Germany 2005

In June and July of 2005, 21 young string players headed off to Germany for 20 days of unforgettable fun and hard work. This included masterclasses with famous professors from all around Germany, as well as daytrips to Salzburg, Leipzig and Munich.

Our first stop was Berlin where we stayed in a hostel. We visited many famous places including Charlottenberg Castle, Museum Island, the Jewish Museum, Sans Souci Palace, the Reichstag, Marienkirche and the Brandenburg Gate. We also rehearsed with the Sibelius Chamber Orchestra and played at the Australian Embassy where you could even get a VB strait from the tap!

We then moved onto Augsburg, stopping off at Leipzig to visit the Bach museum. In Ausburg  we split up to stay with local host families. Here we had a joint concert with St Stephan’s where, to our delight, we discovered the German style of clapping in unison. We also had free time with our host families, which helped us work on out knowledge of local customs and gave the German kids A⁺’s on their English homework!

After a much enjoyed stay in Augsburg, it was off to Stuttgart. There we were met by a new set of host families who all had children at the Musikschule. We enjoyed the facilities of this wonderful music school in which we rehearsed, went to concerts and attended several masterclasses. We also had an unforgettable daytrip to Heidelberg where we had a tour around the town, hiked up to the castle on the hill and stuffed ourselves with gummi bears from the original gummi bear store. At the end of our stay, we had yet another joint concert at the Hochschule with the local string players we had got to know so well at the Musikschule.

At the end of the trip, everyone agreed on one thing - it should have been longer. As well as learning about different techniques musically, we also experienced the national and local cultures first hand, as well as performing at several memorable venues. 

There were many ups and downs, but in the end it was definitely a trip that we won’t soon forget!

 Liisa

The Tour

The MSE departed Melbourne on Thursday afternoon 23 June travelling via Vienna to Berlin, then to Munich and Stuttgart by coach, returned to Melbourne from Frankfurt on Tuesday 12 July.

The ensemble undertook joint concerts with the Sibelius Chamber Ensemble in Berlin, with the Stuttgart Youth Chamber Orchestra in Stuttgart and with a youth chamber orchestra in Munich. There were 12 master classes with leading players and teachers and attended rehearsal session with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.