Waldorf News

Announcing the 8th World Lyre Conference

August 8-15, 2021, in the Czech Republic (Český Krumlov)

[From our colleagues in the Czech Republic]
Dear Friends of the Lyre,

First of all, we wish you a happy New Year 2021. May the new year bring us time to engage together with music and our fellow musicians, and focus on our mutual health, energy, and insight into everything that comes to meet us.

I know that the current situation is very difficult for everybody, and we do not know what the future holds.

The words of Flavia Betti, a lyre teacher from Brazil, speak deeply to me in our current world situation: “The living strength of the tone has never been more evident to me. Never has music been more needed…“ Recognizing the importance of music and especially the lyre at this time, and all the important impulses from teachers, players or lyre-builders, we continue to prepare optimistically for the World Lyre Conference and the Pedagogical Conference in 2021.

In this spirit, I would like to invite you to participate in the preparation and realization of the 8th World Lyre Conference, to be held in the Czech Republic (Český Krumlov) from the 8th of August to the 15th of August 2021. The theme is:

The Presence of Spirit:
Playing the Lyre as an Art of Presence

(We know that the translation of the Czech version of the theme “Duchapřítomnost” or the German version of the theme “Geistesgegenwart” into English is not entirely accurate, but perhaps we will find together an even more suitable English term.)

The 8th World Lyre Conference

The conference will include a program for players of all levels (the workshops for children and young players and the workshops for beginners and for advanced players) and a meeting with the builders of musical instruments and a meeting with publishers of musical literature and notes.

The World Lyre Conference will be preceded by the Pedagogical Conference from the 6th to the 8th of August. The Pedagogical Conference will focus on the development of an internationally networked lyre teacher training.

Each day we have scheduled eight workshops in the morning focused on the conference theme, nine workshops in the afternoon, focused on any topic of potential interest, one morning workshop for children and young players, and evening lectures or concerts.

Call for participation

Dear friends, we are looking for workshop-leaders, lecturers, concert players and national coordinators and of course all participants.

Workshop-leader, Lecturers

We are seeking some more workshop-leaders for our morning workshops (on the main theme of the conference), nine workshop-leaders for the afternoon workshops (topics of potential interest), some more workshop-leaders for workshops of the Pedagogical Conference and lecturers for evening lectures. The workshop for children and young players will be led by music therapist Hong Chang Kim and myself (Helena Hlaváčková).

The conference fee, accommodation, and meals are fully covered for lecturers.

If you are interested in participating as a workshop leader, lecturer, please send a proposal for the title of your workshop or lecture, a short description and a brief biography of your experience to the main coordinator. See the email addresses below and examples in www.lyra-symposium.cz/en/
world-lyre-conference2021/.

Workshop or lecture proposals (1. Name, 2. The title of the workshop or the lecture and a short description, 3. A short biography).

The final date for submitted proposals is 28. 2. 2021.

Concert players

We have scheduled a lecture or a concert for each evening. If you are interested in participating as a concert player, please send a proposal for the title of your musical piece (with its time), and your brief biography to the main coordinator.

National/Regional coordinators

We are looking for a volunteer from each country or region who would be willing to cooperate with us and help us to promote the Conference to schools, Camphills, and other initiatives. If you are interested, please let me know by the 28. 2. 2021.

Participants

The expected capacity of the Lyre conference is 150 participants, and 60 participants at the Pedagogical conference. The final size of the event depends on the development of the pandemic and the amount of interest we receive from lyre players around the world.

We have pre-booked accommodation in Český Krumlov (some of the reservations are valid only until April 2021).

A detailed program of the Conference should be distributed in March together with the sheet music for workshops and music in the plenum. At the end of April, we must also consider the pandemic situation concerning our conference. Please visit our webpage at www.lyra-symposium.cz/en and for more information please contact our coordinators. See below.

For now, you can dream about our common music-making in the beautiful baroque spaces of Český Krumlov – the castle Riding Hall (http://www.zameckajizdarna.cz/en/) and Monasteries (https://www.klasteryck.cz/en/monasteries-cesky-krumlov/), where the conference will take place. You can look forward to a rich program including eurythmy and meditation work, various workshops, evening concerts or lectures, the main concert of all participants, and last but not least, the opening lecture, which will be on the topic: “The Lyre – The Light´s Rays”.

We know that the situation is complicated at the moment, and we are aware of the possibility of postponing the conference for a year, but so far we are hopeful of a favorable development.

In the event of cancelation full refund will be made. We cannot be held responsible for canceled accommodation. We appreciate any feedback regarding your participation or non-participation.

I hope that our general conference theme, as well as the topic of the main conference lecture, bring light to these difficult times. Please share this e-mail with your lyre friends.

With warm regards,
Helena Hlaváčková (Bartošová) with Jan Braunstein and the conference team