Hello to all:

We are hoping that you are healthily immersed in the Fall Semester. All lessons and groups are moving along smoothly. Before you know it, it will be Halloween This year Halloween falls on Saturday, October 31, a perfect day for String Academy Halloween Concerts. Since we cannot meet in person, we will have a series of Zoom Concerts. Featured on each concert will be the very scarry “HOUSE OF UNTOLD HORRORS” written by Lauren Bernofsky, a String Academy mom and well-known composer. Each concert will also include solos from all the different levels.

10 AM with the following violin groups:  1A, 4B, 5/6 and VE

11 AM with the following violin groups: 1B, 2/3, 4A, MC and VE

12 Noon – Additional Solos

1 PM – Cello Groups

2 PM – Entire Works Concert

We will send you the Zoom concert access addresses before the concerts. Since it is Halloween, please dress-up and celebrate the day. We will send you virtual treats (or keep them to give away for when we see you in person).

Many best wishes,

Mimi

Hello to Everyone:

You can enjoy Phillip Hammond featured on “From the Top” with his beautiful performance of “Summertime” by William Grant Still and an interesting up-close interview. Enjoy!

Phillip Hammond

Hello to everyone:
Tomorrow, Monday, August 24th is the big blast off day for Fall Semester 2020. Needless to say, it looks nothing like we have seen before. String Academy private and group classes are all online. We have learned a lot since mid-March and progress is in the air. Please make sure you have scheduled your private lessons with your teacher and check the group class schedule for day/time.
Stay healthy and stay tuned to this blog site for the latest news.

Best wishes,
Mimi and the faculty

We have finished the String Academy six week summer program and want to thank everyone for making it a very successful session. Even virtually, recitals showed the dedication to making progress and many hours of practicing. We are saying farewell to Susan Moses, Flora Nevarez, Michele Barbosa and Hasun Yoo. Soon we will announce our faculty line-up for the coming fall semester.

Fall semester will begin on August 24 with private and group classes. The String Academy will run a 15 week semester, 13 weeks before Thanksgiving and an additional 2 weeks after a week of Thanksgiving break. We are not accepting beginning students this semester, but if you are currently playing the violin, viola or cello and would like to study at the String Academy, please contact Christina Hightower at crunnacl@iu.edu.

All of us are truly looking forward to in person lessons and groups, but we are being cautious and patient.

Best wishes,
Mimi

Enjoy this wonderful interview with the conductor of the Carmel Symphony, Janna Hymes, and Cooper Olsen who was this year’s winner of the Carmel Symphony Competition. Will give you some insights into how Cooper thinks about music, his work ethic and much more.

July 2020

Dear Students and Parents:

Next week is the last week of our Summer Session and the six weeks have flown by. The entire faculty is very impressed with the progress that you have made in these unusual circumstances and we applaud you for this. Solo Recitals are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, the 24^th and 25^th of July.

Looking ahead to the Fall Semester of 2020 we are planning for the private and group classes to remain online. Private and group lessons will begin the week of August 24^th. We will not offer the separate theory classes in the Fall, but you can arrange private lessons with Amy Hamburg (amjohame61@gmail.com). We are hoping that by Spring 2021 we will be able to resume a more normal existence. Please coordinate with your private teacher lesson times. Group times can be found in MENU under GROUP.

The String Academy has adjusted tuition to reflect a Corona discount for the coming semester. Registration for Fall Semester will soon be open.

We are bidding farewell to Susan Moses who is retiring from the String Academy. Also, Flora Nevarez and Michele Barbosa are both embarking on the next chapter of their lives. We wish to all the very best and thank them for their dedicated work and contributions to the String Academy over the past years.

On a personal note, I want to thank all students and parents for their patience and understanding during this time. I also see that the lessons have been extremely important for our young people and have helped to keep us all connected.

Best wishes,

Mimi Zweig
Director

Susan Moses recently announced her retirement from the JSoM String Academy after 25 years of teaching. During these years, she has established a world-renowned cello class with her students who are performing and teaching throughout the world.  In her years of teaching in Europe she has former students who are currently first chair players in major orchestras and perform as soloists. Former remarkable String Academy  students  have won national and international prizes such as Nathan Vickery (currently in the NY Philharmonic), James Kim, Braden McConnell. Ana Kim, and Gabriel Martins .

The many years that Susan taught in the Summer String Academy, students came from around the world to study with her and she left her mark on them all. In addition to her cello teaching, Susan was an inspirational force in the coaching of chamber music. Students will take with them memories of lessons filled with the joy of music making.

On a personal note, I have always marveled at Susan’s rare ability to create artists from the youngest of ages and to develop a complete sense of musicianship with all her students. She has been a true force in Bloomington and will be missed.

Susan Moses Biography

Susan Moses has been Co-Director of the Indiana University String Academy since 1995 and is on the faculty of the IU Jacobs School of Music. Her students have been awarded top prizes in international competitions and hold positions in leading orchestras of the United States and Europe. During her years of teaching in England, France and Italy, Susan was honored with several distinguished teaching awards and is the recipient of the 2014 INASTA Studio Teacher of the Year award. She also has served on the faculty of Boston University and the Oberlin Conservatory.

The recipient of a Ford Foundation prize, Ms. Moses has performed throughout the world in recital, with orchestras and as the solo cellist of the celebrated ensemble I Solisti Veneti.

As a founding member of the Chicago String Trio, she received a special prize from the University of Milan for outstanding contributions to chamber music. Susan Moses records for ERATO and the CONCERTO labels, has been nominated for a Grand Prix du Disque, and has served as a juror in major international cello competitions. Ms. Moses has also been recognized by the University of Padua for her research on the school of Giuseppe Tartini. Susan is currently and editor for the International Music Company. Her edition of Goltermann 4th concerto was released in 2019.

Ms. Moses earned degrees from Indiana and Yale Universities, studying under Janos Starker and Aldo Parisot, and completed her studies at the renowned Jascha Heifetz-Gregor Piatigorsky Master Class at the University of Southern California and at the Paris Conservatoire.

Hello to Students and Parents:
We have now completed the first two weeks of our Summer Session II. Even though time should be moving along slowly, it seems to be going at record speeds. We have had wonderful master classes with violinists Simin Ganatra and Vadim Gluzman, and cello master classes with Daniel Lelchuk and  Brinton Smith. We have gotten better at navigating the internet and we are finding the ways to keep the music alive.

Congratulations to our students who have won the Bloomington Symphony Competition/Summer 2020
1^st Prize:  Cooper Olsen
Honarable Mentions: Serge Kalinovsky and Sinead Whelan
They will have the opportunity to perform at some time next season if circumstances allow.

Check the calendar for upcoming master classes. Keep listening to music and reading books.

Many best wishes,

Mimi

Brenda Brenner was recently presented with a very prestigious award, the Bloomington campus Mary Burgan Distinguished Service Awardee for the 2020-2021 academic year. She is the only recipient for the entire IU Bloomington campus to receive this. In addition, she has been appointed interim Eugene O’Brien Bicentennial Executive Associate Dean of the JSoM. Brenda will continue to teach in the String Academy. Congratulations and we love her and are very proud of her!