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all young participants receive free accommodation, food and coaching inreturn for their performances at thefestival’s concerts.

The programme is intense: eachmusician plays in three to five differentensembles, depending on their experienceand the demands of the repertory.They perform each work at least twiceto give their interpretations an opportunityto mature. The participants, aged 17 to 33,play alongside professors in most ensembles,in the spirit of the schools at the Marlborofestival and International MusiciansSeminar, Prussia Cove. I join the festivalas it reaches its climax, intrigued to seewhether an event based on such homelyideals and with such a focus on perfor-mance can nurture music making of a highstandard in an enjoyable, sustainable way.

The remote location could not be moreinviting, and hospitality is a key part of the

festival’s appeal for players. It is based ata huge barn-like hotel annexe in the quietvillage of Morup Mølle, three miles froman extraordinary coastline of sand dunescovered in pine trees and heather. Thehotel houses both students and professorsand makes all its large spaces available forrehearsal and relaxation. The volunteerswho make up the Danish working group,led by president Aase Odfeldt, cook mealsand organise the logistics of getting playersto and from concerts. Musicians andvolunteers chat and joke with each otherin the lounge area and subsidised beerfrom the local brewery is very popularin the evenings.

What makes the people of Thy so keento throw open their doors to these youngplayers? Flautist Craig Goodman,professor of chamber music at the NationalConservatory in Strasbourg, has beenthe festival’s artistic director for the last ten

t the very north-western tip of

Denmark lies the Thypeninsula, a narrow tract

of rolling hills andwoods dotted with small farms and hugepower-generating windmills facing theNorth Sea. Even within Denmark thisregion is regarded as remote and yet fora fortnight each summer it stages theThy Masterclass Chamber Music Festival,attracting advanced students and youngprofessionals from around the globe.

The roots of the festival are humble:twelve years ago Axel Nielson, a localretired businessman, invited young musi-cians to stay in Thy and give concerts inreturn for the hospitality they received.This year’s festival is organised by 25 localvolunteers, employs five professors andstages 21 concerts throughout the region.The original concept is kept intact:

Every August, advanced young musicians flock to a remote peninsulain Denmark for intensive music making and home cooking.SARAH MNATZAGANIAN discovers the appeal of the Thy Festival

A LITTLE

PARADISE

Festival students gather in the garden of their hotel in the picturesque village of Morup Mølle

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years. ‘Thy is a very isolated region,’he says. ‘Local people love the festival notonly because it brings live chamber musicto their churches, museums, schools andconcert halls but because they relish theopportunity to meet talented young peoplefrom all over the world.’

All the young participants are keen totalk about what makes the festival special.Torun Stavseng, a Norwegian celliststudying at the Musikhochschule inStuttgart, says: ‘A real highlight for meis giving so many concerts; you learnto work in a very focused but flexible wayand you can go deeper into a piece aftereach performance.’ Taiwanese violinistSean Wang is completing a PhD inMusicology; this is his second year at Thy.‘This is the ideal atmosphere for chambermusic,’ he says. ‘Everyone is intellectuallycurious and musically able, the professorsare sweet but honest, and I can developnaturally without feeling I’m beingcoached like a child.’

A glance at the festival’s beautifullyproduced programme reveals an extensiverange of repertory to be performed bya surprisingly small group of musicians.Seven violinists, four violists, five cellists,two pianists, two flautists and one clarinettistplay 24 different chamber works bycomposers from Mendelssohn, Brahmsand Beethoven to Bartók, Khachaturianand Poulenc as well as Romantic andcontemporary Danish works by composerssuch as Hartmann, Nørgård andLanggaard. I ask Goodman how theymanage to prepare so many pieces in justtwo weeks.

‘With the help of the two music special-ists in the local working group, I establishthe year’s repertoire before we send outapplication forms,’ Goodman explains.‘When an applicant is accepted we tellthem exactly which pieces they need toprepare before they arrive. Even so, it’sa packed schedule. During the first weekthere are five hours of rehearsal a day, plusevening concerts, though in the secondweek I keep the timetable as flexible aspossible to allow time for players to restbefore big concerts.’

There are no signs of strain at the firstconcert I attend: an exuberant programmeperformed solely by the festival’s partici-pants. The standard of playing is high butI am also impressed by the degree to which

players from very different backgroundsmanage to create a distinctive group sound.Bartók’s trio Contrasts and Khachaturian’sTrio in G minor are performed with greatflair by Wang, American clarinettistChad Burrow and French pianistDimitri Papadopoulos. Poulenc’s youthfulRhapsodie nègre both bemuses and amusesthe Danish audience but wins loud applause.The shadowy Dream in Violet written byDanish composer Poul Olsen in the lastyear of his life is played hauntingly bya Romanian, Icelandic and Hungarian trio.

The final three days of the festival arepacked with informal school concerts,rehearsals and five major performancesthroughout the region. The atmosphereat Morup Mølle is purposeful but cheerfuland the resident whoopee cushion comesinto regular play as musicians relax.A newly appointed viola professor,Hungarian Máté Szücs, leads his sextetgroup in a wild frisbee game to help themunwind after an intense rehearsal. ‘It isso easy to relax here,’ Szücs later tellsme, ‘because we are so cared for by

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I can develop naturally without feelingI can develop naturally without feelingI’m being coached like a child I’m being coached like a child

SEAN WANG, VIOLINIST

Young musicians give a performance of Bartok’s Contrasts at Morup MølleYoung musicians give a performance of Bartok’s Contrasts at Morup MølleYoung musicians give a performance of Bart´

Participants take some time off to relax by the North Sea

the Danish working group. It gives usa chance to escape from the pressures ofnormal life and concentrate only on musicand enjoying each other’s company.’

Elisabeth Zeuthen Schneider, aformidable Danish violinist, leads anafternoon rehearsal of the MendelssohnOctet in which she plays first violin. Herteaching style is gentle and democratic;the players discuss a difficult entry andreach a consensus with tact and humour.Their sound is joyous and balanced.Zeuthen Schneider is pleased with hergroup: ‘Rehearsal time is short today,but the group is talented and enthusiasticand it’s exciting to focus on our firstperformance tonight.’

Cellist Morten Zeuthen has beena chamber music professor at Thy for tenyears. ‘It’s not just the natural environ-ment that makes Thy special,’ he says,‘though it is much easier to concentrate

here, compared with working in a busycity. The students are very talentedand I love the range of repertory we cover.But what is most significant for me is thatthe festival embodies the ideal relationshipbetween music and society. We musiciansare befriended and supported in every wayby the very people who also come and fillthe concert halls. It is a little paradise.’

Brahms’s Sextet no.1 andMendelssohn’s Octet are the main featureof the last four concerts. The MendelssohnOctet group gives its first performancein Thisted Musikteater and plays welldespite challenging acoustics and somehesitant entries in the Scherzo. The secondand final performance of the Mendelssohntakes place in an extraordinary domedbuilding set into a hillside at theFolkcentre for Renewable Energy.This time the players are more relaxed,the acoustics kinder and the performance

confident and expressive. The first performance of the Brahms Sextet follows;the performers are tense and a little tooabsorbed in their own parts but they makea magnificent sound. The 19-year-old firstviolinist, Marie-Claudine Papadopoulos,plays with astonishing maturity and theaudience quickly break into synchronisedslow-clapping, a sign of deep appreciationin Denmark.

By all accounts I missed some greatconcerts before I arrived, almost all ofwhich were played to full houses. CellistSilvia Longaverova, who has just finishedher postgraduate degree in Lugano,Switzerland, performed with pianoprofessor Daniel Blumenthal, a renownedpianist and master of dead-pan humour.Longaverova says: ‘If we had a problem inrehearsal he would always make us laughthrough it but what I’ll never forget is hismassive sound in the Dohnányi Quintet.Hearing him play seemed to draw out myown sound until it matched his.’

The final concert in Thisted drawsa big local audience and the performancesof Brahms, Khachaturian and Bartókhave all matured. A high point for meis Fjeldblomster, an early trio by LanggaardFjeldblomster, an early trio by LanggaardFjeldblomsterperformed by professors Zeuthen Schneider,Blumenthal and Zeuthen. Their soundis radiant and at the heart of theirperformance is the intimacy that makeschamber music one of the most humanof all art forms. The festival closes witha string of encores and a speech fromAase Odfeldt. Everyone then returnsto Morup Mølle for a celebratory meal,where Goodman circulates, asking forrepertory suggestions for the 2007 festival.Odfeldt looks tired but happy. ‘We feelvery proud of our young musicians andit’s so sad when they leave. But tomorrowwe have a working group meeting todiscuss how we can improve thingsnext year.’ Surveying the satisfied facesaround me, it’s hard to imagine howthe festival could improve on its corephilosophy: warm Danish hospitality,inspired repertory, sensitive teachingand an ambitious concert programmemake Thy a fertile haven for thedeveloping musician.

The next festival will take place 13–27August 2007. For further informationsee www.thymasterclass.dk

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The Mendelssohn Octet group takes a bow after a confident and expressive performance

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Members of the Danish working group make preparations for a party