String AcademyIU Jacobs School of Music

We will be dividing up the Violin Groups for our Halloween Concerts which take place on Saturday, October 30th in Recital Hall

Violin CONCERT ONE – 1 PM with dress rehearsal from 9 to 10 in MA452
All Beginner Class
Book 3, MC, and VE
VV I and II (will perform in both concerts)

Violin Concert Two – 2:15 PM with dress rehearsal from 10 to 11 in MA452
Book 1A and 1B/2
Book 4  and Book 5/6
VV I and II (will perform in both concerts)

Cello Concert will take place at 3:30 in Recital Hall
Dress rehearsal from 10 to 12 in MA454

Performers please come dressed in your favorite Halloween costumes for the concerts/not the rehearsals.

Abby Ko was the first prize winner this past weekend (August 11, 2021) of the The Sherer International Violin & Piano Competition 2021. She will have the opportunity to perform with the Maple City Orchestra during their 2022-23 season. Looking forward!

Welcome back to our Fall Semester 2021. We are moving ahead in the new normal and look forward to meeting everyone in person. As you have read from Christina, Groups will begin this Saturday as we begin preparation for the Violin and Cello Halloween Concerts on Saturday, October 30^th. (Violin concert will take place at 1:30 and cello concert at 3:30 in Recital Hall.) Solo Recitals will take place at the end of the semester, the weekend of December 11/12. In between we will add Entire Works Programs and additional events as they unfold.

This Sunday, Cooper Olsen will be performing Carmen Fantasy by Sarasate with the Bloomington Symphony.  This is an outdoor concert taking place at Switchyard Park’s Pavilion at 7 PM and all are welcome. You can use the parking lot located at 1601 S. Rogers St. Hope to see you there.

We will continue to post all news at our blog site: https://blogs.iu.edu/jsomstringacademy/

Many best wishes for a healthy and productive semester,

Mimi

Three of the Virtuosi, Elson Koh, Abby Ko and Cooper Olsen performed a wonderful concert with Justin Bartlett on August 7th for the Telluride Young Artists Classical Festival. (View Concert) Sydney Denman created the festival in the spectacular setting of the Rocky Mountains and gathered an enthusiastic and supportive audience. It was a memorable experience. Thank you!

The String Academy is opening enrollment for Violin and Cello BEGINNERS CLASSES. We decided last year that with the difficulties of online teaching it would be better to delay the beginners until we could meet in person. And yes, the time has come. Please spread the word as we are happy to fill the ranks. For those new students already playing and wanting to join the String Academy, contact Christina Hightower (crunnacl@iu.edu) to make a time to play for us on Saturday, August 21^st.

Watch a few lessons of a Beginning Student 

Watch Performance Excerpts

Hello to all:
Summer lessons and groups ended with a 10 hour series of class performances which were impressive. Thank you to students, parents and teachers for your continued dedication and striving for excellence. We are looking forward to the Fall Semester which will begin on August 23rd. For new students wanting to enroll, please contact Christina Hightower at crunnacl@iu.edu

We are anticipating all F2F lessons and groups and a return to normalcy. In the meantime, stay healthy and we will see you soon.

Best wishes,
Mimi

Thank you to Erin Aldridge for an inspiring class! And thank you to the performers Ben Lee, Abby Ko, Minjung Kim and Natsume Wu.

Thank you to Sarah for another amazing class. Can’t wait to have all in person classes!

Friday, July 2, 2021
2 PM

Concerto #3 in B Minor         Saint-Saens
Catelijne Hunt, violin   Justin Bartlett, piano

Sonata #8 in G Major          Beethoven
Layla Vamos, violin    Justin Bartlett, piano

Sonata #2 in D Minor     Schumann
Elson Koh, violin    Justin Bartlett, piano

Concerto                Brahms
Bryson Karrer, violin     Justin Bartlett, piano

Thank you to Paivyt for an inspiring afternoon!

Tuesday, June 29, 2021
2 PM

Sonata #1 in D Major     Beethoven
Miranda Isbitts, violin    Justin Bartlett, piano

Concerto in D Major                          Tchaikovsky
Abby Ko, violin   Justin Bartlett, piano

Figaro                                                      Rossini -Tedesco
Cooper Olsen, violin     Justin Bartlett, piano

*The Finnish violinist Päivyt Meller graduated from the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki. In 1979, at the age of 15, she was accepted to study with Josef Gingold as his youngest student in Indiana University. In 1982 she was chosen into the Artist Diploma program. Later she studied with Victor Liberman in Utrechts Concervatorium in Holland and the last year of her violin studies she spent at the International Menuhin Music Academy in Gstaad Switzerland on full scholarship.

Ms. Meller is currently Senior Lecturer in Violin Music at the Sibelius Academy, where she has been teaching the violin since 1990. She held the position of the 3^rd Concertmaster of the Finnish Radio Orchestra 1987-89.  She has been Artistic Director of Raudaskylä International Master Classes as well as the Founder and Director of Camerata Caprice Chamber Orchestra, co-operating with projects of Pinchas Zukerman.

Aside from authoring numerous articles, she has written a book introducing Tatiana Pogozeva´s particular Russian method of teaching violin playing to children. Ms. Meller is frequently invited to give master classes in many prominent schools (for ex. Eastman School of Music, Vienna Hochschule, Hong Kong University) and music festivals (for ex. Summit Music Festival in New York, Bled Festival in Slovenia, Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland).

Ms. Meller has performed chamber music with Mikhail Kopelman, Ralf Gothóni,  Alexander Rudin, Yuri Bashmet and many other prominent musicians. She has performed as soloist with the Finnish Radio Orchestra with Leif Segerstam and Jukka-Pekka Saraste conducting, as soloist with Camerata Lysy, together with Sir Yehudi Menuhin. Her international career as soloist and chamber musician continues.

In 2011 Päivyt Meller was asked by the Rector of the Sibelius Academy to establish a program of distance learning in the school. Today she is the Academic Coordinator of Distance Learning in Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts, Helsinki.

Päivyt Meller plays Nicola Gagliano violin (1777), the property of STALA Co.

Thank you to Ariel for a wonderful class – in person and online.

June 25, 2021
4 PM

Concerto in B Minor #3 (Allegro non troppo)    Saint-Saens
Catelijne Hunt, violin    Justin Bartlett, piano

Caprice #9             Paganini
Abby Ko

Concerto (Allegro)   Barber
James Robinson, violin   Justin Bartlett, piano

Poeme     Chausson
Cooper Olsen, violin    Justin Bartlett, piano