Montegral Academy

CONVENTO DELL’ANGELO, NR LUCCA, TUSCANY
MON 7 – SAT 12 APRIL 2025

WITH: THE ALKYONA STRING QUARTET

Available places:

There are currently 28 of 28 places available

  • A friendly course – for adults and young people in the wonderful region of Tuscany, just west of Florence.
  • Il Convento dell’Angeloconductor Gustav Kuhn founded the Montegral Academy of Music in this ex-monastery. It will be our home for the week, and is wonderfully kitted out for music, containing lots of separate rooms – perfect for chamber music! It’s in the rolling Tuscan hills, just a few miles north of the beautiful medieval town of Lucca. We will have the buildings to ourselves for the week!
  • Chamber musicthis is a string chamber music course, working principally on music for string quartet, trio and quintet.
  • Musicthe week will focus on music by Mozart, Beethoven and Ethel Smyth.  If you come in your own group, you are welcome – in addition – to bring music with you that you want to work on. We will also have a small library of music that you can use.

Music

The team – Peter Fender is the director and we are delighted to have the Alkyona String Quartet as our resident quartet (see About Us).

Players required – there will be a maximum of 28 players on the course. Priority will be given to string chamber groups: quartets, trios and quintets. Individuals are also welcome to apply, and we will put you into an appropriate group. Whether you are a music student, a professional, or an amateur, we welcome you all. As far as standard goes, we work from a minimum of about grade 6/7 up to advanced – but experience is every bit as important as ‘standard’.

Schedule – the schedule for the week will include daily coaching sessions in your chamber group, playing in the string orchestra, and some general musicianship activities – the focus, however, is very much on the chamber music.

Lecture recitals – the Alkyona Quartet will give two lecture recitals (one on Beethoven, the other on Ethel Smyth). There will also be the opportunity for groups to play in a performance at the end of the week.

Accommodation/Food/Locality

Accommodation – is in rooms in the ex-monastery. There are singles, twins and doubles.

Food – the Academy is used to catering for groups, and they will provide us with three meals each day.

Lucca – is a beautiful town, to which we will organise a trip during the week. It has a strong musical history (with particular connections to the composers Puccini, Boccherini and Geminiani).

Costs

These are basically two:

  1. Travel – you must book and pay for your own travel.
  2. Course/accommodation/food – you pay one price which covers all of this for the week. The standard cost is £820 (£670 for full-time students), and there is an early bird discount available!  Non-playing partners/friends/relatives pay a reduced amount. See the Cost page for full details.