Welcome, Theresians!

By Emilia Campagna - July 25, 2022

Nine new members and seven eligible musicians were selected in Theresia's annual auditions: let's find out something about their motivations and expectations
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Theresia’s annual auditions at a glance

It was in mid-July that we held Theresia’s annual auditions: for the second time they were in Schloss Frohnburg in Salzburg, thanks to a partnership with the Mozarteum. And, as it always is when it comes to Theresia, it was an intense and rich experience.

One day for string players, one for woodwinds: our Concertmaster, violinist Gemma Longoni, and oboist Alfredo Bernardini, one of Theresia’s principal conductors, coordinated the full two days of rehearsals, as Theresia’s auditions are not merely hearings where you play your piece of music in front of a commission, but it goes way beyond that.

Of 28 invited candidates, we chose nine of them: they were awarded the Learning Grants that will let them participate in Theresia’s learning activities for the period August 2022 – November 2023. Plus, we included in a ranking seven eligible musicians who may be called for single projects and can participate in selected capacity building activities as well.

In the ranks of strings, new members are: Violinists Melanie Gruwez (Belgium), Natascha Pichler (Austria) Guillermo Santonja di Fonzo and Julia Hernández Sánchez (both Spanish); violist Hannah Gardner (UK) and German cellist Ena Market. As for woodwinds, we welcome Spanish oboist María Jesús Moreno Ciudad, Dutch horn player Hugo Pieters and Taiwanese flutist Ching-Yao Wang.

Eligible musicians are: Italian clarinetists Elia Bianucci and Carolina Guiducci, flutist Tommaso Simonetta Sandri (also from Italy), bassoonists William Gough (UK) and Francisco Javier Sánchez Castillo (Spain), Costarican hornist Andres Alberto Sanchez Trejos, and Hungarian violinist Zsófia Noémi Bréda.

Getting to know the candidates

We are looking forward to starting working with new members of the orchestra, who will be involved in August projects. Nevertheless, we had the chance to know them, their experiences and their expectations, during a series of interviews conducted by Elena Gaboardi (Board Member at Fondazione ICONS, the organisation supporting the Theresia project) and Charlotte Michi (Director at Fondazione ICONS).

As Charlotte Michi explains to us “our main purpose when interviewing the candidates is to know their motivations, and their attitude to commit to a project like Theresia.” In particular, interviewers asked about candidates’ interest in the HIP (Historically informed performance): “Most answers pointed out that this kind of performance gives you a complete and richer view of the music you are playing; generally speaking, string players tend to go on playing both period and modern instrument, while woodwinds players usually stick to the period one, for technical reasons mostly. Almost everybody has a strong attitude to exploring and deepening the historical and artistic aspects connected with the music they study. In this way, they also become better at communicating to the audience interesting facts related to the repertoire. By the way, improving communication techniques is something many candidates are interested in, and we are happy we will be able to help them effectively with our training modules.”

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Our places: Schloss Frohnburg

By Emilia Campagna - July 11, 2022

Not only “The Sound of Music” was an iconic musical shot in Salzburg, but it also happened to be shot at our auditions’ venue, Schloss Fohnburg – and the rich coincidence can have a meaningful relevance for our candidates.
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Not only “The Sound of Music” was an iconic musical shot in Salzburg, but it also happened to be shot at our auditions’ venue, Schloss Frohnburg – and the rich coincidence can have a meaningful relevance for our candidates.

Have you ever heard of a Schloss Frohnburg? This German name sounds like fairy tale places and old times splendour, and actually, it is a very special place where two very different things somehow meet: the renowned Salzburg’s Mozarteum and the American 1965 musical movie “The Sound of Music”.

What is Schloss Frohnburg’s story?

Originally, Schloss Frohnburg was built between 1660 and 1680 by Prince-Archbishop Max Gandolf as a summer manor and called “Schloss Grafenau”. Through marriage, the castle went to the family of the Counts of Frohnberg who gave the new name to the building. Later it became the property of the Counts of Kuenberg. Schloss Frohnburg went through its prime around 1700, when its extensive parks and gardens were maintained by 13 gardeners! The castle had orangeries and orchards and the site now used as a library was originally a bathhouse, these days only a marble plaque saying “Limpida perluor unda” (bathing in the clear wave) commemorates this fact.

For those familiar with Salzburg’s topography, it is situated along Hellbrunner Allee, which connects the Residenz Palace (probably the most important historic building of Salzburg) and the old town of Salzburg with Hellbrunn Castle in the South over a distance of about 5 kilometres. Prince-Archbishop Markus Sittikus ordered the construction of the straight alley to get comfortably to the castle and gardens built by Santino Solari in 1613.

How Schloss Frohnburg turned into becoming a house for music

After the Second World War, the American occupiers confiscated the building. In 1960, the Republic of Austria acquired Schloss Frohnburg to allocate it to the Carl Orff Institute as part of the Mozarteum. Nowadays, the historic concert hall and the adjoining rooms are used by the Mozarteum University for performances and can also be rented, making it an ideal location for concerts, seminars and much more, thanks to its concert hall and the adjoining conference hall. And right here are scheduled Theresia’s 2022 auditions, to be held in a few days (on 14th July and 15th July).

A location for “The Sound of Music”

Salzburg is so full of gems, that Schloss Frohnburg is not at the top of the list of the standard tourist. Thousands of people, though, worship it in the movie “The Sound of Music”, in which it was used for the exterior shots of the Trapp villa. Do you remember the story? In 1938 Maria (a charming Julie Andrews), a young nun to be, uncertain whether to take vows or not, is sent to Captain von Trapp’s home to be the governess to his seven children. She falls in love with the children and their widowed father who, ordered to accept a commission in the German navy, opposes the Nazis so that he and Maria decide to flee from Austria with the children. Music is at the very core of the movie, as it is the force that unites the Captain, Maria and the seven children. What people usually do not know is that this is a true story: the Trapp family really flew to the United States before the II World War, making a name for themselves as the Trapp Family Singers.

The first appearance of the castle is particularly evocative for us because it happens to be when Maria leaves the convent to face her new task. She’s afraid and apprehensive: will she be up to the job? Will she make a good impression? That’s exactly what a young musician facing an audition may think. Well, first of all, we can assure you reminding the words of hour horn player Jonathan van der Beek, who joined Theresia after last year’s auditions: “It is called an audition because they are making a selection in the end, but it felt more like a workshop or even a masterclass in a beautiful environment. We got to prepare certain pieces, and we had to ‘rehearse’ in front of a jury the whole day. This made me very comfortable as I wasn’t judged only on the 5 first minutes of playing. When I went out of the audition, I was just so grateful that I got the opportunity to work with Alfredo Bernardini and all the great musicians that participated.”

Then we could all get inspired by Maria, singing “I have confidence” on her way to Trapp Villa – Schloss Frohnburg: “With each step I am more certain / Everything will turn out fine / I have confidence / The world can all be mine!”.

Good luck with your auditions and… have confidence!

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Meet Theresia: Jonathan van der Beek

By Emilia Campagna - May 31, 2022

Does every musician remember how they fell in love with their instrument? Belgian horn player Jonathan van der Beek does: find more in the new interview of the Meet Theresia series.
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Jonathan van der Beek, Belgian horn player, joined Theresia in 2021: let’s find something about his passion for music, his experience and his expectations.

Tell us something about your musical story: how did you start playing and when and why did you decide to focus on the historical instrument?

I wanted to play the horn from a very young age on – I think that happened when I was four years old. My parents had this CD from Peter and the Wolf (Prokofiev) where the horns represent the wolves. I fell in love with the warm sound of the horn and when I was old enough, I immediately started in the music school. My first teacher in music school, who would be my horn professor in the Conservatory later on, was a horn player but also a phenomenal natural horn player. I listened a lot to his CD’s where he plays the natural horn, and that’s why I have always been interested in it. I started studying the modern horn but when the Coronavirus crisis left us all without any goals I decided to enrol for an audition and start practising the natural horn. Furthermore, I fell in love with the instrument and its sound. Some months later I played my first projects on natural horn, and nowadays I am very happily combining modern horn with the natural one.

How did you know about Theresia?

The first project I ever played on natural horn I played together with Rodrigo Lopez Paz who told me about Theresia. I went to search for Theresia on the internet, and it seemed like an opportunity I didn’t want to miss. So, I signed up for the audition.

You auditioned for Theresia in the summer of 2021: how was it, and which pieces of advice could you give to some colleagues of yours who may take part in the next auditions?

The only advice I can give is that you should really go there! Normally, an audition is a quite frightening and sometimes disappointing experience. In the case of the Theresia audition, this was exactly the opposite. It is called an audition because they are making a selection in the end, but it felt more like a workshop or even a masterclass in a beautiful environment. We got to prepare certain pieces, and we had to ‘rehearse’ in front of a jury the whole day. This made me very comfortable as I wasn’t judged only on the 5 first minutes of playing. When I went out of the audition, I was just so grateful that I got the opportunity to work with Alfredo Bernardini and all the great musicians that participated. If I were not selected, I would still take this great experience home.

You took part in the latest project, a wind academy with tutor Alfredo Bernardini. How was it? What did you like more about this experience?

I had a great time at the wind academy, especially because the group of musicians and friends we played with was so close. We had a lot of fun playing the music, but also outside the rehearsals. I like very much that we got the opportunity to play 4 concerts in 4 different cities. It was exciting to have to deal with another acoustic every time.

You worked with Maestro Bernardini both in an orchestral and in a chamber music project: which was the difference between the two experiences?

Both times were unforgettable experiences, but there was a clear difference; Alfredo was really the conductor in the orchestra project, while he was more like a coach in the wind project. I really like his way of working and experimenting with the group of musicians he works with. This was similar during both projects.

During the residency, you were presented with the EMPOWER project, an initiative funded by the EU: what do you expect from it? How do you think working with Theresia can “empower” you?

Foremost, I want to say that Theresia already empowered me in developing my skills as an instrumentalist. About the particular EMPOWER project: I am looking forward to gaining more knowledge in the domain of historical informed performance, and I am also interested in the more ‘economical’ subjects of the course. I think this combination of residencies with the orchestra, chamber music projects and specific courses in domains where I am very much interested in, will empower me the next years as a musician, thanks to Theresia Orchestra.

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New auditions coming soon!

By Emilia Campagna - May 20, 2022

Theresia is looking for talented musicians: don't miss the chance of the next auditions!
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Good news for young talented musicians: a contest based on merit was launched to award Learning Grants to musicians wishing to enter Theresia Orchestra and participate in its learning activities for the period August 2022 – November 2023! Meaning, auditions are to be held soon.

Instruments involved are violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn. Auditions, during which candidates will be asked not only to play but also to express their motivations to participate in the project, will be held at Schloss Frohnburg in Salzburg (Austria) thanks to the collaboration with Salzburg Mozarteum, on 14 July 2022 for wind instruments and on 15 July 2022 for string instruments, and will be run as chamber music workshops under the supervision of the Board of Examiners. Components of the Board of Examiner will be Alfredo Bernardini, Theresia’s Principal Conductor, violinist Gemma Longoni (Concertmaster), Artistic Director Mario Martinoli, Charlotte Michi (Fondazione ICONS Director), and Elena Gaboardi (Fondazione ICONS Board Member).

Selected musicians will participate in five of the residencies from August 2022 to November 2023: the first two of them, both in August, will be chamber music residencies, for string players in Geneva (Switzerland) and wind instruments in Totana (Spain). An opera production is also scheduled: residency n. 36 is devoted to Cimarosa’s opera “Le astuzie femminili”, with concerts in Rieti and Rome in October. Orchestral residencies will follow, with projects in which Theresia Orchestra will be conducted by Alfredo Bernardini, Alessandro De Marchi and Giovanni Antonini. Check the website for more info and updates!

Joining Theresia is a great opportunity: in addition to being involved in such musical projects, the musicians who will be particularly distinguished by artistic merit at the end of their granting period may have the possibility to extend their grant for one more year and may be invited to join the professional alumni orchestra named Concerto Theresia. Moreover, musicians will be involved in the activities made possible by the European project Empower: some of them will be “ambassadors” at the very centre of a program (Ambassador Program and Audience Development), which aims to engage new audiences in part thanks to some of our musicians acting as testimonials.Still, Empower will affect all musicians involved in Theresia, thanks to its learning program and capacity building modules..

Of course, not everybody can participate, and some requirements are mandatory: applicants must be born after (or on) 1 January 1994 and must be citizens of one of the Countries of the European Union or the European Economic Area. Non-EU citizens may apply if they have a residence permit for study in one of the Countries of the European Union. They must have in-depth knowledge of performance praxis on authentic instruments and of the use of period instruments. Last but not least, the use of the classical bow for strings and classical instruments for winds is mandatory during the Auditions.

Download the full regulation here and don’t forget to spread the news!

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