A young and dynamic group of seven participants (the eighth unfortunately had to cancel due to illness) enjoyed a week of conducting classes, nature, food and each other’s company. It was the first time, that there were no Dutch participants. Here is a short impression of the week.
Saturday, 17-02-2024
After breakfast, there was a group lesson, after it the individual lessons and in the evening, after dinner, again a group lesson.
Sunday, 18-02-2024
The schedule of the day was the same as the day before. The participants do some exercises in score study.
Monday, 19-02-2024
Again the same schedule, technique and repertoire in the individual lessons, working on recitatives and fermatas in the evening, even having time for the sauna.
Tuesday, 20-03-2024
Group lessons about conducting technique in the morning, a nice walk in the afternoon and after dinner again working on fermatas.
Wednesday, 21-03-2024
First day with the two pianists, both in individual as in group lessons. The focus was now on the studied repertoire.
Thursday, 22-02-2024
Shortly before the final presentation.
Shortly after the final presentation.
Nika Kožar, professional opera singer, 4th year student Orchestra Conducting (Zagreb) about this edition of the masterclass:
I’ve nothing but positive things to say about the wonderful week I spent in Chiny. René Gulikers is, in my opinion, truly doing extraordinary work and providing what many aspiring conductors are lacking: solid and reliable technique. The lessons were the best I’ve ever had; clear and precise, and I truly felt improvements after just one week. I’m happy because I finally know how to practice. Now I can put a name to things I was doing instinctively beforehand, and I finally know why and how they work. He helped me fill the gaps in my knowledge and his feedback was always immensely helpful.
The atmosphere of the masterclass is friendly and cozy, with all participants spending a lot of time together and learning from each other, which I greatly enjoyed. My gratitude goes to René for being a professional and kind mentor, but also to René’s wife, Astrid, for her kindness, hospitality, and cooking for a huge amount of people!
02-03-2024
Lisa Ritke, music teacher, Lisa Ritke, music teacher, writes about how she experienced the masterclass:
I would like to thank you once again! I am still totally enthusiastic, feel inspired and motivated to really get going now!
I really enjoyed the lessons, you are a great teacher. You speak calmly and it’s immediately clear what you mean. Trying things out and making mistakes is totally fine, which helps a lot with being relaxed and letting go of inhibitions. I also really like the fact that everyone was approachable outside of the one-to-one lessons and happy to socialise. It felt like a family and not just a “student-teacher relationship” and I made great friends. This is also a big factor that made me feel so comfortable. I felt very welcome and safe the whole time.
27-02-2924
The whole team.
From left to right:
Evert-Jan de Groot (pianist), Chi-Chun Chen, Futo Yamane, Constant Notten (pianist, seated), Astrid Gulikers (hostess), Nika Kožar, Skye Morris, Lisa Ritke, Apollonio Maiello, Jen-Jen Liu, René Gulikers (course leader)
Through this link you get all information about the upcoming masterclass and here you will find the reports of all previous editions of the IMCT