2010 Summer Quartet Music Workshop

June 14 – 19, 2010
Virtuosi of Houston Studio, Memorial City Mall, Houston, Texas

about the program

All talented violin, viola and cello musicians ages 11 to 18 are invited to participate in this unique workshop that includes:

• Repertoire classes in quartet chamber music
• Master class instruction with leading performers and educators
• Enrichment classes in Solfeggio, Alexander Technique, and physical conditioning for musicians

Virtuosi of Houston’s workshop differs from other area quartet workshops in that each quartet attends two to three repertoire classes daily with different professional instructors and receives instruction on multiple chamber works from varying composers. In addition, the quartets are provided with daily rehearsal and performance opportunities wherein they share with their peers their working pieces. This workshop approach gives them a foundation in quartet performance and prepares them for future engagements as young professionals.

dates, schedule & location

The workshop will be held the week of June 14 – 19 in the Virtuosi of Houston Studio located in Memorial City Mall. Classes will be held from 2:00 to 6:30 Monday through Friday. The daily schedule includes one hour of enrichment classes, two and a half hours of chamber repertoire instruction, and quartet rehearsal time concluding with daily recitals. Master classes and rehearsals will be held on Saturday, June 19 from 9:00-11:00 am with a final recital at 12:00 pm featuring performances by all of the quartet ensembles. Friends and family are invited to all recitals.

admission, registration & fees

The Summer Quartet Music Workshop is open to string instrumentalists ages 11 to 18. Applicants are expected to play at an intermediate level or higher. All applicants must complete an application form (click here). Current Virtuosi of Houston students need to complete Part 1 only. Non-Virtuosi applicants must complete Part 1 and 2 of the application. With regard to acceptance, current Virtuosi of Houston students will be accepted into the workshop. Non-Virtuosi applicants will be accepted upon review of the completed application materials and space permitting.

The workshop participation fee for current Virtuosi of Houston students is $100. The participation fee for non-Virtuosi students is $150. Note: Acceptance into the Virtuosi of Houston Workshop does not constitute acceptance into the Virtuosi of Houston orchestra.

the 2010 summer quartet music workshop faculty members

Repertoire Class Faculty

• Edward Lawrence – Chamber musician, private instructor of violin, viola and cello,
  faculty member of the American Festival for the Arts
• John Randolph – Viola, Fine Arts String Quartet, faculty member of the American
  Festival for the Arts
• Sophia Silivos – Violin, Houston Symphony

Master Class Faculty

• Joan DerHovsepian – Viola, Acting Assistant Principal, Houston Symphony
• Kevin Dvorak – Cello, Houston Symphony
• Andrzej Grabiec – Conductor, Virtuosi of Houston and Professor of Violin,
  University of Houston Moores School of Music
• Franz Anton Krager – Conductor, Virtuosi of Houston and Professor of Conducting,
  Director of Orchestras, University of Houston Moores School of Music
• Sophia Silivos – Violin, Houston Symphony
• Brinton Averil Smith – Cello, Principal, Houston Symphony

Enrichment Class Faculty

• Anne Bogaev – Certified Alexander Technique instructor
• Deborah Krager – Vocalist, voice teacher and Solfeggio instructor
• Linda Gilbert – Oboe, freelance artist, teacher and rehabilitative specialist

Workshop Faculty Biographies

Anne Bogaev
Anne Bogaev is certified by the American Society for the Alexander Technique (AmSAT), an organization which establishes and maintains the nation’s highest standards for teacher training, certification and membership. AmSAT certified teachers adhere to professional standards and must complete a three year, AmSAT approved training course including 1600 hours of training. Ms. Bogaev enjoys teaching the Alexander Technique to a wide variety of people, ranging from performing artists to athletes to individuals with chronic pain. She has worked with organizations such as Houston Grand Opera Studio, Austin Chamber Music Summer Workshop, and the Center for Music Therapy Wellness Program for people with movement disorders. She is available for workshops on the Alexander Technique for specialized groups such as singers, musicians and actors. In addition to her Alexander Technique work, she has a Masters Degree in Social Work and has worked in the mental health field for over 25 years.

Joan DerHovsepian
Joan DerHovsepian, viola, became a member of the Houston Symphony in 1999, after serving two seasons as principal viola of the Charleston (SC) Symphony Orchestra. She is an instructor at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and a member of the prize-winning Everest String Quartet, which concertizes throughout the United States and Canada. Joan performs each summer at Montana’s Grand Teton Music Festival and the Peninsula Music Festival in Door County, Wisconsin.

Kevin Dvorak
Kevin Dvorak, cello, is a native Texan. Prior to joining the cello section of the Houston Symphony in 1978, he appeared as soloist with the Dallas, Fort Worth and Midland-Odessa Symphony Orchestras. He has performed on several Houston concert series, including the Da Camera Society, and as soloist with the Houston Symphony. He is a regular performer with the Greenbriar Consortium and MUKURU Art for Aids series. An ardent chamber music lover, he frequently presents concerts in his home with other symphony musicians. His hobbies include arranging music, swimming and gourmet cooking.

Linda Gilbert
Oboist Linda Gilbert is a Fulbright scholar (The Netherlands) and recipient of the University of Michigan’s prestigious Albert A. Stanley Medal, the highest honor awarded to a School of Music graduate. She received her doctorate in Oboe Performance at the University of Southern California. She is an active freelance musician, performing regularly with ensembles including the Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, Houston Ballet and Mercury Baroque Ensemble. Dr. Gilbert also maintains an extensive private teaching studio. She has performed with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Pacific and Houston Symphonies, Los Angeles Bach Festival and the L.A. Music Center, Long Beach and Houston Grand Operas. She has been a featured soloist at the Bach Aria and Sarasota Music Festivals, and performs each summer at the Grand Teton Music Festival. A student of yoga and various healing arts for over 20 years, Ms. Gilbert is certified nationally as a yoga therapist, yoga instructor and rehabilitative specialist. She teaches yoga privately and at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. She is the author of The Practice Handbook: A Musician’s Guide to Positive Results in the Practice Room and is currently working on a new book, a detailed manual addressing safe stretching for musicians, for prevention, maintenance and recovery from injury.

Andrzej Grabiec
Andrzej Grabiec, a co-founder of Virtuosi of Houston, also serves as co-Artistic Director and Conductor. In the fall of 1995, Grabiec assumed the position of Professor of Violin at the University of Houston Moores School of Music. As Artistic Director, he has led the Society for Chamber Music in Rochester, NY and the American Sinfonietta Performance Academy. Since his first full recital at age 11, he has performed as a soloist in symphonic concerts and recitals in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Denmark, Belgium, Great Britain, East and West Germany, West Berlin, France, Switzerland, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, former Soviet Union, and his native country, Poland. In May 1984 Mr. Grabiec made his acclaimed Carnegie Hall debut recital. He was a prizewinner at the Fifth International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in Poznan, Poland, in 1967, and the International Jacques Thibaud Violin Competition in Paris, France, in 1969. In 2008, Mr. Grabiec made his Chinese debut with an extensive series of master classes and a performance with the Xinghai Conservatory Symphony Orchestra conducted by Franz Anton Krager. Mr. Grabiec has collaborated as a soloist with many internationally recognized artists, such as conductors Pierre Boulez, Erich Leinsdorf, Krzysztof Penderecki, Witold Lutoslawski, and many others. He has made numerous commercially released recordings which include a CD recording of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the American Sinfonietta for Summit Records.

Deborah Krager
Deborah Krager is a vocalist and private voice instructor. She also teaches Solfeggio, the study of intervals in the rudiments of music. She has degrees in Music Education and Vocal Performance from Sam Houston State University. Ms. Krager has taught voice and piano privately, assisted in children’s workshops, served as vocal coach and accompanist and has taught in the pubic school system. Her performance experience includes leading roles in musicals and operattas, soloist for numerous classical works – both in the US and abroad, and lead singer in gospel and pop ensembles.

Franz Anton Krager
Franz Krager, a co-founder of Virtuosi of Houston, has been co-Artistic Director and Conductor since the Virtuosi of Houston’s inception in 1996. American born and trained, the conductor has been making his artistic presence felt both at home and abroad. Performance engagements in some of the world’s most celebrated concert halls and musical centers are testimony to his emergence as a conductor on the international music scene. Since making his prize winning European conducting debut in Copenhagen’s Tivoli Koncertsalen in 1978, Krager has led orchestras in the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Moscow’s State Kremlin Palace, Manchester England’s Bridgewater Hall, Sydney Opera House, Amsterdam Congresgebouw, Kazan’s State Philharmonic Hall in Russia, Guadalajara’s Degollado Theater, and Sarasota’s Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. His affiliations with leading music festivals include the Lichfield and Aberystwyth International Arts Festivals in the U.K., the Lunatica, Pianomaster, Sinfonico, and Scarlino Castello Music Festivals in Italy, and the Texas Music Festival and Interlochen National Music Camp in the U.S. Maestro Krager’s roster of conducting engagements is a full collection of international and domestic appearances in both the professional and academic arenas. He has led the Houston Symphony; Russian State Symphony; Romanian and Kazan State Philharmonics; to name just a few. Krager is both Professor of Conducting and Director of Orchestras at the University of Houston Moores School of Music, where he has brought the orchestra and orchestral conducting program into the realm of national prominence. The Moores School Orchestra is heard frequently on National Public Radio, and has commercially recorded, on compact disc, the music of Michael Horvit, Robert Nelson, and Stephen Shewan for Albany Records.

Edward Lawrence
A native Houstonian, Mr. Lawrence has pursued a wide range of musical interests. In addition to conducting, he is an active performer on the piano, violin, viola and violoncello. His proficiency on all of these instruments gives him a particular insight into chamber music coaching, which he does all year as part of his regular teaching schedule. Mr. Lawrence attended the Eastman School of Music where he studied piano with the renowned Cecile Genhart. He then attended the University of Texas at Austin where he received a B. M. in music theory and a performer’s certificate in violoncello while studying with Phyllis Young. At her request, he taught for four years in the University’s nationally acclaimed String Project, serving as director of music theory. He was asked to restructure the program’s theory classes to better meet the special aspects of teaching this discipline to young string players. Mr. Lawrence has been a member of the Austin Symphony, the Orchestra of Santa Fe, the Houston Ballet Orchestra and several other performing groups. For many years he was an active instrumental accompanist and vocal coach. He is currently celebrating his sixth season as a Conductor at the American Festival for the Arts.

John Randolph
John Randolph is highly sought after performer, teacher, and clinician. A graduate of Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, he studied with Wayne Brooks and Atar Arad. He has taught and coached musicians at Sam Houston State University, Houston Community College and Virtuosi of Houston, among others. He has taken part in the festivals of Tanglewood, American Institute for Musical Studies, Round Top and the Grand Tetons and has performed with organizations including Theater Under the Stars, Houston Ballet, Ars Lyrica and the Bach Society. In addition to being a featured teacher at Virtuosi of Houston’s Summer Quartet Music Workshop, he is also on the faculty for the American Festival for the Arts.

Sophia Silivos
Sophia Silivos, violin, has been a member of the Houston Symphony since 1992. Ms. Silivos began her career as first violinist of the Dakota quartet and then was named principal second violinist of the New Mexico Symphony. She has performed as soloist with the Houston Symphony and served as Associate Concertmaster for the 2005-06 season. An ardent proponent of chamber music, she has appeared with ensembles throughout the United States and has performed live for public radio stations in Chicago, Houston and Minneapolis. Here in Texas, she appears regularly with the Greenbriar Consortium and the Foundation for Modern Music; she is a featured violinist for the St. Cecilia concert series. She has served on the faculties of the University of Houston and Augustana College, teaches privately and gives master classes. In the summer of 2007, Ms. Silivos was an invited participant in a three-week tour of China, performing solos with orchestra, performing recitals and giving master classes.

Brinton Averil Smith
Brinton Averil Smith is the principal cellist of the Houston Symphony and was previously a member of the New York Philharmonic and the principal cellist of the San Diego and Fort Worth symphonies. Hailed by Newsday for “extraordinary musicianship”, cellist Brinton Averil Smith has performed throughout the US and around the world as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. After earning a bachelors degree in mathematics at age 17, he received his masters and doctoral degrees at Juilliard studying with Zara Nelsova. His recent recordings also include the Miklos Rozsa cello concerto with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra for Koch and chamber music of Faure with violinist Gil Shaham for Canary Classics.

* Faculty subject to change

Download the 2010 Summer Quartet Music Workshop Brochure (pdf file)