What's on offer?
VaCO offers young musicians thinking of making music their career the opportunity to gain "the finest most fun orchestral training you can get" (in the words of Jon Thorne, viola Professor at RCM and RWCMD and member of the internationally acclaimed Badke Quartet) without breaking the bank. We aim to treat all our students as adult professional musicians and encourage them to rise to this level of musical and personal responsibility.
VaCO runs three UK chamber orchestra courses and one European (EVaCO) chamber orchestra course per year. They are designed to be professional training opportunities and, as the name suggests, they take place in the Winter, Spring & Summer vacations. Every place on the course is subsidised (we know this is a difficult stage in the career of young musicians) and Bursaries and Scholarships are also available.
We concentrate mainly on Chamber Orchestra repertoire and some courses include smaller chamber group repertoire in addition to orchestral work. A smaller orchestra means that each player takes greater responsibility, thus learning more and getting more of our Tutors’ time. It is also a perfect opportunity to explore repertoire that isn’t usually covered by conservatoire / university symphony orchestras or national and county youth orchestras. Participants on all courses are encouraged to rehearse and perform one-per-part chamber music in spare time.
Unlike other residential orchestral training courses, VaCO rehearses and performs to a professional schedule (around two and a half days of intensive training before undertaking a concert tour) and remains completely informal outside the rehearsal room and concert platform. Whilst we provide pastoral support on all our courses, this is as discreet as possible thus training participants to take maximum responsibility both professionally and personally – a vital skill within the profession.
"VaCO teaches you about so much more than just the music" VaCO Alumnus and professional musician
Forthcoming Courses
| VaCO Summer 1 Course 22-29 July 2012 Yorkshire Dales & North York Moors |
| VaCO Summer 2 Course 24 August - 1 September 2012 Somerset & the Cotswolds |
Forthcoming Concerts
THE DALES & NORTH YORK MOORS
25-29th July 2012
Concerts in EPPELBY, STOKESLEY, KIRKBY LONSDALE, GRASSINGTON, AYSGARTH
Music by Mendelssohn, Mozart and Martinu
SOMERSET & the COTSWOLDS
27th August - 1st September 2012
Concerts in FROME, CHARLTON MUSGROVE, SHERBORNE, BRADFORD on AVON, GLASTONBURY, NORTHLEACH
© 2010 VaCO - UK Registered Charity No. 1052313