On the 31st of January, 2024, two FIS students, including myself, traveled to London for the AMIS High School Honor String Orchestra Festival (HSHSO) hosted by the American School in London (ASL). For three days, we had the full experience of rehearsing, collaborating, learning, and performing a gala concert with talented individuals from schools around Europe.
The Association of Music for International Schools, or AMIS, was originally founded by Richard and Georgia Bassett starting from the annual Honor Band and Choir Festivals in 1975. Patterned after American all-state festivals, AMIS was originally designed for international schools in Europe and the Middle East but grew to include schools from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Currently, over 100 schools from 5 continents are members of AMIS. Although AMIS originated from high school honor band and choir, the organization extended to include middle school ensembles, as well as establishing festivals for orchestra, jazz band, and online competitions. AMIS is entirely self-supporting from membership, participation fees, donations, and volunteers. Meaning “friends” in French, AMIS aims to bring students and teachers from schools across continents together through music.
This year, approximately 60 students from schools all around Europe joined the orchestra. All students were chosen by an anonymous online audition in October and had pre-received the sheet music for practice, as only three days of rehearsals were given before the gala concert on Saturday evening. The guest conductor was Robert Guy, a professional conductor who had conducted the AMIS HSHSO in 2019 as well. His conducting style was sharp and well-defined, and his practicing techniques especially caught many of us by surprise. During rehearsal, in parts we didn’t quite play on the beat, he would teach us to conduct that part with him while singing our notes aloud- it was quite an experience, as orchestra players usually don’t learn to conduct. He also accepted volunteers to conduct the orchestra for certain parts, in which approximately 20 students had the chance to conduct the orchestra. This particular experience made this year’s festival particularly special. Additionally, a student conducted the encore for the concert (with the conductor playing her part on the violin!), fully captivating the audience through a unique performance.
This year’s HSHSO festival was especially unique as ASL was the school in which AMIS was founded, where the AMIS founders and current executive director taught. To make it even more special, the two founders, Mr. and Mrs. Bassett, came to watch us rehearse and perform! I had the opportunity to talk with Mr. Bassett during our post-concert reception, in which he complimented us on the concert and gave us a brief talk on the history of AMIS and his views on the power of music. This opportunity was very different from my previous AMIS experiences, making it even more remarkable.
Other than the rehearsals and performance, we also got a taste of British culture; in which most students watched the musical “Wicked”, which was a great experience. Rehearsals ended at 4:30, allowing students and supervisors to tour the city of London. On the last day, we had a workshop in the morning in which Kit Massey, a contemporary jazz violinist, came in and taught everyone improvisation skills. This was extremely new to me, as the violin is an extremely “classical” instrument, not often played improvised. As difficult as it was, I enjoyed the new experience thoroughly and gained an interest in jazz or “improv” violin playing.
One of my favorite aspects of AMIS is the team spirit- in which members from previous years re-audition and meet again every year, sometimes even up to all years of middle or high school. This year, I met students that I have seen for three years in a row, and even people from 7th grade AMIS! Additionally, the supervisors (teachers) are almost always the same each year, making the whole AMIS community feel particularly well-bonded. Orchestra is a team effort, in which teamwork and leadership matter; hence AMIS festivals, although being only a yearly 3-day occasion, nevertheless excel in producing high-quality performances.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this year’s AMIS festival, which was especially meaningful due to the many factors listed previously, as well as the fact that this was my last AMIS festival. If there are any musicians interested in experiencing playing in a large-scale orchestra (or band or choir), I would definitely recommend you to audition for AMIS, a life-changing experience!
