MJP Piano
Academy
Dear Piano Student, and Music Lovers,
We are happy to announce that Maria is launching the first edition of “MJP Piano Academy”. A dedicated online space that offers in-person Residencies, and in the near future Workshop Weeks (Masterclasses) applications that will take place at Belgais Center for Arts. It also currently offers bookings for private Online Lessons, and in the near future, to a new lesson format “Online Workshops”, offering weekly online group workshops to 3-4 students (participants) that apply to the monthly program. These workshops will also be available for viewers and listeners on subscription plan, allowing other interested students, teachers, or music lovers to watch the monthly events and participate in a monthly online Q&A where Maria will be answering a range of questions submitted by the subscribers.
In addition, we are also currently working on a plan to reopen the Belgais Center for Arts project, offering a broader variety of in-person events and experiences, however this time sharing our activities on a dedicated Belgais Online Platform for people around the world. Most likely the MJP Piano Academy will later merge with the Belgais Online Platform once it is released. More information regarding this will be shared in the coming months. Stay tuned!
Best regards, — Maria João Pires & MJP Team
Current Available Bookings:
Belgais Residency
For the richest experience, we recommend booking several consecutive days for your residency at Belgais.
Each day of residency includes:
1 - One private lesson with Maria João Pires per day;
2 - The opportunity to observe other students lessons;
3 - Lodging at Belgais Centre for the night prior to your scheduled lesson;
4 - A private Studio (room) with a piano for personal practice;
5 - Access to a private kitchen in your studio for you to prepare your meals (we do not provide meals);
6 - Breakfast provisions are included;
7 - Groceries provisions for lunch and dinner can be arranged (available option on the booking system).
ELIGIBILITY:
Students must be 6+ years of age for Residency lessons. Approximately 80 minutes.
Minors must be accompanied by one parent or guardian. The accompanying adult may stay in the student’s studio for the duration of the residency.
Lessons are offered in English, French, German, and Portuguese. Basic Spanish is also possible.
REPERTOIRE:
Students may work on a maximum of two pieces per lesson.
Please make sure that each piece is identified as precisely as possible, including the number, catalogue reference, opus number, key, and major/minor indication where applicable.
Examples: Mozart Sonata in C major, K. 545; Beethoven Sonata Op. 10 No. 1 in C minor; Chopin Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9 No. 2.
LODGING AND ARRIVALS:
Students should arrive at Belgais the day before their lesson, from 5:00 PM. and departure by 4:00PM after your lesson, the day after your arrival.
Breakfast provisions will be provided.
If added on booking, optional groceries provisions for the remaining meals will be found in the student’s Studio.
Minors must be accompanied by one parent or guardian. The accompanying adult may stay in the student’s studio for the duration of the residency.
CANCELLATION POLICY:
Cancellations made more than 72 hours before the scheduled lesson day are refundable, however a 4% payment-processing fee is deducted.
Cancellations made less than 72 hours before the scheduled lesson day are non-refundable.
If a lesson is cancelled by Maria João Pires, it will be fully refunded or rescheduled.
Online Lessons
For the richest experience, it is mandatory for students to have the necessary equipment, internet, and Zoom configurations for online lessons bookings.
MANDATORY EQUIPMENT:
1 - A Laptop or Desktop computer, the necessary Zoom settings aren’t compatible with tablets or smartphones;
2 - The Zoom app installed on your computer with Zoom setting configured the following way:
Download Zoom Guide MAC
Download Zoom Guide Windows
3 - An external microphone connected to the computer and Zoom app;
4 - A stable internet connection with at least +100Mbps download and +30Mbps upload (do a Speedtest by Ookla);
5 - Speakers or Headphones connected to your computer(make sure audio input is set to your external microphone).
ELIGIBILITY:
Students must be 14+ years of age for Adult lessons. Approximately 80 minutes.
Students must be 6-14 years of age for Child lessons. Approximately 45 minutes.
Students under 14 years of age book shorter 45 minute Child lessons. However depending on the level, and in case of preference, students from 12 years of age can also book 80 minutes lessons.
Lessons are offered in English, French, German, and Portuguese. Basic Spanish is also possible.
REPERTOIRE:
Students may work on a maximum of two pieces per lesson.
Please make sure that each piece is identified as precisely as possible, including the number, catalogue reference, opus number, key, and major/minor indication where applicable.
Examples: Mozart Sonata in C major, K. 545; Beethoven Sonata Op. 10 No. 1 in C minor; Chopin Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9 No. 2.
CANCELLATION POLICY:
Cancellations made more than 24 hours before the scheduled lesson day are refundable, however a 4% payment-processing fee is deducted.
Cancellations made less than 24 hours before the scheduled lesson day are non-refundable.
If a lesson is cancelled by Maria João Pires, it will be fully refunded or rescheduled.
Activities Coming Soon:
Belgais Workshops
We welcome musicians from around the world to Belgais for a week of intense work supervised by Maria João Pires, assistant teachers, and where appropriate, other speakers (lecturers, academics or therapists, yoga teacher) who have elaborated a reflection on their own course.
Our workshops are a way of performing an in-depth musical work but, also, thanks to the particular and preserved setting offered by Belgais, to invite a meditation on the relationship that each individual has with his/her habits, culture, technique and expectations.
Such an approach, respectful to the needs of each individual's rhythms, is inseparable from a reflection, both fruitful and necessary for the role of the today's artist. From this point of view, the Belgais "workshops" encourage interactions between participants, collective work sessions, exchanges during meals taken together, trying to offer an alternative to traditional "masterclasses".
The workshops are designed above all as places of transmission. In a setting that encourages respect for the needs and rhythms of everyone, experienced musicians who have reflected on their own journey share their artistic vision with young artists in training.
The purpose is not only to perpetuate techniques and know-how, to sharpen sensitivities, but also to forge a personal relationship with music, which is inseparable from the role of the artist today. Paradoxically, young musicians need to find a way to take themselves out of context of the contemporary world with all of its assumptions whilst also remaining "in sync" with it.
Participation is accessible to pianists who are over 18 and fulfill application standards, and also to external listeners. We are still structuring the program. Join the waiting-list below to be the first to receive full details, dates and application information.
Online Workshops
Each month, a small group of three to four pianists is welcomed for a series of weekly online sessions supervised by Maria João Pires, together with guest contributors who bring specific historical, theoretical or interpretative perspectives to the work. Each session is devoted to a particular area of the piano repertoire, bringing together questions of style, interpretation, technique and practice strategies through practical work on the pieces themselves. The repertoire is agreed beforehand between Maria João Pires and each participant.
More than a sequence of lessons, these meetings are conceived above all as places of transmission. The continuity of the same small group across the month allows the work to deepen from one session to the next, and allows each participant to follow the paths of the others: to listen, to compare, to recognise shared difficulties. In this sense they seek to offer an alternative to the traditional format of the “masterclass”, in a spirit that respects the needs and rhythms of each individual. Work on the repertoire is inseparable from a reflection on the relationship each musician has with his or her habits, culture, technique and expectations — a reflection both fruitful and necessary for the role of the artist today, who paradoxically needs to find a way of stepping outside the context of the contemporary world and its assumptions while remaining in sync with it.
The workshops will also be open to viewers and listeners on a subscription plan — students, teachers and music lovers who wish to follow the monthly sessions and take part in a monthly online Q&A, where Maria João Pires answers questions submitted by subscribers.
We are still structuring the program. Join the waiting-list below to be the first to receive full details, dates and application information.