»A special matter-of-course«
Almost as a matter-of-course, it is now part of a career as a professional musician: an Academy position in a Symphony orchestra. Why, is quickly explained: In an Academy, the common music is trained in a large orchestra - the perfect complement to the professional-musical education at the conservatories in Germany and abroad. But: Is it really possible to learn to play music together, just like the little multiplication table? Since 2010, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and the Joseph-Keilberth-Orchestra academy have dedicated themselves to this task in order to make it easier for young musicians to enter life as a professional musician. The special feature of the Academy in Bamberg is its orientation: Concert projects with well-known soloists and conductors, radio recordings and CD productions or even an orchestral tour - the academics are to be prepared in their maximum of two years of »apprenticeship« in Bamberg what it means, a versatile orchestral musician to be.
»My colleagues here capture situations so quickly. You can read at the same time what is in the notes, look to the conductor and concertmaster and listen to everyone else. I find that really fascinating and I have the utmost respect for it.« Lukas Richter, Acadamy Double bass (2015 - 2016))
Multitasking - just a keyword from the high requirement profile of a professional musician. Add to this the almost perfect mastery of the instrument, musicality, discipline, mental and physical fitness, and the ability to respond at lightning speed in the event of any uncertainty in the concert. But all these requirements can not be taught in a block seminar »orchestral playing« with PowerPoint presentation and thesis paper. That's why it says in Bamberg: Practice makes perfect! The young up-and-coming musicians develop the respective program with their fellow students and supplement this work with one-to-one lesson lessons with orchestral vocalists, workshops in the field of mental training or bodywork as well as audition training. Another highlight is the joint chamber concert, during which the academists develop their own programs with musicians from the ranks of the orchestra. The confidence in and the actual retrieval of one's own performance at the right moment must be learned.
»What playing in an orchestra really means, which things are really difficult, I first learned here at Bamberg Symphony.« Johanna Stier, Acadamy Oboe (2014 - 2016)
Passing on the bohemian sound tradition of the orchestra to the next generation - that also means orchestral playing in Bamberg. And so the special feature of an academy in the end is perhaps exactly this exchange: between university teaching and everyday work, between young and old, between musicians within a sounding body like Bamberg Symphony.