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25.
July
2014.
Europe’s leading Summer School welcomes government investment in music education

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Media Release

Europe's leading Summer School welcomes government investment in music education

Dartington International Summer School has welcomed the announcement by Education Minister Nick Gibb who said the government will be allocating an extra £18 million to music education.

Europe's leading Summer School begins this weekend (26 July 2014) and this year has awarded £130,000 worth of bursaries to 185 students. The bursaries have been awarded to top level students who have already achieved the requisite level of musicianship but are in need of financial support in order to further their studies with internationally celebrated teachers at the three week Dartington International Summer School.

[image]In previous years the bursaries have supported students who have gone on to achieve considerable success. The bursary scheme is partially funded by the Dartington International Summer School Foundation, as well as receiving money from other Trusts and Foundations; one third of all participants are bursary students. Each place is worth £1000 and bursaries entitle the student to food and accommodation for the whole week plus their tuition.

Applications came from a mix of new attendees, some returning participants and from overseas participants (where the exchange rate and the cost of travel in addition to the cost of fees were cited as otherwise prohibitive factors). Most applicants were simply either on a low income, small pension or have had no increase in their income in recent years despite living costs continuing to rise.

Musicians like Mark Simpson, the only ever winner of BBC Young Musician of the Year to come from a state school, was a bursary student at DISS and is now a rising star and attending this year as a tutor on the New Music course for composers and instrumentalists.

Dartington also believes in supporting talented international students as well as the home grown variety. One such recipient is Michael Petrov, a 24 year-old Bulgarian cello student at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Said to "play with the bravura and calm assurance of a long-established maestro", the Daily Telegraph said, "At his recent performance of Shostakovich's 1st Cello Concerto at the Barbican Petrov dominated the orchestra effortlessly, and carried off the Guildhall's Gold Medal." He's also been named a Rising Star of ECHO, the European Concert Hall Organisation.

Petrov is very loyal to his teacher Louise Hopkins who is Head of Strings at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and takes a Cello masterclass at the Summer School. Petrov will be studying with Louise over the second week of the Summer School.

Artistic Director for the 2014 Summer School Nicholas Daniel said, "On the eve of the 2014 Dartington Summer School it is great news to hear that the government is giving music education an £18 million funding boost and to read Nick Gibb's acknowledgement that "no education can be complete without the arts and music playing a central role".

Photo caption: Cello players at Dartington International Summer School - credit Kate Mount

Further details:www.dartington.org/summer-schoolor E/:sue.wiles@dartington.orgFurther press information and high res images: Jane Adkins, A Head for PR Ltd, T/: 01935 813114 or E/:jane@aheadforpr.co.uk

July 2014 (DISS 05)