On a grand scale: Nakamatsu returns to give recital, master classes
Jon Nakamatsu was a high school German teacher in 1997. That year, he was also the winner of the 10th…
Jon Nakamatsu was a high school German teacher in 1997. That year, he was also the winner of the 10th…
Natalya Antonova doesn’t have a favorite performance. Antonova, pianist and professor at the Eastman School of Music, can’t name a…
At 1:15 p.m. today in Fletcher Music Hall, Marlena Malas, chair of the School of Music’s Voice Program, will be conducting her annual master class.
Jay Lesenger is ready to show audiences that a lot more goes into a singer’s voice than meets the eyes — or ears, for that matter.
As he boarded a Chautauqua Institution bus, a man called out to Mary Jean Irion, who sat in a rocking chair by the entrance to the Athenaeum Hotel.
Jacques Israelievitch, strings chair in Chautauqua Music Festival’s Instrumental Program, will host a violin master class at 2 p.m. today in McKnight Hall. Five students will each play one piece and he will critique their performances. Israelievitch said he hopes to open a dialogue between himself and the students so that they can have a new perspective on the pieces.
“Summer is a wonderful time to recuperate and to reboot my system,” said Ilya Kaler, a well-traveled and well-versed violinist. “And Chautauqua is the ideal location for that.”
A man who spends his summers on the grounds, and with his wife in the orchestra, Kaler considers Chautauqua to be his second home.
But all rest and no work makes Kaler restless, so he will again teach a violin master class from 2 to 4:30 p.m. today in McKnight Hall.
Behind every great classical vocalist is a grand piano. And if J.J. Penna is playing the keys, then everyone is in for a treat.
Penna, who is on the faculty at The Juilliard School, the Yale School of Music and the Westminster Choir College, will help School of Music vocalists in his voice master class 9:30 a.m. today in McKnight Hall and the voice concert from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday in McKnight Hall.
“I equate the situation to being a sideman in a jazz setting,” Penna said. “I’m really there to create a platform and fortify them to do their thing.”
Wild and unbridled, the clarinet is an instrument not easily controlled by its master.
But Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr will show the ways to reining in the unruly woodwind as she prepares students for chamber music recitals. She will also hold a clarinet master class from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. today in McKnight Hall.
“She has an incredible passion for the clarinet,” said Richard Sherman, wind and brass chair.
Trombonist and professor Scott Hartman is all about breaking things down. And his brass master class will be no different at 7 p.m. tonight in McKnight Hall.
Currently, Hartman is a lecturer at the Yale University School of Music. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music.
“My first professional job was playing with this group called The Empire Brass Quartet,” Hartman said. “And we had a residency at Boston University, which meant that we performed and taught there.”