Program for
Piano and Strings
June 19 – July 25, 2010
The Steans Institute for Young Artists is a unique summer program for young professional musicians that focuses upon interpretation and performance. With enrollment limited to 35, young artists find an intimate, collegial atmosphere as they work with each other and meet with a distinguished international faculty for private coaching, chamber music and master classes. Together they search for ways to approach and perform works selected from a broad repertoire. The Steans Institute fosters a supportive, non-competitive environment for study and performance, with participants from around the world creating a distinctive international community.
Chamber music with Miriam Fried
Study Program
Since the focus of concentration is music and its interpretation rather than instrumental study, young artists are coached by various members of the faculty. Participants may work on one piece with a piano faculty member and on another with a string coach, thus addressing broad musical issues rather than only the resources of their own instrument. Each participant (individual or ensemble) is able to have several coaching sessions per week. Besides these private lessons, Steans Institute members get together with the faculty for master classes and other, informal meetings at which various aspects of the repertoire are discussed.
Chamber Music
Individual instrumentalists are placed in groups for the study and performance of chamber compositions during the summer. Faculty members participate in the chamber music program as well, so that most participants play in one ensemble with a faculty member. Pianists accepted into the program also work with individual string players on sonatas and with each other, playing duets and works for two pianos. Established ensembles accepted by the Steans Institute work together for the entire session but are joined by other musicians for the study of at least one composition for a larger group. In addition, informal reading sessions with faculty members take place throughout the five weeks.
Coaching with Syvia Rosenberg
Performance
Each participant (individual or ensemble) takes part in at least one formal recital in Bennett • Gordon Hall. These Steans Institute Concerts are scheduled before concerts by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and are open to Ravinia ticket holders, thereby attracting large and knowledgeable audiences. In addition, the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts series in Chicago offers one or two concerts each year to selected Steans Institute participants. Musicians from Ravinia’s Steans Institute is a touring group that performs on Ravinia’s Rising Stars series and at other venues during the winter concert season. Some participants each summer are invited to become members of this ensemble.
Outreach
By playing at various off-site locations, young artists from the Steans Institute support Ravinia’s commitment to expanding the audience for classical music and sharing the festival’s artistic resources with the community. They perform at Northwestern University and present programs for school groups. The Musicians from Ravinia’s Steans Institute ensemble also engages in outreach programs as part of its tour.
Ravinia Festival Activities
Ravinia Festival is located on Chicago’s North Shore and runs each year from late May through early September. All Ravinia events are open to Steans Institute participants. These include outdoor concerts in the pavilion by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, often joined by distinguished soloists, and solo and chamber recitals in Ravinia’s Martin Theatre.
Coaching with Martha Strongin Katz
The Facility
The Steans Institute is located on the grounds of the Ravinia Festival in the John D. Harza Building. All performances take place in the intimate, 450-seat Bennett • Gordon Hall, which has been praised as an acoustical gem by audiences and performers alike. The Harza Building also holds teaching studios, practice rooms, a library containing the most authoritative editions of the music performed at the Steans Institute, and an audio/video control room furnished with high-quality equipment for the recording of all events in Bennett • Gordon Hall. The recordings are immediately available for study and review after concerts and classes.
Participation
The Steans Institute is open to young instrumentalists between the ages of 17 and 30. Individuals (piano, violin, viola, cello) and chamber ensembles are invited to apply. Chamber ensembles may be of three or more instruments, either all strings or strings and piano. We usually accept a trio or a quartet.
The application can be downloaded from the website and should be printed out and mailed back with an audition recording and the $70 application fee (non-refundable). CD format is preferred and repertoire requirements are printed on the application. A letter of recommendation from a known musician is also required. This may be included with the application or sent separately. Email to siya@ravinia.org is the preferred way for the letter of recommendation to arrive. All application materials must be received by January 29, 2010.
Everyone accepted for the program receives a full scholarship covering all Steans Institute activities, dormitory housing, most meals and inter-campus transportation. The only cost to participants is transportation to and from Chicago. All participants must attend for the full five weeks.
Coaching with Paul Biss
Program Director
Miriam Fried, Violin
Faculty
Atar Arad, Viola
Paul Biss, Violin and Viola
Timothy Eddy, Cello
Leon Fleisher, Piano
Claude Frank, Piano
Pamela Frank, Violin
Gary Hoffman, Cello
Gilbert Kalish, Piano
Kim Kashkashian, Viola
Martha Strongin Katz, Viola
Paul Katz, Cello
Ida Kavafian, Violin
Laurence Lesser, Cello
John O’Conor, Piano
Igor Ozim, Violin
Menahem Pressler, Piano
Thomas Riebl, Viola
Sylvia Rosenberg, Violin
Email siya@ravinia.org with any questions or concerns.