Cheering squads, stomping, hollering, and behind-the-scenes intimidation tactics – it may sound like a major sporting event, but it is, in fact, a prestigious international chamber music festival currently underway in Australia. Arts Hub takes a peek behind the scenes of the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition (MICMC).
Once every four years, a selection of the world’s most talented chamber music ensembles descend upon Melbourne to compete for international prestige and the making of a life long dream at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition (MICMC).
In 1999 the MICMC attracted more than 170,000 people, with 22,000 travelling from interstate and overseas to experience the competitive and dynamic ambience of this most prestigious event. This year, 70 musicians from 20 string quartets (two violins, viola and cello) and piano trios (piano, violin and cello) will compete at the Melbourne Concert Hall and newly modified South Melbourne Town Hall over nine days for prizes valued at around $200,000.
Rebecca Windsor, General Manager of MICMC, expressed relief that all musicians and instruments have arrived in one piece, with dress rehearsals well underway.
‘Believe me, when you’re flying people and musical instruments around the world, there is often room for damage to occur,’ she says.
Windsor does, however, explain a strategy that the MICMC uses to reduce the stress often involved in waiting for the competitors and their instruments to arrive.
‘When we fly out a group we actually pay for a seat for the cello so that the cello goes on the plane rather than in the luggage compartment,’ she says.
‘Their cases can be ripped apart, chunks can go missing out of their instruments, and it can be really dangerous… so instead, you’ll have Joe Bloggs from England and Mr Cello sitting next to him.’
With four Australian ensembles this year vying for the winning title alongside competitors from 12 different countries, Windsor affirms that all four home-grown groups have been practising hard. Whilst certainly no strangers to the intensity of competing in an international event, the Australian teams, Windsor believes, will find it very different competing on home turf.
‘I think it’s very different for [the Australian musicians] playing on their own territory, and in particular for the Melbourne groups. Most of the groups, even the international ensembles, have their family and friends come out with them so they have the moral support and the cheering squads, but the Australian groups have the home site advantage in that they’ll have a bigger cheering squad than any of the international groups,’ notes Windsor.
Cheering squad? Aren’t we discussing one of the most elite musical competitions on the international circuit?
‘It has the buzz of a major sporting event… it’s not like a passive concert experience. [The audience is] actually there getting behind their team and they cheer and it has a real buzz about it… they hoot and they holler, they stomp on their chairs and they cheer… but as a rule, the audiences are well behaved during the performances. It’s just at the end of the performance that they cause a raucous, and we like that!’
Windsor also gives a compelling account of what she suggests may be ‘one of the most sort after volunteer positions’ in Australia in relation to the MICMC.
‘We have these ensembles that come from overseas and around Australia, and they all have their own ensemble host, who is kind of like their family away from home… people put their name down months and months and months in advance, if not years in advance [to be a host]. It’s quite amazing!’
Ensemble hosts live in Melbourne, and provide both moral and practical support to the members of the group they have been assigned to look after during the competition. For example, if a group from Russia doesn’t have any family or friends who have made the journey to the competition with them, their ensemble host will make sure they round up a group of their friends to cheer and holler their support.
‘I don’t know that it happens at any other competition except for ours – or at least only the bigger, well organised competitions. [The musicians] don’t stay with [their host], but basically their host is their adopted family. Like last night, there was one member of the Paizo Quartet whose glue had come away slightly on his instrument, just with travelling and going from summer in Europe to winter here… He wanted to get it fixed, so his ensemble host picked him up at 10 o’clock at night, once they’d finished rehearsing, took it to the violin maker who worked on it overnight, and then picked it up again in the morning for him. That’s the kind of thing that the ensemble hosts do.’
Meanwhile, back at the dress rehearsals at South Melbourne Town Hall, things aren’t looking quite as friendly. One production member witnessed what may have been the beginnings of competition rivalry, when she overheard a group – who had just finished rehearsing and telling her how wonderful the acoustics of the venue were – tell the on-coming group preparing to rehearse that: ‘oh, it’s not really very good’, and ‘oh, I suppose it will be ok’. After investigating the matter further to determine whether the group really was disappointed, but being reassured otherwise, she concluded that the incident could be brought down to the players attempting to out-psyche their opponents.
‘As you can imagine, I listened carefully to what that second ensemble had to say to the group going in to rehearse after them, and their story about the venue was how great it is and how much they would love playing there,’ the production member says.
In a phone conversation with Artistic Director, Marco van Pagee, the sounds of instruments warming up and the hustle and bustle of production staff and performers can be heard in the background. He is at the rehearsal venue, embedded in the action and excited that things seem to be running smoothly.
‘The ensembles all seem quite relaxed, but of course there’s a lot going on. It’s a big deal for each of these ensembles, and it will be interesting to see how they prepare themselves and how they pace themselves throughout the competition,’ says van Pagee.
Back at MICMC headquarters, Windsor can’t wait for the competition to get underway.
‘It’s electrifying, it’s tense, there’s so much as stake. The groups are really focussed and they’re really driven.’
Let the games begin!
The Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition will run from July 5-13 at the South Melbourne Town Hall and the Melbourne Concert Hall. The entire event will also be broadcast nationally on ABC Classic FM. Full details are available online at www.micmc.asn.au
