Review of ASTONA ONLINE – 9 to 23 July, 2022

For the second time, Astona International took place ONLINE!

Due to the still uncertain Covid situation and for the protection of our students and teachers, we conducted Astona International online as for the second time. It was worth it.

27 young talents from 13 countries were accepted and taught intensively by 5 internationally-renowned musicians via ZOOM. Both teachers and students were spread over 14 countries. Thanks to a demanding and varied programme, the course was a complete success for both students and professors, proving that it is possible to achieve high musical, pedagogical and social goals in online teaching. The students were able to demonstrate their skills at internal house concerts (streamed) and at two publicly-streamed concerts. "The Challenge", a creative, voluntary photo-competition among the participants, added a special touch and generated motivation. Daily overall contacts and regular evening get togethers ensured that the sense of togetherness which is typical of Astona existed again this year.

Thanks go out to all participants as well as to Apoint Film GmbH/streaming-solutions in Steinhausen/Zug for their excellent support in creating and managing the technical platform.

Here are the streaming concerts

Streaming Concert: Saturday, July 16

Pre recorded videos of 6 young talents aged 12 to 22 have been selected for this streaming concert. They play solo pieces or pieces with piano.

Streaming link Public concert July 16

Duration: 51 Minutes

Concert program

Program Astona Public Concert July 16.pd

Adobe Acrobat Document 76.7 KB

Download

Gala Concert: Saturday, July 23

The highlight of Astona! Pre recorded videos of 7 young talents aged 13 to 20 have been selected to perform solo pieces or works with piano.

Streaming link Gala concert July 23

Duration: 62 Minutes

Concert program

Program Astona Gala Concert July 23.pdf

Adobe Acrobat Document 76.2 KB

Download

Some feedbacks from the students

I would like to thank you for organizing such a wonderful online music festival. My daughter has learnt a great amount of music ideas from the individual lessons and group courses with other musicians from different countries in two weeks. I can see the progress that she has made in a short time. Prof. Nathan Braude is a wonderful teacher and violist. He can demonstrate lots of complex music ideas concisely with great eloquence and wisdom in a short time. I am impressed that he is very straight forward to pinpoint lots of crucial concepts and skills in a short lesson compared to some conservative teaching strategies that we often see. Also, watching many highly talented young musicians' performances is a great joy. My daughter liked Astona very much and hopefully will meet everyone in person next summer.

Mother of a violist (female, 12) from the USA

Thank you so much for a very inspiring course. We are so impressed by what you managed to arrange online. The challenge was particularly inspiring, as it got us to initiate to also play for a real audience during the course. Torje is very much looking forward to taking part in Astona in real life next summer.

Violinst (15), from Norway