A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to take part in Tzlil Meudcan festival in Tel Aviv. Run by the excellent Ensemble Nikel and Yaron Deutsch, this year was especially significant as Nikel celebrated their 10th anniversary (amazing box set available!).
The festival participants included composition tutors Matthew Shlomowitz, Klaus Lang, Sarah Nemtsov and Marco Momi, artists Quatuor Diotima, Ensemble Nikel, Plus Minus, Alexander Schubert, Stefan Prins amongst others, and seven student composers from all over the world, of which I was one. (NB the full festival programme can be seen at the link above.)
The student composers were an absolutely fantastic group, totally diverse in their individual approaches but completely open, interested and positive about their peers’ musical concerns. We benefited from individual sessions with the tutors, wide ranging discussions at the ‘Where Are We Now?’ panels, fantastic concerts every evening (including a performance of James Saunders’ Everybody do this led by Plus Minus) and post-concert beer+beach+chat.
A big thank you to everyone who made this inspiring festival happen, and I hope to see my fellow gang members again soon, perhaps in rural France…
Georgia Rodgers 