ICSE Spring Concert!

A New Year of ICSE!

Welcome to the Imperial College String Ensemble website! If you're a veteran of ICSE then get ready for a new year of music making. If you're new, then a special welcome to you.

We do have one small admission criteria: do you play something that looks like one of these? If the answer is yes then you've come to exactly the right place. Well done! So what are we all about? You could read our description over on our club's page on the Union website, or you could just expand it right here.

Here's some quick info about us:

• ICSE is the only ensemble at Imperial dedicated to string players.
• We rehearse from 6.15 - 8.30 on Friday evenings in the Great Hall. Pop over to the Members' section for a full list of rehearsal dates.
• Our first rehearsal is Friday 8th October.
• We perform regular major concerts throughout the year.
• We're (in)famous for being epically social, and we'll be having at least one big social event each term.

Now we have quite a lot of news to share with you about what we'll be doing this year:

Firstly, this year we will be doing four major concerts during the course of the year. But don't worry, that won't mean any more work for you! Our conductor, Scott Wilson, has put together a cleverly devised plan so that we will have exactly the same amount of rehearsal time, but we'll cover the repertoire for four concerts. To start this off, we have an irresistable lineup of music for the first term:

Tchaikovsky - Serenade for Strings
Giazotto - "Albinoni Adagio"
Respighi - Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite 3

How could you possibly refuse?

The next concert after that will be for charity, and we will be playing (among other things) Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 12 with an international pianist, which promises to be a fantastic opportunity.

Following the huge success of last year, on January 22nd/23rd we will head off to some part of the country for a weekend away of music and merriment.

Finally, we are proud to present ICSE TOUR 2011. We plan to tour to the Czech Republic this Summer, to the spectacular city of Prague. More details will be up here soon, so watch this space...

If we've convinced you, come along to our first rehearsal on Friday 8th October in the Great Hall. We'll see you there :)

The ICSE Summer Concert!

Spring Concert 2010

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!

Winter Concert 2009

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)

Read a full review here.

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!

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.