My guest today is Tim Jones, who organizes an international summer course for young musicians. Tim, tell us all about it.
Well, I'm lucky to have such a great job. Basically, young musicians come from all over the world and learn to play together to have a concert tour. By the end of the eight week course, they're really good. And hearing them play is what gives me most pleasure. Unfortunately, I don't get to know them all that well, as organizing every single small thing of the course keeps me busy.
So how do you find the young musicians?
We advertise online. Anyone between the ages of 16 and 20 can complete the application form and email it to us. We're not looking for perfect performance or the good looking stars of tomorrow. But the course is in English, so a basic level of spoken language is necessary.
Where is the course held?
Mostly in a university during the summer holidays. They have halls for practicing and plenty of bedrooms and dining rooms, which is a low cost for us. And of course, convenient transport is a must. So somewhere in the quiet countryside is no good, even though it is more spacious there.