About academy
The Middle East Classical Music Academy (MECMA) is being organised by the European Foundation for Support of Culture (EUFSC), in collaboration with SAMIT Event Group, and marks the first academy of its type to take place in Dubai.
The 2021 inaugural edition shall take place over three weeks between the 4th and 23rd of September, and will be hosted at one of Dubai's most exclusive venues - the spectacular Jumeirah Zabeel Saray Hotel. There shall be a variety of courses in the schools of piano and strings on offer, which shall include lectures, seminars, and masterclasses led by a host of distinguished professors and musicians from all over the world, including Dmitri Alexeev (UK), Pavel Gililov (Germany / Austria), Rudolf Buchbinder (Austria), Daniel Hope (UK), Boris Kuschnir (Austria), Igor Petrushevski (UK), Maxim Vengerov (Monaco), Pavel Vernikov (Israel / Switzerland), and Stella Chen (USA), among many others. Moreover, there shall also be a special course in wind instruments available for students, which shall be led by the leaders of the wind sections from the Russian National Orchestra, the Kalinigrad Symphony Orchestra and Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. .
In addition to the masterclasses, the MECMA will also include a number of daily lunchtime time concerts throughout its duration, which shall be held at the 5-star hotel's internationally-famed MusicHall, and shall feature a wide variety of illustrious soloists who shall be traveling to Dubai in order to participate in the Academy. These include names like violist David Aaron Carpenter (USA), pianist Costanza Principe (Italy), violinist Sergei Dogadin (Russia), flautist Maxim Rubtsov (Russia), flautist Jasmine Choi (Korea / Austria), and many others.
These stars shall be performing alongside the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra and Kaliningrad Symphony Orchestra, which will be led by a diverse range of celebrated conductors, including Felix Korobov, Valid Agayev, Aleksei Niaga, Mikhail Kirchhoff, Conrad Van Alphen, Arkady Feldman, Oliver Weder, and Giuseppe Bruno, to name a few.
The most accomplished Academy students shall then be invited to participate in these concerts, and perform side-by-side with these international artists.
The MECMA shall also feature the return of the EUFSC's 'Young Classical Music Stars' programme, which sees musical prodigies from around the world performing in a series of concerts accompanied by a full orchestra. Select Academy members shall once again be invited to take part in this special series, which shall see appearances by talented youngsters like Ivan Bessonov, Sofia Leifer, Elisey Mysin, Leia Zhu, Ivaylo Vassilev, Zakhar Vnutskih and others.
Upon successful completion of the Academy courses, each student will be awarded an honorary certificate.
“It gives me great pleasure to introduce the Middle East Classical Music Academy, the EUFSC's flagship educational project and a truly unique experience in the world of classical music tuition. Throughout three weeks of intensive masterclasses, lectures and performances, participants will push their technical and musical skills to the limit as they study with some of the biggest names in classical music from around the world. On behalf of myself and everyone at the EUFSC I look forward to welcoming our esteemed colleagues and valued audiences to Dubai as we embark on a voyage of discovery and artistic evolution. " - Konstantin Ishkhanov , President of the EUFSC.
