An education method with social impact

Musethica is an education method enabling exceptionally gifted young musicians and their tutors to improve their interpretative skills and to further develop their inspiration, listening, and musical abilities. It is rooted in the belief that making music is an act of communication between musicians and audience that cannot take place in isolation. The basis of the method is giving the selected young musicians daily performance opportunities during an intense period of time, accompanied by an experienced tutor. Instead of a concert being the end result of an educational process, concerts become an integral part of this process.

Over 85% of the concerts are performed outside traditional concert halls, in front of audiences who are not usually exposed to classical music and who may be unable to access traditional concert venues. They take place in refugee centres, prisons, schools, kindergartens, hospitals, care homes, homeless shelters, special education institutes and many other places. Musethica has a strong and direct social impact, providing free concerts of the highest quality to excluded groups in society, turning community centers, school halls and hospital common rooms into concert venues that are treated by the musicians in the exact same way as they would approach a concert in the most prestigious hall with the most discerning audience.

Learning through regular encounters with an audience

Teaching a young musician to become a bridge between a musical text and a listening ear is a complicated and challenging task. This task needs intensive attention during the musicians´ years of study at the university but is currently dealt with very seldom. To be a bridge between a musical text and a listener we need the listener in order to fulfill this formula of musical interpretation. To completely master an instrument, musicians need to have regular encounters with an audience. The Musethica method therefore combines daily concert performances with mentoring and feedback sessions. Audiences play a special role in this process, as people who are less accustomed to the conventions of classical music performance (including for example children) show their emotional reactions to the music freely – in both positive and negative ways. Such direct responses are a rare experience for musicians and canhelp them develop their inspiration, listening, and musical abilities. After each concert, a dialogue takes place between the musicians and the audience to further promote audience engagement and musicians’ listening skills.

Musethica´s activities

Musethica`s main educational activity is the session. A Musethica session is a week-long course for young excellent musicians that includes between 10-14 concerts in social institutions and public places. A session is always structured in the same way. The week starts with two intensive preparation days where the young musicians receive coaching from one of Musethica´s tutors, all of whom are world renowned soloists or professors. In many cases, the tutor forms an ensemble together with the young musicians. On the third day, the musicians begin to play concerts in the local community. Usually, the musicians play between 2-3 concerts per day. The concerts are always accompanied by a tutor and between the concerts the young musicians receive valuable feedback and instruction. The session ends with a public performance in a traditional concert hall. The community concerts are always offered free of charge. The same repertoire will be played whether in a traditional concert hall or a kindergarten. Concerts are played everywhere with the same great respect and highest demands. The repertoire is not adjusted to the audience and there is no explanation needed. The music speaks for itself. After each concert, there is time for a dialogue between the audience and the musicians.

Musethica`s festivals take place yearly in Berlin, Zaragoza, Tel-Aviv and Bourg-en-Bresse. The festivals are large-scale sessions where up to 14 international musicians participate and up to 30 concerts are played in social contexts around the local community.

Furthermore, some of Musethica`s sessions take place as a part of prestigious chamber music festivals such as Voice of Music in the Upper Galilee Israel, Zeist Music Days Holland, Gotland Chamber Music Festival Sweden and Korsholm Music Festival Finland. Musethica is also offered as an integrated part of the Postgraduate Program of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

Avri Levitan is an internationally acclaimed violist and the director and co-founder of Musethica. Levitan grew up in Israel, where he studied in the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel-Aviv and later in the Conservatoire de Paris-Cycle de Perfectionnement. Avri Levitan has established himself as a sought-after soloist, chamber musician and educator performing regularly on many of the most important world stages. He was nominated for the BBC Music Magazine Awards and the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards

Levitan performed on stages like the Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin Philharmonie, Madrid National Auditorio, Tokio Oji Hall, Seoul Art Center, Beijing Forbidden City Concert Hall, Tel Aviv National Philharmonic, Schlezwig Holstein Music Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Prades Festival and many more.
Avri Levitan has dedicating a large part of his musical life to educating musicians, as a professor for viola and chamber music (CSMA Zaragoza, Spain) and as a guest teacher in many institutes such as the Royal Academy of Music in London, the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, the Central Conservatory of Music and Middle School in Beijing, and other institutes in Europe and Asia.

In 2012 Avri Levitan co-founded the educational method and concept Musethica. He is directing all the musical activities in the 10 countries, Musethica currently is active.

Her teaching specialisation is in management of social economy organizations and efficiency evaluation. The development of her research has focused on the study of social economy organizations, corporate social responsibility, and social impact. She has published research papers in more than 20 books and over 60 articles in international and national journals. She has been responsible for 12 research projects and has participated in five international projects. Cofunder of Musethica in 2012 in Zaragoza (Spain).