IKMMA 2005
Reviewed by Nicholas Grüber.
The second edition of the International Katarzyna Mycka Marimba
Academy - in short IKMMA - took again place in the Polish city
of Wroclaw.
Situated in the south-west of Poland, the upcoming and well connected city
with its strong cultural and historical background offered the 32 participants
from 13 countries, apart from lessons, practice and concerts, also the opportunity
to socialize and make new friends.
The local preparations were taken care by Prof. Jacek Wota who
is professor for percussion at the Music Academy Wroclaw. For
the second time his work was well done, so that all participants
could enjoy their stay at the conservatory.
The four professors of IKMMA, Katarzyna Mycka (Poland/ Gemany)
Momoko Kamiya (Japan), Bogdan Bacanu (Austria), and the already
mentioned Jacek Wota (Poland) had been busy with giving their
daily single lessons and supervising the chamber music practice.
However, also the young musicians made full use of the opportunities
offered to them: thanks to the marimba manufactures ADAMS, Marimba
One, and YAMAHA, 26 marimbas had been available for 14 hours
a day: from 8am untill 10pm all rooms were booked.
People not practicing, went to listen to the single lessons
of their collegues or searched the own IKMMA-shop for new sheet
music, mallets, and CDs.
All this material was kindly provided by Herbert Brandt Percussion Versand,
Norsk Musikforlag und Ineke Busch Verlag.
Thanks to the help of Norsk Musikforlag not only popular works
(e.g. R. Pawasser's "Sculpture in Wood" and the Tangos
of Astor Piazzolla) were performed. Also many new pieces were
prepared and presented during the time of IKMMA. Amongst them
were the quartetts of David Friedman ("Hand Dance")
and "The Blues Thing" of the new marimba music composer
Libor Sima. But also new duos from Ney Rosauro ("Brazilian
Fantasy") and Matthias Schmitt's "2Gather" became
popular with both the students and the audiences.
IKMMA 2005 had two special guests: The composers Eckard Kopetzki
and John Thrower came to Wroclaw to support students and to introduce
some of their new works.
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Eckard Kopetzki even gave two days of single lessons,
where students studying his pieces for a performance had the opportunity
to get advice from the composer himself.
The presentations of the pieces happened each night at the conservatory,
but there were also three concerts at other venues: one open-air
performance in the botanic gardens of Wroclaw, a concert in
the Oratorium Marianum (a concert hall of the university of Wroclaw)
and - as a special highlight - at the Sudenten Philharmony
in
Walbrzych. Walbrzych is about 1,5 hours bus drive from Wroclaw, but the
day trip will be rememebered not only for its two successful
concerts, but also for the traditional Polish meals, both for
lunch and dinner.
It was always a special moment, if the professors came on stage
to play: Katarzyna Mycka and Momoko Kamiya together with the
Polish singer Agnieszka Drozdzewska performed the European premiere
of John Throwers "Just One World" at the Oratorium
Marianum. The piece took the hearts of all attendees by storm
- even the composer himself was deeply moved.
Apart from this European premiere there was - like at IKMMA
2003 - a world premiere: Miroslaw Gasieniec, a composer from
Wroclaw, dedicated his "Capriccio" for two marimbas
to Prof. Jacek Wota. He performed the piece together with Katarzyna
Mycka in Wroclaw and Walbrzych.
The founder of IKMMA, Katarzyna Mycka, is concentrating her
teaching not only on single lessons, but also on chamber music: "The
students learn a lot because of the combined practice and this
genre of music also offers more variety for a concert programme."
There is also a social aspect in chamber music: The participants
from different countries and cultures make music together and
at the same time they start to become friends.
Looking back on the ten days of IKMMA 2005, one can say that
is was loads and loads of hard work for both students and teachers,
but at the same time all the work was also enjoyable and fun.
Because of the many new friendships created during these ten
days the most heard sentence saying good-bye was: "See you
again at IKMMA 2007!"
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