Yesterday at the MECMA: Young Classical Music Stars Concerto

For the final edition in the MECMA Concert Series the Academy welcomed violinist Leia Zhu to perform alongside the Kaliningrad Symphony Orchestra. The day also marked the last of the masterclasses and lessons with world-renowned professors to have taken place across the event's incredible programme. 

As part of the EUFSC and SAMIT’s efforts to promote high quality musical education, this year’s edition of InClassica also incorporated the inaugural edition of the Middle East Classical Music Academy (MECMA), which took place from the 4th to the 23rd of September. This educational initiative featured three weeks of lectures, discussions and masterclasses in the schools of piano, wind, and strings, led by a roster of international professors and music pedagogues consisting of some of the most illustrious names active today. In addition, the MECMA also presented a series of daytime concerts featuring soloists, orchestras, and prodigies from all around the world, with select Academy students being offered the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of joining these artists in live performance on stage.


Yesterday at MECMA

Masterclasses:

Violin masterclass • Igor Petrushevski
Piano masterclass • Stepan Simonian


Quotes from Professors:

Igor Petrushevski
- "This unique project is coming to an end, in which several factors have come together at once: world-renowned professors with vast experience, and students who are eager for knowledge, who have come here and have the opportunity not only to study, but also to perform with a symphony orchestra — it's worth a lot. Moreover, they go to each other's concerts, they attend the concerts of the festival, this is such a huge experience for them that it is difficult to imagine where else they can gain it in one place for such a long time. I would like to congratulate the organisers on the successful completion of the project, wish them success and look forward to continuing next year.”


Daytime concert: Young Classical Music Stars Concerto

Leia Zhu (violin)
- How did you enjoy the performance? “Yeah it was very fun, it was the first time performing in Dubai, and the first time coming to the UAE.”

- How did you like the repertoire? “It was a different selection of pieces. The first piece, 'Seascapes', was written really recently — six years ago by Alexey Shor — and I thought it was a very interesting piece to learn, and it was nice to look through the music and find out more about it. Whereas, the other two pieces I performed, they were written hundreds of years ago, and are more well-known nowadays. So, I liked the mix. I hadn’t heard Mr Shor’s pieces before coming here, so I will definitely check out his other pieces.”

- How has the experience been in general? “I haven’t been here that long, but they’ve been very nice and very warm to me, and I hope I come back again in the future.”

Arkady Feldman

Kaliningrad Symphony Orchestra


Academy students selected to participate in the concert:

Amin Ghafari (violin)
Ryunosuke Asano (violin)

Students’ Programme:

P.Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto in D Major, 1st movement
F. Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto in E Minor, 1st movement


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