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The feeling is more homely than hippyish and utterly lovely. Throughout the day, I spot the staff and volunteers’ children reading books in the office and playing in the gardens with each other. Now she brings her kids along with her every April, as the masterclasses coincide with the Easter holidays. Rosie has worked for IMS for 25 years – ‘half its life – goodness, that’s weird’, she smiles – since she graduated as a music student from the University of Edinburgh.

The dining room is bustling with students, some necking black coffee, others demolishing plates of toast or bowls of piping hot porridge. General manager Rosie Yeatman greets us as we arrive in time for breakfast. And what a privilege it is to hear music at this level – and to hear it for free.’ That was dispelled because I was accepted straightaway, and I got to know great musicians from all over the world.

‘I was a working-class bloke among middle-class people – but I soon realised that was inverted snobbery. ‘Classical music was a secret pleasure for me as a kid – not that you’d admit to it in my school, because you’d get beaten up.’Īntonaki came to Prussia Cove on a friend’s recommendation, although he admits he was initially suspicious of what he would find.
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IMS volunteers (there are 19 this year) work for five hours every day, across the kitchen, housekeeping, helping in the office and driving, then have the rest of the time off to do as they please, with cottage accommodation and full board meals added in, he explains.
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He’s been volunteering for Prussia Cove for ‘over 30 years’: he’s usually a London tube driver on the Piccadilly Line, he explains, booking time off from his job to come here. It’s about the meaning of the music.’Īt 8.30 on a cloudy April morning, I’m met off the sleeper train at Penzance by driver John Antonaki. No! That’s not what Prussia Cove is about! It’s not about making a success of the performance at all – it’s about exploring a composer’s intentions.
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‘Once, I remember someone’s tutor faxing them to remind them how to project themselves and how to walk in the concert hall.
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For him, the spirit of the sessions also provided a refreshing counterpoint to harsher elements of professional life and continued to long into his time as a director and tutor. ‘It’s such a romantic place, it’s easy for people to fall in love,’ Isserlis says, laughing. Musical partnerships blossomed here too – as did others. Then to spend time with all of them afterwards, and to have meals together every day’ –something that still happens now – ‘it built a very special sense of comradeship.’ ‘The joy of being able to watch them play in a relaxed setting and hear them get advice from these wonderful teachers – it was just wonderful. Isserlis was only 18 when he first came: he remembers the excitement of meeting talents from across Europe, the Americas, Australia, Asia and the Far East. Since the founding of IMS Prussia Cove in 1972, young people of a conservatory standard under the age of 30 have been encouraged to apply. The Cornish coastal location of IMS, with its rocky private beach just steps from the house, is perfect for those who enjoy a spot of sea swimming after seminars Then we had this long, looping drive to these fisherman’s cottages…where one of my first sights was Sándor Végh lumbering to the bathroom in his pyjamas.’ ‘I remember being met at the station, and in my memory, it was still dark. ‘It’s very magical arriving there,’ Isserlis says, when we talk a few days before my trip (he’ll be joining the second week of the three weeks of the course – his professional schedule dictates several European commitments before that). It’s fortuitous that my diary dictates that I have to travel to Prussia Cove on the sleeper train from London – the same way as internationally renowned cellist Steven Isserlis did when he was a young IMS student nearly half a century ago (he has been its artistic director since 1996). To understand it, I head west and immerse myself in that magic – and the music. Of course, the location adds a beautiful melody to the IMS Prussia Cove mix. It’s more about what music itself can provide as a powerful tool of connection, collaboration and creativity for many people – including the staff and volunteers that help make IMS Prussia Cove such a uniquely harmonious family. Their work is not just about helping individual performers excel – although being able to attend a personal masterclass led by a world-renowned maestro is quite the education. IMS comprises two 10-day courses of masterclasses, each with four or five maestri and around 55 students, and classical pianists who accompany the musicians
