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Cellist Thibault Blanchard curates digital chamber music series for summer 2020

Launching on Friday 26 June and running until 3 September, the Europik Music Online Festival features seven live-streamed chamber music events.

Created and produced by Trinity Laban postgraduate Thibault Blanchard, the Festival has been designed to provide paid opportunities for musicians and offer the performers and audience an authentic concert-going experience.

Viewers are invited to purchase their ticket online, for either a single event or the whole series, and will only be able to stream the content in real-time, as if they were attending in person.

By making the content exclusive via broadcast with no replay, Thibault hopes to create the sense of occasion, evoking the transient atmosphere of a physical live event.

In a change of pace from Zoom screens and sofas, the musicians will perform – whilst maintaining social distancing – within real-life concert venues in London and France.

The audience will be invited to submit questions that the musicians will answer in a live post-concert interview.

Festival founder Thibault comments –

“Europik Music Online Festival was created in response to the current health crisis to support musicians. Performing live represents the mainstay of the musical profession and we want to offer a performance platform for artists to reconnect with their audience and bring back a sense of community between the listeners and musicians.

In these uncertain times, it is important for us to create live performances with all their usual energy, spontaneity, expression of life and body and risk-taking in a real concert environment.”

Thibault developed his entrepreneurial skills by organising his own projects during Trinity Laban’s annual collaboration festival, CoLab, and has honed his abilities through the Digital Musicianship and Entrepreneurial modules as part of his programme.

“My studies have helped me to build up my confidence as an organiser and I now feel ready to take on bigger, external projects.”

Among the artists involved in Europik Music Online Festival are several from the TL family including: Duo Furioso, formed of alumni and award-winning cellists Helena Švigelj and Urška Horvat; Pianist and faculty member Irina Lyakhovskaya; husband and wife duo Samuel Burstin (viola) and Ana Šinkovec (piano); and Carne Trust Ensembles in Residence the Carducci Quartet.

With immersive settings and interactive features, this promises to be an exceptional digital experience.

To find out more, and book tickets, visit: europikmusic.com

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Image credit: Juno Snowdon

Performance Dates and Artists:

• 26 June – Carducci Quartet: Matthew Denton (violin), Michelle Fleming (violin), Eoin Schmidt-Martin (viola), Emma Denton (cello)
• 3 July – Duo Furioso (cello)
• 10 July – Irina Lyakhovskaya (piano)
• 17 July – Ana Šinkovec (piano), Samuel Burstin (viola)
• 21 August – Duo Zyia: Apolline Kirklar (violin), Lucie Arnal (cello)
• 28 August – Nicolas Prost (vibraphone), Franck Tortiller (saxophone)
• 3 Sept – Lana Trotovšek (violin), Boris Bizjak (flute)