Aberdeen Chamber Music Concerts Are you in S5 or S6? Then listen on as this could be the competition for you. Are you interested in music, journalism or just eager to experiment with your range of writing skills? Would you like to win a first prize of iTune vouchers worth £100? Or a second prize of £50 worth of vouchers?

Aberdeen Chamber Music Concerts But first, some background information. What is ACMC and what does it aim to do? ACMC is a local charity entering its 80th season That means that it has been bringing chamber music to Aberdeen since before World War II It aims to provide its audiences with music of the highest quality from musicians of an outstanding calibre, mostly young professional musicians Concerts are mainly at the Cowdray Hall However the February and March 2015 concerts will be in the Sanctuary at Queens Cross Church

Aberdeen Chamber Music Concerts What is Chamber Music and who plays it? Chamber Music is exactly what it says. It is music to be played in a room By its very nature then it is performed by small groups of musicians who can fit into a room Almost all composers write or have written for chamber groups, e.g. for string quartets, piano trios and wind groups etc.

Aberdeen Chamber Music Concerts What is Chamber Music and who plays it? You, at school, may be part of a chamber group as it is easier than getting a full orchestra together, yet it enables you to learn to play as part of a group Many professional musicians may also augment their orchestral life by playing in chamber groups, thus keeping their repertoire very wide and fulfilling It opens a route for entering many prestigious competitions which can lead to valuable sponsorship

Aberdeen Chamber Music Concerts Yes, but who exactly plays it and who writes it? Well, it is played by anybody from young up and coming musicians who start during their studies, to well established performers such as The Badke String Quartet who are playing the Haydn piece that is running in the background Beethoven 1770 … and it is difficult to think of a composer who doesn’t write chamber music J. S. Bach 1685 Just about every composer has written some chamber music as it gave them a source of income from private individuals and it also provided them with a very special palette from which to create some very special sound pictures. Also, it meant that they could give some exposure to very talented friends, let them expirement with the particular character of either a small group from the orchestral range or even a solo instrument perhaps as part of a sketch for a full symphonic piece. Here are some well known and maybe not so well known composers Peteris Vasks 1946 Janáček 1854 Which covers every century from the 17th to the 20th

Aberdeen Chamber Music Concerts What kind of chamber groups will you hear at our concerts? Many of the musicians that we invite have already won major international prizes, such as The Arcadia Quartet from Romania who will give our November concert in 2013, and who recently won the London International String Quartet competition It is not unusual for our guest musicians to have played to a packed Wigmore Hall in London before coming north to play for Aberdeen Chamber Music Concerts Many of them comment on the wonderful acoustic that we are lucky to have in the Cowdray Hall

Aberdeen Chamber Music Concerts So why are we organising this competition? Because we want to encourage you as the future potential musicians (or journalists) to come and hear for yourself how varied, intimate and exciting this range of music can be Together with ConocoPhillips (UK) Limited we have devised a competition that we hope will interest you and help you to understand and appreciate this form of music

Aberdeen Chamber Music Concerts Review Writing Competition for School Students in S5 & S6 6th October 2014 The Castalian String Quartet 10th November 2014 The Atalanta Piano Quartet 1 December 2014 High Heels and Horse Hair 12 January 2015 The Pavri Duo 16 February 2015 The Rubens String Quartet of the Netherlands 16th March 2015 Arctic Winds These are the concerts for the 2014 – 15 season and by bringing along an entry form you can come for free to as many as you wish, although prizes will be presented at the final concert so sadly that concert is not included for a review entry

Aberdeen Chamber Music Concerts Review Writing Competition for School Students in S5 & S6 Competition rules: To enter a review you must be in S5 or S6. For free entry to any of the concerts, either collect an entry form from your school or download from our website. Please get one of your teachers to sign it. Then just bring it along and show the entry form at the door. Accompanying adults will be charged at the standard ticket price. Reviews should be submitted within two weeks of the concert that you have reviewed. All reviews must be your own work. Please limit your review to between 400 - 500 words.  You can enter as little as once or as often as five times. You must only submit one review per concert. All entries will be reviewed after the fifth concert and the winner will be announced and prizes presented at our last concert of the season in March 2015. Please submit your entry on hard copy to: The Secretary of ACMC at: 33 Braeside Terrace, Aberdeen, AB15 7TS Please mark the envelope “ACMC Competition” or by email to: aberdeencmc@gmail.com The final closing date for any review will be Monday 2nd of March 2015 and the winners will be notified by the 9th of March 2015.

Aberdeen Chamber Music Concerts Review Writing Competition for School Students in S5 & S6 1st Prize Come to our concerts, write a review like the ones in the photo and you could win a prize donated by ConocoPhillps UK Limited 2nd Prize

Aberdeen Chamber Music Concerts Review Writing Competition for School Students in S5 & S6 Download an entry form and read the rules at: www.aberdeenchambermusic.org/competition

Aberdeen Chamber Music Concerts Review Writing Competition for School Students in S5 & S6 Email: aberdeencmc@gmail.com for answers to any queries

Aberdeen Chamber Music Concerts Thank you and good luck with your entries We look forward to seeing you at our concerts And finally, we would like to thank ConocoPhillips for their support and donating the prizes and the Badke String Quartet for allowing us to use their performance of Haydn’s String Quartet in G major as background to this presentation.