Orchestra Audition Materials | All Choral Materials
Orchestra Audition Instructions
Online Track List and Entries Form
Members & Alternates - SHO & Women's Choir
Examples of Successful Auditions - SHO
Examples of Successful Vocal Auditions
Online Acceptance/Housing/Arrival & Departure/Director's Expertise

Financial Aid | Fees
SHOMC Student Festival Acceptance Agreement Form
AMIS Policies | Festival Handbooks

Contact Information
Hotel & Housing Information | Visa Information | Travel

Alternates | Repertoire
Dress Code Orchestra | Dress Code Choir

Concert & Ticket Information

Images - Beijing 2011 | Information and Images - Beijing 2011

Beijing 2007 | Waterloo 2008 | Singapore 2009 | Frankfurt - 2010

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.

Fees

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.

 

Contact Information

St. John’s International School
Dreve Richelle 146
Waterloo  BE1410
Belgium
Telephone:  +322 3520610
Fax:  +322 3520634
Host Organizer:  Cathy Swanson
Email:  cswanson@stjohns.be

Hotel & Housing Information

Hotel Accommodation Information for SHO/HMC Waterloo

All participants will stay together in the Thom Hontel Brussels City Centre and will travel by bus between the hotel and St. John's International School each day.

All rooms will be booked through AMIS and will be paid for at the same time as other festival expenses.

Thon Hotel Brussels City Centre
Avenue du Boulevard 17
1210 Brussels
Tél.: +32 2 205 15 11
Fax: +32 2 201 15 15
http://www.thonhotels.com/hotels/countrys/belgium/brussels/thon-hotel-brussels-city-centre/
Rates include tax and VAT as well as buffet breakfast.

Single €90 ( teachers and chaperones only)
Double or Triple rooms €55 per person per night

We regret that we cannot book rooms for visiting families, but there are many hotels in Brussels and Waterloo.

Directions to the THON HOTEL - posted 14 Janaury, 2012

By train
The hotel is within walking distance to the railway station Bruxelles-Nord with departures to and from Brussels Airport, and connection to Bruxelles-Midi with the International lines Eurostar and Thalys.

By airport express bus
The bus station is 100 metres from the hotel, and the hotel is 12 kilometres from Brussels Airport.

By public transport
Tram: The are several stops near the hotel.
Metro: Rogier Metro Station is in direct connection to the hotel. The metro is an easy way to get to both business districts and tourist attractions.
Bus: The bus station is right in front of the hotel.

Travel

Participants will need to arrive on Wednesday, February 29th. Please make your travel plans accordingly.

The most convenient airport to fly into is Brussels. It is also possible to travel to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam and to take a train to Brussels from there.

If you are coming by train, you can book your ticket direct Brussels Gare du Nord from where you can take a taxi to the hotel.  

The closest underground station to the hotel is Rogier.

All registrations for the festival will take place at the festival hotel on Wednesday, March 16th.

Bus transportation will be provided for participants daily between the hotel and the school. All rehearsals and the performance will take place at St. John's International School. - updated 17 Decemberm 2011

Visa Information

Some festival participants will need to obtain a Schengen visa in order to enter Belgium.  Please check sooner rather than later to determine whether or not your students will require a visa.  It frequently takes more than a month to obtain the visa.  If you require a letter of invitation the host organizer will be able to supply one for you.

Nationals of all EU countries, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein do not require a visa to enter Belgium provided they hold a valid national passport.

Nationals of the countries* listed below also DO NOT REQUIRE a visa to enter BELGIUM, provided they hold a valid national passport on condition that their stay does not exceed three months, within any period of six months:

1. ANDORRA
2. ARGENTINA
3. AUSTRALIA
4. BRAZIL
5. BRUNEI
6. BULGARIA
7. CANADA
8. CHILE
9. COSTA RICA
10. CROATIA
11. EL SALVADOR
12. GUATEMALA
13. HONDURAS
14. ISRAEL
15. JAPAN
16. KOREA (SOUTH)
17. MALAYSIA
18. MEXICO
19. MONACO
20. NEW ZEALAND
21. NICARAGUA
22. PARAGUAY
23. PANAMA
24. ROMANIA
25. SAN MARINO
26. SINGAPORE
27. SWITZERLAND
28. URUGUAY
29. U.S.A.
30. VATICAN CITY
31. VENEZUELA

*This list is subject to change at anytime. Please visit the website

http://diplomatie.belgium.be/en/services/travel_to_belgium/visa_for_belgium/visa_needed/

for the latest information.

If you need a letter of invitation for obtaining a visa for this festival you need to write to Cathy Swanson cswanson@stjohns.be giving the following information:

Your school's name
The name of your student as listed on the passport
The passport number and country of issue
The group in which your student is performing
arrival date and departure date  (really important to be accurate with this)

Cathy will then provide you with the necessary letter of invitation. - posted 16 December, 2011

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

The 2011 AMIS Senior Orchestra | The 2011 AMIS Internationl Honor Mixed Choir - SHO posted 8 November, 2011. HMC posted 15 Novenber, 2011

HO and MC by School - posted 4 January, 2011

Alternates

Updated SHOMC Alternates - January 27, 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 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.

REPERTOIRE
AMIS Honor Mixed Choir 2012

Orlando Gough - Why Do You Sing? (Short Version) SSSAAATTTBBB, solo counter tenor
Ivan Hrušovsky - Rytmus (No. 3 from Tri etúdy) SATB
Borodin - Polotsvian Dance No. 17 (edited John Rutter) SATB div
Brahms - Geistliches Lied Op. 30 SATB
Paul Mealor- Ubi Caritas SATB div
Eric Whitacre - A Boy and a Girl SATB div
Budi Susanto Yohanes - See It Through (lyrics by Edgar A. Guests) SATB,
commissioned work written especially for this festival

FINALE with String Orchestra

RalphVaughan-Williams Let all the World in Every Corner Sing
(Last of the Five Mystical Songs)

REPERTOIRE
AMIS Senior Honor Orchestra 2012

Arensky - Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky
Puccini - Crisantemi
Soon Hee Newbold - Orion and the Scorpion
commissioned by AMIS especially for this festival

FINALE with String Orchestra

RalphVaughan-Williams Let all the World in Every Corner Sing
(Last of the Five Mystical Songs)

Concert and Ticket Information

Directions to St John's International School
We are situated just 20 minutes from Brussels, the capital of Belgium and headquarters of the European Union.
St. John's is easily accessible just moments off the Ring Road Highway. Whether you are driving from the North or South, follow Ring 0 (a ring road around Brussels) and take exit 27 (Argenteuil); at the bottom of the ramp, turn left if you are coming from the North, turn right if you are coming from the South. The school is located 100 meters on your right-hand side.
Address: Drève Richelle 146, 1410 Waterloo, Belgium
Tel: +32 2 352 06 10
Fax: +32 2 352 06 30

Download .pdf

The festival concert for the Senior Honor Orchestra and Honor Mixed Choir Festival will be held at the Performing Arts Center of St. John's International School at 19:00 ( 7 p.m.) Tickets are necessary to attend this concert as there are a limited number of seats available.  Priority will be given to family of performers, then to members of the SJIS community. Tickets must be requested through the music directors of student participants.  Instructions for making ticket requests will be sent directly to the participating music teachers. All priority tickets must be requested no later than February 8th. Tickets will initially be limited to 2 per performer. - posted 14 January, 2012

There are 400 seats in the theatre. We will once again have to use a priority ticket order from each school in order to allocate tickets to this concert.

Please send ONE ticket request per school to pat.green@amis-online.org
Priority ticket requests much be received prior to February 8th.
You do NOT need to include music teachers in your ticket count.
Please supply the following information

1. Email Subject: Waterloo ticket request
2. Information: Your school initials
3. Teacher requesting tickets:
4. Number of participants from your school:
5. Number of tickets requested:

- posted 24 January, 2012