I’m excited about Sunday, my first day of teaching at ChamberStudio, the new venture at King’s Place in London. ChamberStudio offers high-level coaching for post-graduate and young professional chamber groups who don’t have access to regular tuition any more. As they move into full professional life and prepare for debut concerts, they often wish they had someone to play to and seek advice from. At least, I remember that I and my colleagues did. Once you’re out of the college system, however, such advice is hard (and sometimes expensive) to come by. ChamberStudio is able to subsidise the cost of coaching sessions on Sunday afternoons.

There isn’t a fixed teaching staff; various musicians with special chamber music expertise will come and go, depending on their availability and their presence in London. In that respect it will be a bit like the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada, whose constantly changing rota of visiting teachers and performers was a great thing for my group when we spent a winter there as post-grads. For younger players, a transient population of teachers might not be a good thing, but for more experienced players it can be a very stimulating arena.