Running behind again! But this’ll be the first of several tardy posts. Multiple events are stacking up: SO much music, SOOO little time! I had to pass up Tuesday’s choice organ recital honoring Mendelssohn’s birthday today (see Eargasm Alert below) in a futile effort to catch up!
In recent years, the Charleston Academy of Music (CAM) – under the leadership of pianist Eunjoo Yun – has emerged as Chucktown’s premier pre-college music education institution. Closely affiliated with the College of Charleston, CAM offers private individual lessons for most instruments, concentrating on their classical applications. They also offer first-rate chamber music instruction and ensemble coaching. Their wide-ranging scholarship programs enable them to bring top-quality instruction to even the most economically disadvantaged corners of the community.
In the same spirit, you may recall my Eargasms post a few months back about CAM’s plans to bring the South American ensemble-based music education program, “El Sistema,” to Charleston. My earlier article about the program’s world-famous protégé, conductor Gustavo Dudamel, further explores this wildly successful educational phenomenon from WAY south of the border.
CAM’s faculty consists mainly of the College’s advanced students and recent grads. Members of the College’s distinguished music faculty (pianist Enrique Graf, violinist Lee Chin Siow, and cellist Natalia Khoma) also offer instruction to the most advanced students, as well as ensemble coaching. Other teachers are drawn from the Charleston Symphony – like their esteemed Concertmaster Yuriy Bekker.
Several of the Academy’s most active instructors appeared in a faculty concert Monday before last at the Simons’ Center Recital Hall. Since I know them all, it was hard to stay away. It was a great opportunity to remind myself of their performing abilities – and proof positive that our kids are in good hands at CAM.
The program kicked off with terrific guitar duet by Astor Piazzolla, very nicely played by Marco Sartor and Greg Guay – followed by Sartor’s wonderful solo rendition of Joaquin Rodrigo’s Fandango.
Let me digress long enough to tell you that Sartor’s presence on CAM’s faculty is a particular coup – as he is rapidly emerging as one of the top international guitar virtuosos of his generation. He has a long string of major competition wins under his belt, most notably last year’s victory at the prestigious Joann Faletta contest that earned him a national broadcast spot on NPR’s Performance Today show.
Guay then returned with violinist Tomas Jakubek (a frequent performer with the CSO) for an inspired go at Jacques Ibert’s Entr’acte. Pianist Matthew Parker then appeared to deliver a dreamy and heartfelt rendition of one of Frederic Chopin’s Nocturnes.
Alas, the delightful and accomplished soprano Mary Hubbell had to cancel, due to illness – but pianist Susan McAdoo, her accompanist, offered a shimmering performance of Claude Debussy’s Claire de Lune instead.
The grand finale was Robert Schumann’s exuberant Piano Quartet, Op. 47 – courtesy of Irina Pevzner (piano), Tomas Jakubek (violin), fellow CSO vet Peter Kiral (viola) and Yun Hao Jiang (cello). They delivered it to fully professional standards of precision, passion and panache.
If you’d like to know more about CAM’s wide-ranging instruction capabilities and outreach programs, I urge you to check out their recently produced DVD. It also presents a tantalizing look at a recent visit to Charleston of the Jose Artigas Youth Orchestra: the result of Uruguay’s own incarnation of “El Sistema” (see above-linked blog post). It includes energetic and accomplished performances by the full orchestra, the terrific sub-ensemble that I blogged about, and a joint concert with the Charleston Youth Orchestra.
You can get your own copy of this interesting and informative video via CAM’s website (link above) – it’ll set you back all of five bucks. Just click on “contact us” for their email addy and phone. If you’re at all interested in where music pedagogy is headed around here, it’s must-see material!
I’ll soon be telling you about other worthy musical training and outreach programs around the Lowcountry – so stay tuned to Eargasms.
I recently went into Aster Hall to look for a birthday present for my girlfriend,…
-jake0035
CAM Faculty Shines (as does their cool new DVD!)
Running behind again! But this’ll be the first of several tardy posts. Multiple events are stacking up: SO much music, SOOO little time! I had to pass up Tuesday’s choice organ recital honoring Mendelssohn’s birthday today (see Eargasm Alert below) in a futile effort to catch up!
In recent years, the Charleston Academy of Music (CAM) – under the leadership of pianist Eunjoo Yun – has emerged as Chucktown’s premier pre-college music education institution. Closely affiliated with the College of Charleston, CAM offers private individual lessons for most instruments, concentrating on their classical applications. They also offer first-rate chamber music instruction and ensemble coaching. Their wide-ranging scholarship programs enable them to bring top-quality instruction to even the most economically disadvantaged corners of the community.
In the same spirit, you may recall my Eargasms post a few months back about CAM’s plans to bring the South American ensemble-based music education program, “El Sistema,” to Charleston. My earlier article about the program’s world-famous protégé, conductor Gustavo Dudamel, further explores this wildly successful educational phenomenon from WAY south of the border.
CAM’s faculty consists mainly of the College’s advanced students and recent grads. Members of the College’s distinguished music faculty (pianist Enrique Graf, violinist Lee Chin Siow, and cellist Natalia Khoma) also offer instruction to the most advanced students, as well as ensemble coaching. Other teachers are drawn from the Charleston Symphony – like their esteemed Concertmaster Yuriy Bekker.
Several of the Academy’s most active instructors appeared in a faculty concert Monday before last at the Simons’ Center Recital Hall. Since I know them all, it was hard to stay away. It was a great opportunity to remind myself of their performing abilities – and proof positive that our kids are in good hands at CAM.
The program kicked off with terrific guitar duet by Astor Piazzolla, very nicely played by Marco Sartor and Greg Guay – followed by Sartor’s wonderful solo rendition of Joaquin Rodrigo’s Fandango.
Let me digress long enough to tell you that Sartor’s presence on CAM’s faculty is a particular coup – as he is rapidly emerging as one of the top international guitar virtuosos of his generation. He has a long string of major competition wins under his belt, most notably last year’s victory at the prestigious Joann Faletta contest that earned him a national broadcast spot on NPR’s Performance Today show.
Guay then returned with violinist Tomas Jakubek (a frequent performer with the CSO) for an inspired go at Jacques Ibert’s Entr’acte. Pianist Matthew Parker then appeared to deliver a dreamy and heartfelt rendition of one of Frederic Chopin’s Nocturnes.
Alas, the delightful and accomplished soprano Mary Hubbell had to cancel, due to illness – but pianist Susan McAdoo, her accompanist, offered a shimmering performance of Claude Debussy’s Claire de Lune instead.
The grand finale was Robert Schumann’s exuberant Piano Quartet, Op. 47 – courtesy of Irina Pevzner (piano), Tomas Jakubek (violin), fellow CSO vet Peter Kiral (viola) and Yun Hao Jiang (cello). They delivered it to fully professional standards of precision, passion and panache.
If you’d like to know more about CAM’s wide-ranging instruction capabilities and outreach programs, I urge you to check out their recently produced DVD. It also presents a tantalizing look at a recent visit to Charleston of the Jose Artigas Youth Orchestra: the result of Uruguay’s own incarnation of “El Sistema” (see above-linked blog post). It includes energetic and accomplished performances by the full orchestra, the terrific sub-ensemble that I blogged about, and a joint concert with the Charleston Youth Orchestra.
You can get your own copy of this interesting and informative video via CAM’s website (link above) – it’ll set you back all of five bucks. Just click on “contact us” for their email addy and phone. If you’re at all interested in where music pedagogy is headed around here, it’s must-see material!
I’ll soon be telling you about other worthy musical training and outreach programs around the Lowcountry – so stay tuned to Eargasms.