28th International ESTA Congress in Odessa/Ukraine 7 – 11 June, 2000
This Congress was held at a venue of great historical significance for all string players, in the Stolyarsky School of Odessa, which had produced the most outstanding violinists of the 20th century. It was wonderful to see that this grand tradition is still very much alive today in spite of the political and – even more so – the economic climate. Moreover, Odessa is a lovely city at the Black Sea, which has been able to maintain its international culture and southern atmosphere.
| Vladimir Köhn, Odessa | The Tradition of Teaching String Instruments in Odessa |
| Igor Ozim | Workshops with Students from Ukraine |
| Tatjana Markowska, Odessa | Bandura, Yesterday and Today |
| Prof. Dr.med. G. Schnack, D | Preventive Management for the Hands of Musicians |
| Bela Szedlak, CH/H | Sperger without Compromise |
| Georgiy Pavliy, Ukraine | String Instrument Instruction in Ukraine Yesterday and Today |
| Victoria Kulikova, Ukraine | Holistic Teaching Methods on theBasis of the Algorithmic Model |
| Felicity Lipman, GB | The Alexander Technique Chamber Music for Early |
| Sergey Yevdokimow, Ukraine | Systematic Instruction in the Production of Tones on String Instruments |
| Sabine Beyer, S | Chamber Music for Everyone – Project at the Music School of Haninge, Sweden |
| Tibor Varga, CH/H | Opportunities and Limits of Pedagogical Education |
| Dr. Lothar Stöckbauer, D | The Business Community’s Responsibility for Culture – the Example of the Sinfonima Foundation |
| Dimitri Terzakis, GR/D | Workshops on the Interpretation of His Music for String Players |
| Karen Valeur M. Eising, DK |
Dualism and Totality – the Child as a Musical Landscape |
| Igor Andrievsky, Ukraine | Popular Tradition in the Context of Contemporary Ukrainian String Literature |
| Nina Dyka Lidia Schutko Oleksandr Kosarenko Ukraine |
Chamber Music for String Ensembles by Ukrainian Composers |
| Louis Pantillon Werner Schmitt, CH |
The Situation of Early String Education in Switzerland, Taking the Music School of Berne as an Example |
Like in a shop window, the best of what can be accomplished was presented – from Ukraine including from Kiev, Charkov and Lvov. What was common to all children and teenagers playing before us was their quality of tone and strength of expression combined with admirable concentration. Almost all of them played by heart. Improving their somewhat lacking skills in stylistic differentiation was the target of workshops that were offered generously by Igor Ozim for selected pupils and students, who absorbed everything quickly and enthusiastically. Unfortunately, most of the children remained anonymous. All we learned were the pieces presented in the various programmes.
Apart from the daily students’ concert, the bandura, which had been built for the first time in this region some 5000 years ago, was presented by marvellously playing Tatjana Markowska. We had the pleasure of listening to several grand concerts for symphony and chamber orchestras with young soloists such as Natasha Korsakowa, Alexander Gritsayenko, Patricia Kopaschinskaya, all of them violin, Alexander Kaschin, cello and Petru Iuga , double bass, with works by Shostakovich, Ravel and Sperger. Finally, at the end of the congress, Tibor Varga himself took up the baton. The Moskva Quartet with Siegfried Palm on the other cello gave an evening chamber music concert, and we were familiarised with Ukrainian music, which is not so dissimilar from the Greek one.
The prizes of the Koch competition were not awarded. Instead, one of the talented pupils, Alexej Seminienko, aged 11, received the amount in the form a scholarship to attend a course in Western Europe.
The very special congress, which had been supported by many institutions from abroad, ended with a lovely evening outdoors underneath old trees with captivating music, Russian one above all, delicious food and an atmosphere of genuine friendship.
General Meeting of the Delegates on 9 June, 2000, in Odessa
After the approval of the minutes, the presentation of the annual report and of the treasurer’s report, in which it was stated that, while payment behaviour had improved, the Russian and the Czech Branches had to continue their “standby” status and that membership fees would remain unchanged, Albania and Malta were admitted as new members of ESTA. There followed a discussion on the next Congresses in Helsinki and Denmark. It was decided that a member of the Central Committee should be involved in the planning of International Congresses, and Nina Murdvee was appointed to do so.
Kjell-Ake Hamren reported that in future the International Newsletter would be co-distributed and co-produced by the journal STRAD to save costs, and that ESTA members could thus obtain copies of STRAD at a discount of 15%. The language of the INL is English. Summaries are provided in German and French. An ESTA homepage was established. Its address is: www.ESTA-int.com
