MUSIC AT AMBIALET is open to adult amateurs, full-time music students or those planning to study music at university or conservatoire.
The courses are select, with a maximum of 20 resident participants on each of the three eight-day courses throughout August. It is usual to have around 10 participants in the Intermediate Class and 10 in the Advanced Class.
There is no upper age limit, and a lower age limit of 17. Observers and non-playing partners are welcome. The teaching is conducted through workshops and masterclasses, with some individual sessions available for those in the Intermediate group.
All participants are given the opportunity to play in their respective classes every
day.
Both tutors on each course teach all piano classes
For repertoire and optional set works please go to Repertoire page
The day begins with breakfast at 8am on the terrace overlooking the valley, followed by practice until 10am. Class begins with a warm-up for everyone, away from the piano, involving rhythmic and vocal exercises, after which the class divides. Lunch is taken in the cool of the new dining room. Afternoons are for leisure, or practising, and classes begin again at 4pm.
Everyone gets the chance to play every day, and the Intermediate group are encouraged to sit in on the Advanced Class when possible, especially for the specialisations offered by each tutor. A timetable will published in advance.
At 7pm all piano playing stops, to allow tranquillity to return to the Priory, and drinks can be bought from the bar. There are formal and informal concerts before and after dinner, which is taken on the terrace at 8.30pm.
Teaching and learning is conducted principally through group sessions. Advanced players will be familiar with the masterclass format, but for the Intermediate Class it should be stressed how supportive the classes are and how enlightening it can be to observe others as well as to receive teaching in front of others. Participants without exception develop considerably in skill and confidence during the course, once the natural apprehensions of the first session are overcome. The whole ambience of Ambialet – the inspiring and sympathetic teaching, the setting, the social mix and the food – enables this transformation.
A list of the repertoire chosen, in addition to the set works, will be sent out in July to enable participants to bring scores.
Music at Ambialet offers accommodation in the newly restored, 11th-century Benedictine priory in the village of Ambialet, in the Gorge du Tarn.
"Students have returned year after year. Clearly this is one summer school that could become addictive"
- BBC Music Magazine
"The place, the people, the weather, the food, everything was memorable."
