehearsals and a daily movement class. “It’s really a very cool, very intense musical experience that culminates in an afternoon chamber concert and an evening orchestra concert,” says Victoria Gau, the National Philharmonic associate conductor who is director of education, conducts the middle school orchestra and administers all of the orchestra’s summer music programs. Students, chosen from teacher recommendations, come from all over the metropolitan area, she says, “from down as far as Prince William County and down toward Frederick, and a whole lot of D.C. kids.” “It’s a total immersion program,” says National Philharmonic Music Director and Conductor Piotr Gajewski, who presides over the high school session. “The faculty to student ratio is very, very small, and there’s a tremendous amount of individual attention.”
“A lot of kids find it’s a tremendous help to them,” says Gajewski, who adds that it’s a great way for young musicians to sharpen up in advance of their school year. “Sometimes students go a little bit easy over the summer with their studies, and with our [strings] institutes falling in August, it’s just about the time to be getting ready for youth orchestra auditions, which typically take place the first week of September. “Attending the institute wakes them up and gets them playing—eight hours a day for a full week—so their level of playing takes a great leap upwards, and is able to build on that,” he says. When it comes time for the concerts, scheduled Aug. 8 for the high school students and Aug. 15 for middle school
18 applause at Strathmore • March/April 2014
students, “the level of proficiency is just extraordinary,” Gajewski says. He adds that there is a ripple effect to what they’ve accomplished. “What they learn from us, they take back to their ensembles and youth orchestras and affect those positively with everything that they have gained,” he says. The choral institutes—July 14-18 for high school and college students and July 8, 10, 15 and 17 for adults—culminate in a combined performance on July 18 at Montgomery College’s Silver Spring campus. Registration forms for both the summer strings and choral institute programs are available at www.nationalphilharmonic.org.
Ruth Faison
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