February 2014Issue I

Lyric

ISCMS I, 2008Requiem by Gabriel Fauré

Dulwich College Beijing, Beijing, China12 schools, 120 singers, 25 orchestral members

ISCMS II, 2009Gloria by Antonio Vivaldi

South Island School, Hong Kong, China15 schools, 150 singers, 30 orchestral members

ISCMS III, 2010 (Forbidden Requiem)Requiem by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Forbidden City Concert Hall, Beijing, China22 schools, 300 singers, 90 orchestral members

ISCMS IV, 2011 (Oriental Fables)Belshazzar’s Feast by William WaltonOriental Arts Centre, Shanghai, China

20 schools, 300 singers, 90 orchestral members

ISCMS V, 2012 (Lumen)Gloria, Te Deum, Qing Zhu by Karl JenkinsForbidden City Concert Hall, Beijing, China

26 schools, 360 singers, 140 orchestral members

ISCMS VI, 2013 (MASSive)Ein Deutsches Requiem by Johannes Brahms, MASSive by Paul Barker, The Hollow Men – Part 1 by John Hui

Busan Cultural Center, Busan, Korea20 schools, 300 singers, 100 orchestral members

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ISCMS VII, 2014 (IIVII)Lord Nelson Mass by Joseph Haydn, Temen Oblak by Christopher Tin, Jenkins Award-Winning Piece (TBD)

Forbidden City Concert Hall, Beijing, China20 schools, 200 singers, 100 orchestral members

P a s t I S C M S F e s t i v a l s

Table of

ContentsISCMS – A Br ief Int roduct ion

by Shane O’Shea

Attempt ing the Absurdby Dr. Mart in Adams

ISCMS and Music Educat ionby Dr. Robert Hasty

A Letterfrom Kar l Jenkins

MASS i veby Jenny Xie

An Interv iewwith Chr is topher Tin

Enter ing a New Eraby Shane O’Shea

S ix Years and Count ingby John Hui

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6

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Shane O’Shea ISCMS Committee Chai rperson

Canice Gleeson ISCMS Committee Treasurer

Gerard Dutton ISCMS Committee Secretary

Leanne Chu ISCMS Committee Alumni Off icer

John Hui ISCMS Magazine Edi tor- in-Chief

ISCMSA Br ief Int roduct ion

The International Schools Choral Music Society (ISCMS) was founded in 2008 at Dul-wich College Beijing. From its humble beginnings, ISCMS has grown into the region’s premiere music society. Its founding fathers, Dr. Martin Adams and Shane O’Shea, continue to drive the organi-sation forward through a blend of innovation, inspira-tion, and determination.

The ISCMS philosophy is based on collaboration, inno-vation, creativity, and pas-sion. At its core is the chal-lenge of bringing together a diversity of cultures and backgrounds to foster a global music experience. ISCMS will endeavour to give its participants an unrivalled and memorable experience that will develop the musician within whilst promoting a more ho l i s t i c cha rac te r, through engagement and experience.

The ISCMS Head Office is based in Hong Kong, where it is recognised by the govern-mental authorities. The team has evolved into a seven-member committee, geared towards maintaining ISCMS as the premiere music society in the Asian Pacific region. The group continues to in-

v o l v e w o r l d - f a m o u s

practitioners such as com-posers Kar l Jenkins and Christopher Tin. Dr. Jenkins is now a patron of the Society.

Evolution is an interesting concept in music societies, one that is often spoken about but rarely delivered. ISCMS prides itself on a con-tinuous reflective process, one that involves all partici-pants in a sharing and posi-tive environment. We seek to produce a proactive response from all involved, one in which the individual musician is never bigger than the mu-sic he practices. This allows for the continuous planning, development, and evolution of the Society.

ISCMS organises an annual five-day festival in which all orchestral participants are ABRSM Grade 8 (or equiva-lent) and above, and all

choirs are the very best each member school has to offer. Practitioners are brought in to lead the musicians: Dr. Robert Hasty for the orches-tra, and Shane O’Shea for the choir. On top of this, ISCMS offers a variety of master classes, including piano from the world-renowned Helen Lin, choral and orchestral conducting from Dr. Hasty and Mr. O’Shea, individual singing lessons from profes-sional vocalists, and seminars on the current IB Music set works from college profes-sors. This format delivers an all-round experience to each and every participant, stu-dent and teacher alike.

Another core belief of ISCMS centres around repertoire choice: the Society looks to offer music that is challenging to perform in an individual school or local community,

by Shane O’Shea

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5 For  more  information,  visit  www.iscms.net

ISCMSA Br ief Int roduct ion

music that one may poten-tially perform only once in a lifetime. Some of our past repertoire include the Mozart Requiem, William Walton’s B e l s h a z z a r ’s F e a s t , a n d Brahms’s German Requiem. Alongside large-scale choral work, the orchestra also per-forms an instrumental piece, such as a symphony or an overture.

Last year we introduced the Jenkins Award for Composi-tion. This competition is open to all member schools, with each school submitting one student composition written for choir and orchestra. The winning entry, as judged by Karl Jenkins, is performed in the Gala Concert, a unique opportunity for our young composers.

ISCMS pledges to hold the Gala Concert in the best concert hall the host city has to offer. Past performances have taken place in The For-bidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, The Oriental Arts Centre in Shanghai, and the Busan Cultural Centre in Bu-san, Korea. The overall expe-rience for all participants is unrivalled, as seen in the student and practitioner tes-timonies on our official web-site: ISCMS.net.

As we move forward and con-tinue on a path of innovation and creativity, ISCMS is plan-ning to organise a Jazz Festi-val and a Junior ISCMS, along with many new and in-spiring ideas that will be in-corporated into the existing framework. In three years, as

we head towards our 10th festival, we hope that many ISCMS alumni will join us one again for what will be a phe-nomenal adventure.

I leave you with a thought and pledge. Our ultimate aim is to instil in our students a lifelong passion and com-mitment to music: one that acknowledges music as being greater than the individual, one that breathes life and energy into the soul, one that demands a positive, collabo-rative, and proactive ap-proach from all involved. This philosophy also aims to aid the development and evolu-tion of music during the 21st century through the engage-ment of the individuals that will one day help shape the art form.

by Shane O’Shea

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Attempting the AbsurdAn Under ly ing Pr inc ip le

What can one say about this unique festival? My experi-ence and memories across the last six years have been domi-nated by music's extraordinary ability to draw together peo-ple of all ages and levels of experience. After an intense process of sharing and col-laboration, we all leave the festival enriched –not just mu-sically, but by an awareness of our common bonds across dif-ferent cultures, races, and backgrounds.

Music can achieve this like no other art. Some of the young people who participate in ISCMS will go on to become professional musicians; several are already in the process of doing so, currently studying at prest igious music schools around the world. But most will not. That is partly what ISMCS is about. The second-desk cellist and the principal clarinetist might be skilled enough to consider a profes-sional career, but they may nevertheless prefer to work as a lawyer, a doctor, a chemist, or a social worker. One of the most remarkable things about music is that once you've done it, you do not have to walk away from it, no matter how you choose to earn your living.

ISCMS is also about the op-portunity for people of all ages and backgrounds to

learn from one another.

As one of the old hands, I've been especially struck by the extent to which the profes-sionals – the school teachers, the rehearsal leaders, the conductors – have been in-spired by young people, with whom they are working in close quarters and under huge time pressure. Believe me, ISCMS is as challenging and inspiring for those with years of experience as it is for those who have never participated in large-scale music-making.

The great Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) expressed the principle underlying ISCMS when he said, "In order to obtain the impossible, one must attempt

the absurd." When it was de-cided that the main choral work for 2011 would be Wal-ton's Belshazzar's Feast, sev-eral of us wondered if we were losing our marbles. Inspired by the relentless, virile pa-nache of Walton's music, the courage of the ISCMS found-ing director Shane O'Shea, and the conducting of Dr. Robert Hasty, everyone rose to the challenge. After months of preparation by teachers and students and the intensive re-hearsals during the festival, the final concert was a tre-m e n d o u s s u c c e s s i n t h e splendid surrounds of the Ori-ental Art Centre in Shanghai.

I remember ISCMS for other

by Dr. Martin Adams

For  more  information,  visit  www.iscms.net

Attempting the AbsurdAn Under ly ing Pr inc ip le

unique features as well: new compositions by students and teachers; evening concerts given by various profession-a ls ; lectures and master-c l a s s e s f o r i n s t r u m e n t s , v o i c e s , c o m p o s e r s , a n d singer-songwriters. Among these I especially appreciated the new works featured in 2013: The Hollow Men by the w i n n e r o f t h e i n a u g u r a l Jenkins Award for Composi-tion, Dulwich College Beijing student John Hui, and the engaging energy of MASSive, a non-traditional setting of a very traditional religious text, by the Hong Kong-based mu-sic teacher Paul Barker. But every year has had something equivalent to offer. I have been amazed at the ability of ISCMS to regularly present new challenges and absurdi-ties that make us feel we have achieved the impossible.

Choosing the main choral

work – an area in which I feel honoured to play a major role – is one of the central aspects of maintaining the festival from year to year. I think I speak for many others when I say that the choice for 2013 was especially reveal-ing. In so many ways the ro-m a n t i c r i c h n e s s o f t h e Brahms Requiem is a tougher proposition than the modern-ism of the Walton. Singing in German, learning the notes of an elaborate score, and coordinating with Brahms's colourful orchestral writing a re jus t the s ta r t . Much deeper is the fact that so much of the music's expres-sive power rests in the Req-uiem’s recognition that music is one of western civilisa-tion's greatest intellectual achievements. This is seen in its elaborate counterpoint, its fugues, its controlled in-tensity, and in the fact that it ce lebrates a d is t inct ive ly

German intellectual and re-ligious culture.

During the festival week it quickly became evident that many of the singers were not sure what to make of the Brahms. But as time went on, and thanks not least to the passionate communicativeness of conductor Dr. Stephen All-top, folks started to pick up what it was all about, what it should sound like, and how to give their all even when sing-ing quietly. We all got so much out of it! Another tri-umph!

You can hear parts of these 2013 performances on the ISCMS website. They go a long way towards vindicating the philosophy of celebrating music not because it is easy, but because it is hard, and because i t can chal lenge every area of our shared hu-manity.

by Dr. Martin Adams

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ISCMS and Music EducationA Global Perspect ive

In the summer of 2009, I taught an advanced orchestral conducting class for music teachers in the Master of Mu-sic Education Program at Northwestern University. Like many of the classes I have taught, it attracted some highly talented teachers want-ing to improve their conduct-ing, but this one had a par-ticularly unusual student, one who did not fit the mould. He had an Irish accent and the most Irish of names: Shane O'Shea. What made this even more unusual was that he didn't teach in Ireland, or even in the States; this teacher said he taught in Bei-jing. I couldn't even begin to think about how he found Northwestern or why he would choose to get his Mas-

ter's degree here; I was

still thinking about how an Irishman would find himself teaching music in a country such as China.

We Americans tend to think only within our own borders, and even after a career spanning 22 years, I had never thought about how English-speaking students would be educated if their parents were required to work overseas. This was the first time I was to learn about international schools. During that summer, I realised that Shane O'Shea had been watching my teaching and conducting, and in me he saw an opportunity to de-velop and expand the pro-gramme he founded, known as the International Schools Choral Music Society.

The opportunity to conduct in Beijing is one that no conduc-tor like me could refuse; this was much more than one of my usual guest conducting appearances. I regularly con-duct secondary school honour orchestras in various cities around the United States, but this was different. What I found at my first ISCMS festi-val in 2010 were students who were eager to perform world-class repertoire, at a world-class venue, with world-class practitioners.

In the United States, music educa t ion i s de l i ve red through a performance-based curriculum: students can sign up for "band," "or-chestra," or "choir" in their schools, and unfortunately, the standards of arts educa-tion are neither mandatory nor standardised. Sure, if you are fortunate, you may get a teacher who teaches musi-cianship through perform-ance, but that doesn’t consis-tently happen. When I train teachers, I show them how students of the same age and socio-economic background can take the same class in two schools a mile apart and end up with two different ex-periences and outcomes, due to the inconsistency of our standards. This happens when music is taught for the

by Dr. Robert Hasty

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For  more  information,  visit  www.iscms.net

A Global Perspect ive

performance, and not as knowledge. What is called "teaching to the test" in other subjects could be called "teaching to the per-formance" in music.

In this respect the UK and in-ternational school models are superior to our US model. In international schools music is an academic area that is not subservient to other subjects. The students that I worked with knew music: they had studied style, form, composi-tion, musicology, and aural skills. What a dream it was for me to work with these stu-dents for the first time!

However, I did find one area in which these international school students possessed a deep hunger and need: they are willing to travel long dis-tances for the breathtaking immersion in the divine as-pect of music performance. Because the US model of m u s i c e d u c a t i o n i s performance-driven, it is not uncommon to hear a public high school orchestra per-form a Beethoven symphony, or a school choir perform a Gabrieli double choir motet. To give an example, I re-cently conducted a high school festival orchestra where the students per-formed two movements from

Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony. Unfortunate ly, a l though these American students may know how to perform, they may just as well not know anything about the music they are performing. I discovered that the typical international school student does not have the same ac-cess to professional level music performance opportu-nities that American students have.

Where are there performance opportunities for international school students? Shane rec-ognised this need for high-level performance opportuni-ties, so he created one: ISCMS. After two successful festivals focused on choral music, he decided to expand the repertoire to include or-chestral music, inviting me as the festival's first orchestral conductor and practitioner. For my debut with ISCMS, I conducted Mozart's Jupiter Symphony for the first half of the programme. These or-chestral students then got to experience the intensity of Mozart's creative orchestra-tion in his Requiem.

How many of us get to say that when we were 13 years old, we performed Mozart's Jupiter Symphony and the Requiem in the same concert

at the Forbidden City Con-cert Hall in Beijing? How about the entire Belshazzar's Feast by William Walton? What makes conducting these performances such a pleasure is that these stu-dents have had the kind of music education that I be-lieve every world citizen should have. They are living their own world-class educa-tion by having a world-class per formance. Th is l i fe -enriching experience is one that most students won't get to have in their home town, at their neighbourhood school, or even in their local youth symphony or choir; the ISCMS Festival was created so that students can have a performance opportunity that wouldn't ordinarily come their way.

Consisting of a team of pas-sionate educators and practi-tioners, ISCMS is now an in-tegral opportunity for every international music student. I embraced the opportunity to be a partner in this initiative through my role as an Artistic Director: it is one of the most important facets in my career. I am proud to work alongside these incredible music stu-dents and teachers in ISCMS, and I continue to welcome the Society’s development in the coming years.

by Dr. Robert Hasty

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ISCMS and Music Education

A Letter f rom

K a r l J e n k i n s

My first experience at Dulwich College Beijing last February exceeded my expectations in many ways. Everyone’s enthusi-asm, commitment, and musi-cianship was incredible, and on a personal note I greatly valued the welcome and warmth ex-tended to me by both the par-ticipants and the staff. The fes-tival was a wonder, with over 500 students from 12 countries coming together for the sole purpose of making music.

Of course my involvement with the festival started long before my arrival, when I was first asked to write a piece to mark the event. The idea was to compose something celebra-tory, uplifting, and exciting. Having decided to use my global invented language (first heard in the Adiemus project) as text, I gave the piece a Chi-nese title, Qing Zhu (Celebra-tion), and also brought some “local flavour” into the work with the erhu and by occasion-ally embedding a unique Chi-nese flavour in the harmonies. The final piece turned out very

well and certainly struck a

chord with the listeners (pun intended!).

One aspect of the piece for which I can take no credit was the magnificent climax with the addition of 40 or so djembe drummers : one o f Shane O’Shea’s mad ideas!

To backtrack a little, I arrived on my birthday, February 17th, and that evening I did a public inter-view with Shane O’Shea as my “interrogator.” It can be unnerv-ing not knowing what one is going to be asked, but it went well, with an emotional finale. Four hundred young people sang “Happy Birthday” and pre-sented me with a birthday cake with, thankfully, not enough room for the number of candles to mark my age! It certainly was “the icing on the cake,” as we say in the UK.

And the concert. What a fantastic venue for this occasion – the Forbidden City Concert Hall. I had not seen so many people on stage since my days as an oboist in the National Youth Orchestra of Wales! I shall not write a con-cert review; I will merely say what

a privilege it was to be involved and take the podium for some of my music. What did we get? Fan-tastic involvement and emotion. No, it was not flawless, but what does that matter when an emo-tional bond is made with the audience? It was a pleasure for me to meet the many dignitaries connected with Dulwich College, both in Beijing and elsewhere, at the pre-concert reception, and overall, it was a great night.

My only regret was that I did not have enough time to fully explore Beijing or visit the Great Wall, although I did man-age a little bit of sight-seeing and a couple of fantastic Chi-nese meals.

This was a massive project that came off beautifully, a magnifi-cent achievement by all in-volved. We are discussing the possibility of my return, which is welcome news indeed.

Best wishes to all,

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ISCMS V, 2012

For  more  information,  visit  www.iscms.net

MASS iveA Ref lect ion

Six years ago, ISCMS involved only 12 schools and 120 singers, and it was held in Dulwich College Bei-jing’s Edward Alleyn Theatre. ISCMS was born to bring many cultures together and to foster a global musical experience. Today, this philosophy remains un-changed, but the festival itself has grown: last year, 20 schools from a range of countries travelled to Bu-san, Korea, to take part in this momentous event.

As some of you may know, last year’s festival was titled MASSive, and composer Paul Barker was commissioned to write a piece of the same name for ISCMS. Follow-ing ISCMS’s multicultural philoso-phy, MASSive is a mass written in the style of rock. The clash of the two disparate genres leads to something amazing – as soprano Ashley Wang put it, “it feels alive.”

In addition to MASSive, Wagner’s Tannhauser, Brahms’s German Requiem, and John Hui’s The Hol-low Men were also performed dur-ing the festival Gala Concert. Tannhauser was quite challenging for the orchestral players; there were definitely moments of sheer musical intensity. The Brahms Requiem is no doubt a master-piece, rolling through the night in waves – at times raging oceans, at times peaceful lakes. Contrast-ingly, The Hollow Men is much more eccentric, with atonal chords and abstract lyrics. It evokes the feeling of a lonely walk through a mystifying graveyard. John Hui, the composer of this piece, was

described by flautist Sarah Markus as “dark, scary John,” after the concert.

Listening to the murmurs of the students, I felt that the general consensus was that last year’s fes-tival was just as good as, if not better than, the previous years’. All of the smallest details mattered – a large basketball court near the practice area for recreation, pack-ets of seaweed to accompany the rice during meals, stylish and comfy sweatshirts, and an ISCMS backpack. We must thank the host school, Busan International For-eign School, and their CAS events team for considering all of these details.

Looking at the schedule, it isn’t difficult to notice that practice took up most of the time during the festival. The rehearsals were ex-hausting – your shoulders would ache from holding up the violin, and your voice would strain from

overuse. You would get tired of having to stand up, sit down, lean back, and stand back up again. However, despite all this, the effort made by the students was well worth it. To think about it, the effi-ciency during ISCMS was, as al-ways, incredible – a two-hour per-formance produced in less than four days!

“That moment when the perform-ance started – it felt awesome,” commented violinist April Hui of Dulwich College Beijing, “I think we played and sang really well, and the music was also really excellent. If only it didn't pass so quickly.”

As the festival ended with hails of “See you next year!” and “Keep in touch!”, there was no doubt that the musical experience was not the only thing the students gained from ISCMS – firm connections had been made between stu-dents, to be revisited in the years to come.

by Jenny Xie

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ISCMS VI , 2013

An Interview with

Chr i s topher T inLast spring, The Marcato Press caught up with Christopher Tin over Skype. This interview is re-printed with permission.

When did you start composing music, and did you play an instrument at first?I started composing when I was 16. At first it was very simple stuff – pop, musical theatre, bluesy jazz, and so forth. Eventually, once I started studying mu-sic more thoroughly at Stanford, I started getting a little more sophisticated. When I enrolled at the Royal College of Music I started finally calling myself a “composer.” However,  I did play numerous instru-ments before then. I started with piano, then took up trumpet, guitar, bass, all before joining choir… So, even before writing, I was very heavily into music performance and theory.

What made you think composing was the career for you, and when did you know?When I was 17, I wrote a musical that my friends and I performed in my high school.  It was a fun process. I also got a lot of warm compliments from fellow students, and even some local celebrities.  In fact, Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, came to one of the performances – he lived two blocks away from me, and I was friends with his daughter.  After the show, he told his daughter “That's the best thing I've ever seen someone his age do.”  That encourage-ment was great for my confidence.

What inspires you in music?I actually get inspired by listening to other people's music… but only if it's good! Whenever I hear some-thing new – whether it's a new contemporary piece, a classical composition I've never heard before, a pop song, a rap beat, etc. – if it's good, it gets my mind moving and my creative juices flowing. Maybe it just reminds me of just how rewarding the creative process can be, and makes me want to indulge in it again. 

When you won the Grammy Award, how did it feel?It really didn't sink in until almost a year later, to be honest. The day of the Grammys, I was just so

preoccupied with all the events going on – the interviews, the speeches,

etc. – that I didn't even stop to think about it.   It was only the next year, when I was sitting at the Grammys watching other people receive awards, that the craziness of what had happened really dawned on me.

Were you surprised at the success of your music for Civili-zation IV?Somewhat, yes. I knew that I wrote a good song, but I had no idea that it would take off so well in the public consciousness!

Are you looking forward to writing a new piece for ISCMS?

I've been excited about this for months now, and even more so towards diving into it this summer! I hope to give ISCMS something challenging yet fun, something that will open their eyes to some sounds and musical traditions that they have never been exposed to before.

Finally, have you any encouraging words for student musi-cians?

Work hard, and don't despair if you don't see the results of your work right away – the fruits of your labours often take years to manifest. Be patient with yourself, keep an open mind, and try to learn from everything you see and hear. Ultimately, when you start to grow as an artist, don't be afraid of being yourself. Don't try to become someone else – just accept and acknowledge who you are, what it is that you do best, and work with it. Don't ever try to live in someone else's shadow.

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ISCMS VI I , 2014

For  more  information,  visit  www.iscms.net

Six Years and CountingISCMS I - V I , 2008 - 2013

I fondly remember the first ever ISCMS Gala Concert, held in the Edward Alleyn Theatre at Dulwich College Beijing in 2008 when I was 12 years old. The choir looked massive, and the or-chestra huge. My recollections don’t make much sense now, because looking at the facts and figures, I see there were only 120 participants. My only explanation is that I must have been very small back then, and everything looked much larger from my perspective.

But I say this in two senses of the word “small.” While I’ve grown up physically over the course of six years and six festi-vals, I’ve also grown up musically. ISCMS has given me the experience of singing in larger and better-sounding choirs, ac-companied by larger and more virtu-osic orchestras, in larger and more prestigious venues.

We have performed the heart-warming Faure Requiem, the gut-wrenching Mozart Requiem, the exuberant Vivaldi’s Gloria, and the exultant Jenkins’ Gloria. We have sung the upbeat yet euphoni-ous MASSive by Paul Barker and reaped the musical rewards of William Walton’s techni-c a l l y d e m a n d i n g Be l shazza r ’s Feas t . Obviously we’re no-where near being short of choice for the future, but it’s fair to say that the ISCMS repertoire has spanned an i m p r e s s i v e range of musical genres in a relatively short amount of time.

As far as I know, I am one of only two students to have participated in every single ISCMS festival to date. I’ve seen the festival grow and develop over the past six years, and am proud to have been

part of the process. Every year I come to the festi-val with high hopes for the new things that I will

experience; I leave with these hopes realised and even greater aspira-

tions for the following year. I con-tinue to take part in each festi-val not only because of what I experience at each one, but also because its continued growth capt ivates me and brings me back to the awe and excitement I felt in 2008.

Each festival has presented a unique challenge that has helped

my musical development. I learnt the basics of enunciat ing text in

ISCMS I; my breaking voice forced me to tackle an unfamiliar vocal position in ISCMS II; I endeavoured to execute proper breath-

ing control for the Kyrie of Mozart’s Requiem in ISCMS III. ISCMS IV’s

Belshazzar’s Feast was my nightmar-ish first encounter with singing ex-tended tonality, while ISCMS VI’s German Requiem was my equally

nightmarish f irst attempt at pro-nouncing German. Both were technical

challenges, even though I had no trou-ble singing Walton’s English text

or discomfort with Brahms’s to-nality. ISCMS V presented the unique challenge of trying to safely fit a 140-piece orchestra

and a 360-piece choir onto the stage. What I really treasure in

these challenges is not neces-sarily their difficulty, but their va-riety – they are what make the four days of rehearsal so stimulat-

ing and rewarding.

I don’t have the slightest intention of ever ending my ISCMS festival streak. I look forward to watching it grow even larger in its significance, ambition, and audacity. I don’t know where the ISCMS road will lead, but I have feel-ing that the element of the unknown will turn out to be the best part about it.

by John Hui

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Entering a New Era ISCMS VI I , 2013

Janus is the Roman god of doors and symbolises beginnings and endings; he has great importance in the context of young people growing up. ISCMS, too, is growing up, and entering a new era of greater creativity, inspiration, and innova-tion.

ISCMS VII, featuring Christopher Tin (two-time Grammy-winner for Civilization IV, computer game music), promises to be even bolder and braver than the previous six festivals. This year, it will be hosted by Dulwich College Beijing, with the Gala Concert to be held in the Forbidden City Concert Hall. ISCMS VII will be a platform supporting the next three festivals, build-ing up to ISCMS X, our tenth anniversary. But for now let us focus on ISCMS VII, and inspire everyone to get involved in Asia’s premiere music society.

The ISCMS Festival will take place from the 19th to the 23rd of February, 2014, in the beautiful city of Beijing. Our host school, Dulwich College, has unrivalled facilities encompassing two state of the art theatres, two black box thea-tres, five spacious music rooms, eleven practice rooms, and a composition suite to rival any-thing anywhere in the world. This festival will attract over 300 participants from 25 international schools and 15 countries. All will gather and stay in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, which is only five min-utes from the host school. The days will be filled with rehearsals of the festival rep-

ertoire: Haydn’s Nelson

Mass, Mussorgsky’s Night on a Bald Mountain, the winning Jenkins Award composition, and a new commission by Christopher Tin. Each evening the stu-dents will be entertained with a variety of events: a welcome mixer, numerous master classes and workshops, and An Evening with Christopher Tin, where they can ask Tin detailed questions about the life of a contemporary composer and industry leader.

ISCMS VII heralds the return of Dr. Robert Hasty (Artistic Director – Orchestral), Helen Lin (Concert Pianist), and soloists Josefien Stoppelenburg, Gemma Ni Bhri-ain, Ciaran Kelly, and Timothy Parker, who will grace the stage for the Nelson Mass and offer students choral workshops dur-ing the festival.

To participate in the festival, you must come as part of a member school. Upon joining, a member school is entitled to all the benefits that ISCMS has to offer. In addition to organising the festival event,

the Society shares practitioners and resources with its

member schools, as it aims to allow students and teachers alike to experience the ISCMS phenomenon through-out the year.

B e b r a v e a n d b e bo ld : s ign up fo r

ISCMS now. Join Janus and the ISCMS team in

delivering a one-stop music education experience for all, un-rivalled anywhere in the world.

by Shane O’Shea

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