The 41st ESTA International Conference: Oxford, UK, 28th August – 1st September 2013
This Conference was held in – to quote Bruno Giuranna – ‘the most ideal, prestigious setting of the ancient and glorious City of Oxford’. Delegates’ accommodation was at Christ Church College, where dinner was also taken each evening. Conference events took place in the grandeur of the Examination Schools building. Each day, there were presentations running simultaneously in two of the imposing halls, identified by ESTA UK as “Menuhin” and “Bunting”. The third hall served as a spacious exhibition area, with trade stands and refreshments. All concerts, whether lunchtime, teatime or evening slots, were scheduled not to clash with anything else.
The social highlight was the official celebration of ESTA UK’s 40th Anniversary: a formal Reception in the Master’s Garden at Christ Church, followed by a magnificent Gala Dinner in the iconic Great Hall, at which the Guests of Honour were Sir Neville and Lady Marriner.
Concerts:
English Mozart Ensemble (2), one with Elizabeth Pitcairn (USA), violin.
National Youth String Orchestra
Oxford Concerto Orchestra
Red Priest – “Baroque Carnival”
Dubrovnik Piano Trio
Ben Powell, violin and Ashok Gupta, piano – “Jazzical”
Steven Doane (USA) – Britten Cello Suite no.3
Steve Bingham – electric violin
Absolute Zero Viola Quartet
Masterclasses:
Steven Doane – cello
Thomas Martin – double bass
Bruno Giuranna – viola, preceded by a massed viola ensemble performing a specially commissioned piece, Bratschwork by Sally Beamish, commemorating Bruno’s 80th birthday earlier in the year.
Presentations included, among others:
Kato Havas – Keynote Speaker
Kurt Sassmannhaus – Keynote Speaker
Pedro de Alcantara (F) – Set your imagination free!
Cristina Bellu (F) – Motor skill development: children and cellos
Helen Brunner – A Suzuki family
Simon Cartledge – Getting it in the muscle!
Otto Derolez (B) – Teaching from a concertmaster’s perspective
Katharina Deserno (D) – A female cellist, that’s all we need!
Cathy Elliott – Beware: kleptomaniac at work!
Simon Fischer – Basics
Bruno Giuranna (It) – My vision of left hand technique
Satu Jalas (Fin/It) – The violin concerto of Jean Sibelius
Kristian Kolman (Slo) – Building digital literacy
Caroline Lumsden – Ensemble training from the start
David Le Page – Paganini revisited
Silvija Sondeckienne (Lit) – Common mistakes in cello teaching
Judy Tarling – Style and idea in Baroque performance
Ludmila Volkova (Rus) – Russian works arranged for strings
Wolfgang Weiss (A) – Strings unwrapped
Kateryna Zavalko (Ukr) – Colourstrings in the Ukraine
Acknowledgements:
Heartfelt thanks are due to all the Conference’s Sponsors for their generous support, especially our Principal Sponsor, Thomastik-Infeld Vienna.
Thanks also to the Board and Organising Team of ESTA 2013 for their dedication and hard work, especially Philip Aird, Cathy Elliott and John Shayler.
Janet Thomas, November 2017
