Membership Clarification

Students from schools that are AMIS members as of November 1, 2011 pay "member" fees. Students from schools other than those that are not AMIS members as of November 1, 2011 pay "non-member" fees.
Teachers from AMIS member schools (as of November 1) pay "member" rates. Teachers who are individual members of AMIS also pay "member" rates. All others pay "non-member" rates.
Note:
Only students from AMIS member schools are eligible to apply for financial aid.

Contact Information

International School of Aberdeen
North Deeside Road
Pitfodels
Cults
Aberdeen AB15 9PN
Scotland

Tel: (+44) 01224 730 300 (switchboard)
Fax: (+44) 01224 865 888

Host organizer: Kent Walter
Email: Kent.Walter@isa.aberdeen.sch.uk

Hotel Information / Housing

Hotel Accomodoation Honor Band and Women's Choir Aberdeen 2012

Jurys Inn Aberdeen Hotel
Union Square
Guild Street
Aberdeen, AB11 5RG

Tel:+44 1224 381200
Fax:+44 1224 381 234
http://aberdeenhotels.jurysinns.com/

The 203-room Jurys Inn Aberdeen hotel couldn't be more central for visitors when it comes to hotels in Aberdeen. We're positioned on Guild Street between the rail and bus stations, right beside the new Union Square Shopping Centre and just a couple of minutes from the harbour and ferry terminals.

All students and teachers and official chaperones will be housed together at The Jurys Inn Hotel in Aberdeen. Registration for rooms should be done on the AMIS website. The fees for the hotel will be paid in conjunction with the other festival fees.
Hotel prices: These rates are inclusive of buffet breakfast and taxes

Single Occupancy (teachers or chaperones only) £90
Double Occupancy £50 per person per night
Triple Occupancy £40 per person per night

Most participants will need 4 nights of hotel accommodation (Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat)
This means that hotel cost would be either £200 or £160 for the event.

We regret that we cannot book rooms for visiting families.

Travel

Participants will need to arrive on Wednesday, March 14th.  Please make your travel plans accordingly.
You will need to fly into Aberdeen. From a number of destinations you will need to fly either via Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam or Heathrow Airport in London.
All registrations will take place at the festival hotel on Wednesday, March 14th.
Bus transportation will be provided for participants daily between the hotel and the school.  All rehearsals and the performance will take place at the International School of Aberdeen.

Fees for This Festival

See the fee page for detailed fees in both sterling and Euros.
All participating students will pay a registration fee and a music fee.
All directors and official chaperones will pay a registration fee.
Choral directors will also pay a music fee and will receive a set of choral music.

Hotel fees must also be prepaid at the same time as the registration and music fees.

What the fees cover: snacks and lunches on Thursday, Friday and Saturday;
Dinner on Saturday. The Adult Registration Fee also covers the Directors' Dinner.
Transportation between the hotel and the school each day.

Please be advised that music and registration fees for AMIS events are never refundable. In the case of cancellation, it may be possible to refund a portion of the hotel fees unless AMIS is charged for the cancelled room.

Visa Information

Some festival participants will require a visa to enter the United Kingdom. The UK is not a member of the Schengen visa group.

For information about obtaining UK visas, including a list of which nationals need this visa, you can visit the following web site: http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en
Be sure to allow plenty of time to obtain your visa.
You can obtain a letter of invitation for this festival by requesting this letter from AMIS Headquarters with the following information:
Name of student as contained in their passport
Country issuing the passport
Date of arrival in the UK
Date of departure from the UK
Teacher or chaperone accompanying the student

Audition Codes

2012-2013 Codes.

Audition Results

Listed below are the choir results for this festival. Y indicates a full member in the ensemble. Alt followed by a number indicates that student has been selected as an alternate for that section if someone is unable to accept their place in the ensemble. Everyone listed here will need to formally accept the place in the ensemble on or before November 21st.

There were 430 auditions for the two choirs. Many of these auditions were of a very high quality but unfortunately there is always a limit as to how large any ensembles can be.

There is quite a bit of divisi in the literature this year, especially for the mixed choir. There is a designation that says Gough/mixed which is 1,2,or 3. This composition has 3 parts for each section (12 parts in all). It is important that students learn the part to which they are assigned. 1 is the highest part, 2 is the middle part and 3 is the lowest part for each section.

For the women's choir, some compositions are in SSAA. For these songs you use the S1 S2 A1 A2 designations that divide each of the sections. There is also a designation that says SSA which gives the distribution of parts for the SSA songs. Some students from the soprano section and some from the alto section have been places in the S2 section for the SSA pieces.

What should alternates learn? We never know where the spot will open up for the alternate. He or she should learn whichever part is more comfortable, knowing that they may have to switch parts at the last minute when they are
called into the choir proper.

The music is challenging for both choirs. Several works will be posted on box.net for you to download and copy. Most music will be posted to you from the US as soon as the acceptances are in. Box.net will also have midi rehearsal tracks on it, so students can use them as rehearsal help.

PLEASE DOWNLOAD THE ITEMS FROM BOX.NET FOR YOUR STUDENTS. WE ASK THAT YOU NOT GIVE THE CODE FOR BOX.NET TO YOUR STUDENTS FOR DOWNLOADING. IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO MAKE SURE ALL STUDENTS LEARN THE PARTS THEY HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED.

- posted 15 Novenber, 2011

Honor Band Results

We announce "callback" auditions are needed for trombone players for the International Honor Band. There were not a sufficient number of qualified trombone applicants in the first round of auditions.

Auditions should be submitted to AMIS headquarters to Georgia Bassett as mp3 attachments to an E-mail. You must also submit full information about the auditionee in the email you are sending: full name, grade, school code and audition code. Auditions are due November 15. - posted 1 November, 2011

Honor Women's Choir Results

HB and WC byschool - November 22

Alternates

HBWC Alternates - January 10, 2012

Alternates will be selected for each section of the festival. These are students who are qualified to participate in the festival but who cannot be admitted initially because of balance and the size of the performing groups. An alternate who accepts a position in the festival agrees to prepare the music along with the other participates at his/her school and will be called upon to participate if an original group member cannot participate.

Repertoire

Repertoire for AMIS International Honor Band 2012 Aberdeen

Armenian Song and Dance - Aram Khachaturian/transcribed McAlister (Movement I only)
Elegy for Albinoni - Shelley Hanson
Canzona Bergamasca - Samuel Scheidt/transcribed Larry Daehn
Paganinioso - Pierre LaPlante (Concert Piece on the 24th Caprice)
Commissioned Work written especially for this festival
Seis Manuel - Shelley Hanson
Don Ricardo - Gabe Musella

Repertoire for AMIS International Women's Honor Choir 2012 Aberdeen

Gloria - Ola Gjeilo SSAA (Latin)
Mein Feinslieb - Johann Jeep SSA (German)
Oh Had I Jubal's Lyre - G. F. Handel SSA (English)
I Thank You God - G. Walker SSA (English)
Waly, Waly - traditional Scots ballad, arr. Joan Szymko SSAA
Loch Lomond - old Scottish Air, arr. Vijay Singh SSA
Go, Lassie, Go - traditional Scottish folk song, arr. Mark Sirett SSA
Cover Me with the Night - Andrea Ramsey (using TTBB arrangement)
Voice Dance - Greg Jasperse (vocal jazz)

Repertoire will be chosen prior to the festival by the guest conductors. A repertoire list will be posted on the web site. Choral music will be posted to participants on or before December 1st. Some selections and the commissioned work may be posted on a box.net site to which choral directors will be invited to download music for their singers.

All instrumental music will be purchased by AMIS and then will be posted on a box.net site to which band directors will be invited to download music for each of their instrumental players.

All music must be fully prepared prior to the festival. It is the responsibility of each participating teacher to make sure the students have had sufficient rehearsal time and individual help as needed to learn their music. Each teacher is expected to take responsibility for this level of preparation for all students whom they send to the festival. They are expected to test each student two weeks prior to the festival and must then remove unprepared students from the festival if they cannot be fully ready by the beginning of the festival.

Concert Information

The festival concerts for the International Honor Band and Honor Women's Choir Festival will be held in the theatre at the International School of Aberdeen.  In order to accommodate as many audience members as possible, both an afternoon and evening performance will take place.  Tickets are necessary to attend one of these concerts.  Priority will be given to family of performers, then to members of the ISA community. Tickets must be requested through the music directors of student participants.  Instructions for making ticket requests will be sent directly to participating music teachers. - posted 14 January, 2012

Concert Ticket information:

As you know, we are having two Gala Concerts this year. The first will be at 3:30pm and the second at 7:30pm. Both concerts will be the same. Even though the concerts are free, the audience must reserve tickets for the concert. Between the two concerts, we do not foresee a restriction on tickets. However, the earlier you submit your request, the more assured you are of getting your requested time. If your requested concert is full, you will be placed in the remaining concert.

Attending the afternoon concert would give visitors the opportunity to have a nice dinner at many great restaurants around Aberdeen. ISA is located on bus route No. 19 which goes to city center. If visitors are attending the evening concert and arrive early on Saturday morning, they can visit some of the castles on the outskirts of Aberdeen (Crathes, Drum and Dunnottar). Having a rental car will make travel to these castles much easier. Alternatively there are many great activities, shops and historical spots in town to visit before the evening concert.

Could you please inform all parents, friends and family attending the festival to complete the following ticket information and email to:

Judy Plahn - plahn6@yahoo.com with the subject: AMIS CONCERT TICKETS

NAME:
SCHOOL:
WHICH CONCERT: 3:30 or 7:30
NUMBER OF TICKETS:

-posted 24 January, 2012