Although it is my aim to hibernate in the hot summer months however, there are occasions which one simply cannot miss. One such event was a get together at Dr Ian Tomlin’s home in Madeliena to meet Andrea Kuyper from the Academy of Music at Napier University who was here for masterclasses and who also gave a concert at Villa Bologna in July. She teaches flute to two Maltese girls who are scholarship holders at Napier – Laura Cioffi and Clara Galea. Since apart from Laura and Clara whom I had never met before, another three scholarship holders were coming that afternoon I did not want to miss the get together. But let me give you a little background to the link between Dr Ian Tomlin who has been residing in Malta for over 20 years now, music and the young musicians who benefited from his generosity.
Since its inception in 1996, The Ian Tomlin Academy of Music, Edinburgh, Scotland has served as a fundamental stepping stone for young musicians wishing to pursue a music degree. Officially inaugurated by Dr Ian Tomlin, a significant patron of the Academy, it now forms part of the School of Arts & Creative Industries at Edinburgh Napier University and has earned a reputation as one of the leading music schools in Britain.
The Music School has now moved to Merchiston Campus and offers spectacular new music facilities with a range of lecture rooms and studios. Both undergraduate and postgraduate courses are available at the Academy. The Bachelor of Music degree with Honours focuses on students who wish to further their study in an instrument, voice or composition. Unlike many other university music courses, the programmes of study at the Ian Tomlin Academy provide a conservatoire-based education with a balanced emphasis on performance practice and academic studies. The principal study area of performance or composition is tutored by professional practitioners who conduct individual as well as group performance classes on a weekly basis.
As several Maltese students who have benefitted from one of these scholarships will tell you at the Academy, the environment is conducive to music-making and offers opportunities for students to collaborate with their peers from other disciplines in the School of Creative Industries, such as film-makers, artists and writers. Students also gain an insight into the world of the working musician through experienced teaching staff and masterclasses conducted by visiting performers.
Dr Ian Tomlin is the founder and benefactor of the Malta/Napier Scholarship Trust which was set up to support promising Maltese musicians who wish to undertake a four-year undergraduate degree at Edinburgh Napier University. I have been associated with this Trust since its inception some 25 years ago. I remember attending the launch at the Corinthia Palace Hotel.
Jo Staff, Dr Tomlin’s PA told me: “So far the following Maltese students have benefitted from these scholarships: the soprano Claire Debono; the pianist and composer Veronique Zammit (now Vella); the pianist composer Alexander Vella Gregory; the pianists Gisèle Grima and Marcelle Zahra; the soprano Francesca Aquilina; the violinist Jean Noel Attard; the flautists Laura Cioffi (who will graduate in 2015) and Clara Galea (who will finish her studies in 2016) as will the violinist Pierre Louis Attard.
Veronique Vella turned up at Mytton Lodge, Dr Tomlin’s home, for the get together with her 8-month old baby André. While making the most of her new role as a mother she continues to perform, compose and teach. She told me: “Since 2011 I've had the pleasure of working as the resident pianist for the Dance Studies Programme at the University of Malta where I improvise music during ballet and Cunningham classes. Working closely with dancers has given me a new, welcome perspective on music-making. As a pianist, I do plenty of freelance work, including a recent performance with the excellent Cosmos Ensemble at Teatru Manoel's Studio Theatre.” Veronique is also working on different comissions. She explained over tea: “The largest-scale project work I am working on is a 3-movement piece for piano and orchestra. Other recent comissions include Cassa Quddiem Mera a piece for soprano and piano written for soprano Miriam Cauchi, based on Clare Azzopardi's poem by the same name as well as Bidla, for flute and guitar, which continues to be performed extensively by the UK-based Agnew McAllister Duo,”. This work was last played by the duo at this summer's Festival Forfest in the Czech Republic. Earlier this year, her orchestral piece, Fine Line, was selected for performance and played by the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Mro. Michael Laus during the annual presidential concert at the Mediterranean Conference Centre. As to music education Veronique enjoys tutoring piano, theory and harmony to students of all ages and levels. “I also work for Teatru Manoel's rich and varied Toi Toi Arts Education Programme initiated by Rosetta Debattista. The programme has had two very successful seasons and we are busy preparing and looking forward to the next one,” she continues. All the while, for the last eight months, at the same time enjoying tremendously her new role as mother to André.
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Gisèle Grima, an accomplished pianist who exudes enthusiasm and allure, teaches music to primary school children and has been doing so for the past four years since she returned to Malta from her studies in Scotland. She comments: “I have always wanted to get involved in education and feel that it is my line and I wish to carry on growing as an educator.” Alongside, Gisèle teaches piano privately and currently has some 15 students who get full one-to-one attention during lessons. “I also keep my performances up and enjoy collaborating with local musicians regularly as well as working on solo repertoire. Upcoming engagements include a clarinet and piano duo recital in October at the Manoel Theatre,” she says, energetically.
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Alexander Vella Gregory is a familiar figure locally as a composer pianist, accompanist, teacher and critic. After obtaining a Licentiate of the London College of Music (LLCM) diploma in 2011, in 2002, he won the Ian Tomlin Napier/Malta Music Scholarship which enabled him to pursue a B.Mus(Hons) degree in composition at the Ian Tomlin School of Music, Napier University, Edinburgh where he graduated in July 2006 with honours.
Alexander has performed in many venues both in Malta and abroad, including Edinburgh, Vienna, Italy and Washington DC. “I am also very active as a composer,” he tells me. I know that his works have been performed in Malta, Edinburgh, Vienna, Frankfurt, Prague, Finland and the USA. Alex is also very active in the theatre scene, and has written music for various theatrical productions. I asked him to name a few: “Some of these include Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream (MADC, 2007), Euripides’ The Bacchae (MADC, 2008) and Arsenic & Old Lace (MADC, 2012).” Alex was also vocal coach for the Malta run of the hit musical Spring Awakening (MADC, 2009), and for Ospizio (Teatru Anon, 2010), a site-specific theatre performance commissioned for the Malta Summer Arts Festival 2010. “I have also participated in several music education projects for children, including The Carnival of Animals (2009), a dance performance for kids, and The Classical Experience (2009), a project which targeted schools,” he explains. In October 2010 he performed Tramuntana in Washington DC, together with Sarah Spiteri, as part of the Kids Euro Festival, which performance was repeated for Ziguzajg, Malta’s first ever Children’s Festival in 2011. He has also created an animated musical performance, together with author Trevor Zahra, for the Malta Children’s Literature Festival 2010.
Alexander is also the Artistic Director and a founding member of the Cappella Sanctae Catharinae, Malta’s only male choir (www.cscmalta.com). “Oh and I am also a continuo player with the newly formed Valletta Baroque Festival Ensemble which was set up in 2012,”. Last but not least Alex is also currently a board member for St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity.
Flautists Laura Cioffi and Clara Galea originally met at the Johann Strauss School of Music. Their teachers Silvio Zammit and his wife Ramona decided that the girls would make a good duo. “We were 10-years-old when we played together for the first time,” Laura tells me. They both have excellent reports from their tutors at Napier College and Dr Tomlin and the members of the Selection Board are proud of them too. That afternoon they played Fughetta and Out of the Blue from Michael Regan’s Jazz Duets for Flute which we all loved. So we drank yet another cup of tea in their honour.
It is thanks to the generosity of Dr Tomlin that the above-mentioned Maltese students have enjoyed an excellent education in music and are now pursuing rewarding careers.
The next intake of Maltese students will be in 2016. So those who are interested should patiently wait until that year to apply.
IN A BOX
Laura Cioffi and Clara Galea will be performing a Flute Duo Concert at St Catherine of Italy Church, Valletta next Wednesday 4 September at 19.00. Tickets are only Euros 5 and proceeds will go towards the maintenance of the church.
For more information or booking contact [email protected]