The last few days of our 2016 summer course came all too soon, and were a wonderful way to conclude our three weeks in Winchester.

 

On Friday our pianists held a lunchtime recital in Winchester's famous 11th Century Cathedral, attended by their friends and the general public. It was a wonderful opportunity to see the inside of this beautiful and ancient building, and the local residents were impressed by the talent of our international young musicians.

 

 

The afternoon's musicianship session was divided between a performance workshop with leading youth music expert and presenter Tom Redmond, and a session on Alexander Technique with Helen Kearns. Tom's group considered questions like why we perform, what does it mean to be a performer, and how to prepare and combat anxiety - so both sessions were well timed in preparation for Saturday's performance the next day.

 

 

That evening it was time for our final BBQ, with games on the field and our awards ceremony, and of course one final chance for the students to bombard staff with water balloons. It was an emotional evening, and touching to see how close the students have become over the course of the three weeks - although perhaps the staff were secretly excited about the prospect of staying dry on Friday evenings from now on!

 

 

After a well-earned rest, Saturday morning finally arrived and everybody sprang into action to prepare for the afternoon's festivities. The morning was spent in last-minute rehearsal in advance of the afternoon's performances, with opportunity for students to get used to the performance space. They were also able to meet their parents, who arrived throughout the day and joined us for the afternoon.

 

 

The Festival Showcase comprised three concerts throughout the afternoon, featuring the hard work of students across all our courses. Visiting parents, family and friends also had the opportunity to join a historical tour of Winchester College's beautiful and ancient campus, and enjoy a traditional English afternoon tea to revive themselves between concerts - complete with scones, cream and jam, and music from the Ingenium Academy String Quartet!

 

 

Before the final concert everbody congregated for our annual garden party with wine and canapés, which offered the chance for parents, staff and students to mingle, and share stories and memories about the past three weeks. Background jazz was provided by our very own in-house Ingenium Academy jazz ensemble, before everybody eventually piled into the concert venue for our finale concert.

 

 

All the performances throughout the day were a great success, and the highlight was undoubtedly our grand school finale, when all staff and students at Ingenium took to the stage for a rousing medley of songs from Jesus Christ Superstar in honour of our trip to London on Wednesday. Emotional goodbyes of course followed, and the atmosphere in the hall at the end of the evening was one of mixed feelings of joy and sadness, as the students celebrated their achievements and prepared to leave for their own countries the next day.

 

 

Thank you everybody for a truly wonderful, musical, international, cultural, exhilarating and altogether fantastic Ingenium 2016! We've loved living and working with you all over the three weeks, you have all proven yourselves to be incredible special and talented young people. We're sad that it's over, but we are already looking forward to next year's course and we hope to see you at Ingenium 2017!

 

Please do keep in touch, we always love to hear what our students get up to throughout the year. Remember you can also join the Ingenium Community to share memories and photos with everyone.

 

See you next year!

#ingeniumrocks

 

Musicians of the Day

(Friday)

 

Saxophones

Gavin, for being 'on it' all the time, working really hard and being extremely competent in all areas.

 

Orchestra

The whole violin section! You worked really hard on a particularly difficult passage of the John Adams, and held your own sectional rehearsal with impressive results.

 

Choir

Matheus, for being great all week, holding you part all week, and always being energetic, engaged and positive and working hard.

 

Piano

Olivier, for being independent and managing your own timetable so well, being conscientious and hardworking, and performing impeccably.