With Seminar 12 ending a week ago, we invite you to take a glimpse with us through the two weeks that we had the pleasure to host an incredible set of mentors, conductors, composers, and musicians alike — day by day.
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The FAME’S Institute. April.
A week ago, the last of our participants left from our Institute in Skopje, North Macedonia back to their respective homes. After two weeks of bunking together, dining together, rehearsing in the mornings, evenings, learning ear to ear, all in the same place at an intensive pace, our 12th seminar ended in equal laughter as equal tears, with many of our participants having made friends for life.
Welcoming and saying goodbye to an incredible set of mentors and soloists, from Kaveh Vares to Alastair King to Tim Redmond, from Eric Hansen to Miranda Allen and Jordi Prim, we are beyond proud of everything our European orchestra accomplished in these two weeks.
This is Seminar #12.
Course One: Recording. (20.04 – 27.04.2026)
21.04. Week One. Day One. Welcoming Alastair King, students from all over Europe began their rehearsals in earnest, with our first meet and greet followed by our very first composer presentation. During the week, our orchestra would engage with performing and recording a number of original scores composed by five composers from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.
22.04. Week One. Day Two. As the days proceed, day two would include recording a score alongside a composer presentation, where each composer would speak about their score and the film it accompanies. Each score would be used for an animated film, which allowed our orchestra to familiarize with the use of a click track and recording with media in mind.
23.04. Week One. Day Three. By day three, the orchestra were well-underway to better knowing
the intricacies of recording for film and media. More-so they learned the immediate difference between performing live and in a studio. To aid to this process, In the evening, our mentor Kaveh Vares held a lecture on “Music in Function”.
24.04. Week One. Day Four. On day four, we welcomed Tim Redmond to the Institute, taking over from Alastair King for the rest of the week. Continuing with our composers and our orchestra, he taught them from his own vast experience of studio recording about the nature of recording and working in a professional studio.
25.04. Week One. Day Five. On our before-last course 1 day, the orchestra spent a larger part of their days in the studio, recording the remainder of the composers’ scores. After having one final lecture with Kaven the previous
day on “Film Music Management”, they were finally ready and equipped to officially perform and finalize the rest of their intensive week’s recordings.
26.04. Week One. Day Six. As we wrapped up the seminar’s first course, our composers conductors and orchestra paid the studio one last daily visit and began preparing for the end of their time at the FAME’S Institute. We bid our departees goodbye with one last party in the evening and, for those that remained, prepared for Seminar 12’s second course: “From Classics to Cinema.”
Course Two: Classical. (28.04 – 05.05.2026)
28.04. Week Two. Day One. Welcoming to the Institute for our second week was our mentor and conductor Eric Hansen. As part of an international collaboration, the Institute was intended to welcome Eric Hansen and soloist Markus Däunert for its second course, exploring the relationship between a repertoire of classical pieces and music used in various cinema.
29.04. Week Two. Day Two. However, due to an unfortunate incident, Markus Däunert was unable to join the Institute this April. In his stead came mentor Miranda Allen and soloist Jordi Prim, who led the orchestra through pieces by Prokofiev, Mendelssohn, Williams, Morricone, and Gershwin among others. Everyone got to meet proper over a welcome drink, later that evening.
30.04. Week Two. Day Three. We got visitors! Coming over from the neighboring school OOU “Krum Toshev”, we had the pleasure to show a class of students the ins-and-outs of the studio, and the orchestra playing inside it. Our orchestra performed their usual repertoire throughout the day and relaxed by way of karaoke at night.
01.05. Week Two. Day Four. As we transition onto May, everyone prepares for the big day: May 04th: Seminar 12’s Final Performance. Organized in collaboration with Europe House Bitolaand honoring Europe Day, our orchestra is on its way to performing a repertoire of classical and film pieces in Bitola’s Officers’ Hall. The big day is approaching.
02.05. Week Two. Day Five. With only a few days of rehearsals left, the last days of the seminar become an intensive, fast-pace combination of rehearsing, recording, and celebrating: from the final preparations in the studio to conducting interviews with mentors and students alike… The seminar starts to draw to a close.
03.05. Week Two, Day Six. A day before the concert. Final rehearsals are completed. The Institute is full of participants both ecstatic for the performance and melancholy over leaving. They sign notebooks, T-Shirts, flags, and other memorobilia to remember their time at FAME’S. And they slowly prepare: From Classics to Cinemaand with it, Seminar 12, comes to an end.
04. 05. Week Two. Day Seven. Our orchestra performs in Bitola’s Officers’ Hall in honor of Europe Day 2026.
This was Seminar 12. To everyone that was proudly a part of this experience: We thank you.
Co-funded by the European Union and Creative Europe.
