Play Direct Academy/
The opportunity to develop the art of being both musician and conductor with the orchestra is a unique artistic experience. Having direct contact with the musicians in the orchestra, working jointly on the style, articulation and balance, learning the gestures… so many elements combine to instill a concerto with the true spirit of chamber music.
The renowned Ensemble orchestral de Paris has made the ‘Play-Direct’ technique one of the mainstays of its work with many great musicians like Thomas Zehetmair, Maxim Vengerov, Stephen Kovacevich, Heinrich Schiff as well as Joseph Swensen, Jeffrey Kahane and François Leleux.
Thanks to the support from its main sponsor, Monceau Assurances, in 2011 the Ensemble orchestral de Paris launches its first Play-Direct training academy, the "Paris Play-Direct Academy".
Designed to piano, violin and cello for its first edition, this academy accompanies a selection of five high level instrumentalists towards orchestra conducting, under the valuable guidance of three masters from the music world - pianist, Stephen Kovacevich, cellist, Heinrich Schiff and violonist, Joseph Swensen.
The training on the Play-Direct technique is completed by a first approach of conducting a short symphonic piece.
The training programme includes preparatory work in Vendôme with a small orchestra (a piano and strings quartet), two public concerts on May 24th and 25th, and rehearsals with the 40 musicians of the Ensemble orchestral de Paris at CENTQUATRE, its home in Paris. Finally, there will be a concert where the participants can put their work into practice, side by side with the orchestra in the prestigious Cité de la musique hall in Paris, with the participation of Stephen Kovacevich, Heinrich Schiff and Joseph Swensen.