ICSE News (updated 8/12/09)

A New Year, A New Term!

Welcome back from the snow and Christmas-filled break! New and old alike, come and warm up your fingers once again at the first ICSE rehearsal of term:

Friday 16th January 6:15pm - In the SCR

We will be rehearsing every Friday and have a fabulous range of ICSE-iting activities and repertoire to play this term including:

• Stravinsky - Concerto for strings in D
• Mendelssohn - String Symphony no. 8 in D
• Mozart - Adagio and Fugue in C minor
• Stop Playing Homework and Do Your Video Games

A spotify playlist can also be found here.

As well as an end of term concert and performances during Artsfest (22nd-26th Feb), there will be a ICSE Weekend Away to Canterbury from the 19th-21st February!

We hope you can join us for a great term of ICSE!

ICSE Concert!

The Imperial College String Ensemble are pleased to present:

Britten - Simple Symphony, Op.4
Fauré - Morceau de Concours (orchestrated by Daniel Paget)
Elgar - Introduction and Allegro for Strings, Op.47

Conductor: Scott Wilson
Leader: Jonathan Silver

The concert will also feature performances from a string quintet consisting of:
Jonathan Silver (violin)
Hannah Nepilova (violin)
Rae Leaver (viola)
Andrew Hopper (cello)
Chloë Clifford-Frith (cello)

Tickets will cost £3 for students and £6 for non-students.

The concert will be followed by a wine reception and the after-concert social (to be determined).

A huge crumpety welcome to all new students!

Howdy howdy howdy how are you all? Welcome to the Imperial College String Ensemble website, we hope you enjoy your time here. So what are we all about? You could read a wee description over on our club's page on the Union website, or you could just expand it right here.

However if you did happen to have a mosey over to our club page you might stumble across our shop where you can join us for a bargainous £15 a year, which buys you:

• a year's membership in the only musical Ensemble at Imperial dedicated to string players!
• all music, facilities and a lovely brand new conductor - see below for more info!
• biscuits, tea, coffee and squash guaranteed in every rehearsal!
• possibly even cake, crumpets, cream teas, scotch pancakes, pizza, ice cream, cheese, crackers, toast, picnics...we're also the only musical society at Imperial who owns a toaster!
• a social life and calendar unbeaten by any other musical society at Imperial!
• quality instruction and a musical environment centred around getting the best out of you and your instrument - whether it's the knowledge-handed-down-from-the-gods Technique Time®, jamming in breaks playing folk or Disney, learning not just the notes but also the story and insights into the music we play...you will find that ICSE offers a very unique and enjoyable experience to perfectly complement your new university lifestyle!

However, unfortunately, we do have some slight admissions criteria. ;) No auditions mind...just criteria:

• Do you play one of these?
• Do you like these?
• Do you like Elgar or Mozart?

For those that are having so much fun in their Freshers' Week that they don't have enough time to investigate dodgy lookin' links on odd websites, our repertoire for the coming term will include Elgar's Introduction & Allegro for Strings and Mozart's Adagio and Fugue. Go click those last couple links and have a listen if you don't know them - they're absolutely awesome! If you have Spotify then check out our Winter Concert playlist.

Come and see us at our Freshers' Fair stall (we'll be the ones with the cello), have a cheeky chat with our beautiful committee, maybe sign up to our weekly email list and munch some FREE food while having a go on our "Guess how many fit inside a ?" competition to try and win some great prizes!

Finally, our first rehearsal is on Friday 9th October, 6pm, Great Hall.

We'll see you there :)

We have a new conductor!

Scott Wilson

On the morning of Tuesday 29th September 2009, ICSE woke up in a cold sweat with the fear and anticipation of meeting and judging some of the world's most renowned conductors. However, after almost 6 hours of auditions ICSE went to bed in the wee hours of Wednesday morning comforted by the knowledge that we now have one of the most musically inspiring people we've ever met to lead the orchestra forwards into a new era as our new conductor!

Introducing Scott Wilson, a professional Artist in Residence at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama where his responsibilities include performing and teaching. With a Masters in Advanced Musical Studies (Theory and Analysis and Performance Studies), Scott has studied percussion, conducting, piano, theory and voice to a high level, undertakes various research projects, and is a founding member of percussion group Sankorfa.

Summer Tour 2009

On the weekend of 18th - 19th July, Imperial College String Ensemble travelled to Speldhurst in Kent for 4 days of music, merriment and memories to last a lifetime.

After a long hard day of folk music workshops, ceilidh workshops, chamber music rehearsals, country walks and cake making, on Saturday evening cellos were swapped for banjos as ICSE showcased their newfound folk talents and taught the residents of Speldhurst how to barn dance Imperial-style.



On Sunday afternoon ICSE performed a free concert of English string music featuring Warlock's feisty Capriol Suite, Corbett's Alla Milanese from Le Bizzarie Universali, and Purcell's Abdelazar. The concert was well received by local residents who were keen to invite us back in the future. A couple residents, who were somewhat disappointed to learn that we haven't yet been invited to give any television performances, would be pleased to know that recordings of the concert can be found on YouTube, or alternatively you can also listen to professional recordings on Spotify.