2008-2009 String Master Classes
MacPhail's master classes and workshops feature national and international musicians, and serve as a valuable resource to students, teachers, and musicians alike. Year after year, MacPhail presents one of the most comprehensive and highly-regarded rosters of master classes in the country.
ATTEND a master class or workshop at MacPhail
Anyone can attend a master class, regardless of their instrument or skill level. Admission is free to MacPhail families, and just $5 to the general public. Many of MacPhail’s master classes are co-sponsored by other organizations in the Twin Cities including (these are hyperlinks) The Chamber Music Society of Minnesota, the Minnesota Guitar Society, Music in the Park Series, The Schubert Club and Claire Givens Violins.
WHAT IS A MASTER CLASS? In a master class, advanced students perform for, and are coached by the master teacher. The student performers gain new insights from a true expert who is respected and well known in musical circles. Performing for a master teacher is considered an honor; attending a master class as an observer is a rare opportunity to see a master at work.
PERFORM in a master class
MacPhail master class performers are selected by live audition and must complete an audition application. Participation in master class auditions is open to all students in the community unless noted otherwise in the application form. Each master class audition is judged by at least two MacPhail faculty and one regional judge (from outside MacPhail faculty). Students who audition will receive the judges’ comments by mail. All applications must be filled out completely and received at MacPhail Center for Music by the application deadline (some deadlines are flexible, please call 612.767.5310).
Yolanda Kondonassis: Harp Master Class
Sunday, October 12 2-4:30 p.m.
MacPhail Center for Music, Antonello Hall
FREE to MacPhail students, $5 general public
Co-presented with the MN Chapter of the American Harp Society
Since making her debut at age 18 with the New York Philharmonic, Yolanda Kondonassis has appeared as soloist with numerous major orchestras including The Cleveland Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. Ms. Kondonassis has won universal critical acclaim for her ten discs, which have sold more than 100,000 copies worldwide. Her first book, On Playing the Harp, was published in 2003. Her second book, The Yolanda Kondonassis Collection, is a compilation of her many original transcriptions, arrangements, and compositions for the harp. She has been featured on CNN and PBS television as well as National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and Performance Today. Ms. Kondonassis received Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Alice Chalifoux. She heads the harp department at Oberlin College Conservatory as well as the Cleveland Institute of Music, and has given master classes around the world.
Rodney Farrar: Cello Master Class
Sunday, January 18 3-5:30 p.m.
MacPhail Center for Music, Antonello Hall
FREE to MacPhail students, $5 general public
Sponsored by Claire Givens Violins, Inc.
Cellist Rodney Farrar is nationally recognized as one of the foremost teachers of young cellists. Rodney Farrar has been a professional cellist for 30-plus years, enjoying a varied career ranging from symphony, chamber music, and solo recital performance to university teaching and private instruction for students of a wide range of ages and levels. He has been actively involved in the development of Suzuki cello teaching in this country and has been guest clinician at hundreds of institutes and workshops throughout the U.S. and Canada. Rodney attended Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music and Indiana University School of Music. His cello teachers have included Gretchen Dalley, Peter Howard, Ronald Leonard and Janos Starker. He was professor of cello at the University of Kentucky, Crane School of Music in New York, and the University of Illinois in Champaigne-Urbana.
Pamela Frank: Violin Master Class
Saturday, February 14, 2009
3:00-5:00 p.m.
MacPhail Center for Music, Antonello Hall
$5 general admission at the door, FREE to MacPhail families
Sponsored by Claire Givens Violins, Inc.
Violinist Pamela Frank was born in New York City in 1967. As the daughter of pianists Lilian Kallir and Claude Frank, she partook of a musically vibrant home life, including violin lessons from the age of five. Although she enrolled in the pre-college division of the Juilliard School of Music, she otherwise enjoyed a typical adolescence. She attended the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she earned a bachelor's degree in 1989. Her violin teachers included Shirley Givens for eleven years, followed by Szymon Goldberg and Jaime Laredo. She officially launched her career in 1985, when she accompanied Alexander Schneider and the New York String Orchestra in four performances at Carnegie Hall. Not until ten years later, in 1995, did she make her Carnegie Hall solo recital debut. In 1999 she was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize, one of the highest honors given to American instrumentalists.
Her passion for chamber music continues to find a variety of outlets. In addition to her partnership with her father, pianist Claude Frank, she works regularly with pianist Peter Serkin. Her other frequent collaborators, drawn from a large group of chamber music colleagues, include Yo-Yo Ma, Tabea Zimmermann and Alexander Simionescu. For many years she took part in the Marlboro Festival in Vermont as well as the subsequent Music from Marlboro tours.
Pamela Frank is a member of the faculties of the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, and Stony Brook University in New York.
Daedalus String Quartet Master Class
Saturday, April 25 2:30-4:30 p.m.
MacPhail Center for Music, Antonello Hall
Co-presented with Music In The Park Series
Sponsored by Claire Givens Violins, Inc.
FREE to MacPhail families, $5 general admission at the door
The Daedalus Quartet (pronounced DED-a-lus) was founded in the summer of 2000, and one year later captured the Grand Prize of the 2001 Banff International String Quartet Competition, quickly establishing itself as among America’s outstanding string quartets. The Daedalus Quartet was appointed by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center as the Chamber Music Society Two quartet for the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons. The ensemble was appointed Columbia University’s Quartet-in-Residence for the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons and Visiting Artists at the University of Pennsylvania for the 2006-2007 season. They active in music education for adults and children alike. The quartet has served as a resident ensemble of the Lincoln Center Institute, performing for school children throughout the New York metropolitan area, and they have twice been recipients of educational residency grants from Chamber Music America.
