EMCY General Assembly and 40th Birthday Celebration 16th-19th April, Heerlen (NL)

For over two years EMCY and our hosts at the Charles Hennen Concours worked hard to make EMCY’s General Assembly and 40th Birthday Celebration an event to remember. Little did we know that a volcano in Iceland had also chosen this weekend to make its impact on European affairs….

Due to the flight ban that affected most of Europe many delegates and special guests were unfortunately not able to join us in Heerlen, in spite of valiant and creative attempts to cross Europe using other means. We missed them a great deal but those who were present enjoyed an inspiring programme of concerts and discussions and made many important decisions to carry EMCY through the next 40 years.

The weekend started with a celebration of 40 years of EMCY in the Parliament Building of the Province of Limburg in Maastricht. Speakers included co-founder of EMCY, Dr Eckart Rohlfs, and Cultural Attaché Province of Limburg, Mrs Odile Wolfs. They were joined by prize winners from two of the founding countries of EMCY, France and Germany, and and a Japanese/British pianist representing the international competitions which could join EMCY from 1992 onwards.

The delegates of the General Assembly outside Schunck Glaspaleis

The performances of percussion duo Peter Fleckenstein/Quirin Reichl (Jugend musiziert), the trumpeter Sylvain Leclerc (Concours d’excellence) and pianist Asagi Nakata (International Franz Liszt Competition for Young Pianists) also formed a proposal from EMCY to the organisers of the bid for Maastricht to become Cultural Capital of Europe 2018 and to other future Cultural Capitals to include young talented musicians in their programmes. This concert was followed by a reception and then a celebratory dinner back in Heerlen in the magnificent Schunck Glaspaleis complex which was our base for the weekend.

The next morning it was down to business. Those delegates who were not able to be there in person sent in their proxies so that the Assembly could have the power to adopt a revised version of the statutes and a new structure for membership fees. Following on from an intensive debate at the EMCY General Assembly 2008 in Kiev and feedback collected from member competitions, the test version for Quality Standards for EMCY Member Competitions which was approved at the start of 2009 was also officially adopted by the EMCY Membership. Dr Jordi Roch, President of Juventudes Musicales de España and former Vice-President of EMCY, was granted Honorary Membership of EMCY in recognition of his considerable contribution to EMCY over the years.

It wasn’t only EMCY which had an important jubilee to celebrate: The Charles Hennen Concours was being held for the 25^th time, the Music School Heerlen is 100 years old and the Schunck Glaspaleis 75 years. In celebration of all these anniversaries a concert was held on Saturday evening in the Heerlen Town Theatre featuring a wide spectrum of musical styles and crossovers. The EMCY prize winners which were invited to perform at EMCY’s 40^th Birthday celebration in Maastricht played alongside various other groups including a big band, a jazz group and the “Volcano Quartet”, a string quartet formed 24 hours before to replace the Renaissance Quartet from Romania which won the Charles Hennen Concours in 2009 and could not reach Heerlen for the concert!

On the programme for Sunday morning were parallel meetings for national and international competitions. There was certainly enough to talk about and several competitions expressed interest in hosting EMCY’s planned conference for international competitions in 2011. The discussions and comparison of experiences continued into the afternoon workshops on jury composition and making the most out of EMCY’s new website. The last item on the programme was the final of the Charles Hennen Concours featuring two piano trios and two string quartets: all of an exceptionally high level.

EMCY would like to thank our wonderful hosts in Heerlen, particularly Peter Weinstock and Elke Theissen, for a truly memorable event (and not just because of the volcano…). There has been much interest in hosting the next General Assembly in 2012 and the location will be confirmed soon – watch this space!