Impro Intensive 2012

European Impro Intensive 2012 has come to an end. All participants have returned home safely. The project was a big success. Lots of enthusiasm and lots of explorations. Do you want to look back at the programme or have a look at the images and fils that were made during the project, than just click on one of the links in the navigation.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Following the improvisation project that took place at the Royal Conservatoire last study year, the Royal Conservatoire has received a grant from the European ERASMUS programme to organise an intensive improvisation project together with conservatoires in Paris, London, Helsinki, Karlsruhe, Barcelona, Antwerp, Tallinn, Stockholm, Oslo, and Bucharest. The aim of this project is to bring distinguished European experts in the field of improvisation and students together to exchange information and experience about the topic improvisation as part of the curriculum. The next three years the Royal Conservatoire will be hosting this project.

The first edition, which takes place from 10 to 20 January has the theme ‘improvisation within the educations classical and early music’. For ten days, twenty-one students and ten teachers from eleven different countries in Europe work together intensively with ten students and six teachers from the KC. Students follow workshops and prepare performances. They will also work with classes and ensembles of the KC.

Some important experts from different countries will participate in the project. These are mainly teachers from conservatoires where improvisation is a fixed part of the curriculum. Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya in Barcelona will be represented with their teachers Augusti Fernandez and Emilio Molina, the Guildhall School in London with David Dolan, the Estonian Music Academy in Tallinn with Anto Pett, and the Conservatoire de Paris with Vincent Lé Quang. Of course also The Hague teachers like Karst de Jong, Bert Mooiman, Guus Jansen, David Kweksilber, and Rolf Delfos will participate. The great interest from foreign institutes in participating in this project shows the increasing realisation that improvisation plays an important part in curriculums for classical music.

Besides developing expertise in the field of improvisation, the project aims to teach students to give improvisation workshops in different contexts. Locations such as a primary school, a city council office, the Dakota theatre will therefore be used.

On Saturday 14 January a free and open seminar will take place with presentations about institution-specific approaches relating to improvisation, a concert demonstration, and a panel discussion about the place of improvisation in the classical music curriculum.