The Flute Kitchen Reviews

HARROGATE INTERNATIONAL FLUTE SUMMER SCHOOL 2004

A dose of inspiration!
Harrogate was a celebration of flute playing and musical performance.

Paul Edmund-Davies and Lisa Nelsen gave inspirational advice, sensitively and constructively delivered, building students' trust and belief in their own abilities, drawing out remarkable performances. There were no glass ceilings on achievement!  Within a non-competitive atmosphere, we were able to build on what we had learnt each day, and there was a palatable improvement in everyone by the end of the week; not only in their playing, but in their confidence and approach when tackling different problems. We had lots of performance opportunities during the week in masterclasses and in daily concerts - something that all students were encouraged to take part in.

Performance psychologist Jean-Paul Wright (no relation!) has an amazing ability to enable us to tap into our inner creativity and positive energy, helping us learn how to banish those performance gremlins. Jean-Paul's gift to the group was invaluable!!  

It was an honour to have an accompanist of the calibre and musicality of John Alley working with students and teachers. John guided students to create a whole piece of music for flute and piano, not just concentrating on the flute part, raising the performance to new heights. Listening to Paul and Lisa perform with John during the week was a real treat. Stunning!  They put into practise what they would preach during the day's sessions.

The young artist competition was more of a celebration of young flute playing than a competition. Well done to all participants! Of course there had to be a winner - Laura Kitson was a worthy winner of the alto flute donated by Trevor James with her sparkling performances of the Chaminade Concertino.

Sagar Masani was awarded a Sonare flute, donated by Sonare Wind/Powell, as a student who had showed great potential.

The final concert was held in the beautiful Wesley Chapel in the centre of Harrogate and was the culmination of five-day's wonderful work. All students (and tutors!) took part in the concert, and the varied programme was thoroughly enjoyed by the whole audience.

A real dose of inspiration! Thank you.

Hilary Wright