Final Thoughts on SPA 2009....

Hello! This is Dean Jenkins, checking in. I can't believe that SPA 2009 is over! I hope that all of our students have memories that will last a lifetime. My impression is that not only did they learn a tremendous amount in two weeks, but they also forged strong friendships. The final concert was truly impressive; I can't believe how amazing our students sounded in their chamber groups.

I wanted to put up a post by Richard Mittleman, grandfather of SPA violinist Cameron Mittleman. Dr. Mittleman visited Cameron frequently during SPA to check out our evening concerts and master classes. Here's what he had to say about his experience:

My name is Richard Mittleman and I accompanied my 12 year old grandson Cameron Mittleman to SPA.

We flew from Los Angeles and this is Cameron's first time being away from his parents for this long.

I have been attending all of the student and faculty performances and master classes.

It has been wonderful to hear and meet all of the student musicians. It is uplifting to see young people with the self discipline to work so hard and so long to become fine musicians.

Dean Chris Jenkins and assistant Dean Monica Davis have been welcoming and have designed a wonderful program.

All of the teachers are great with the young people.

This is the first time that I have heard the Harlem Quartet play. They are outstanding musicians and as importantly to me they are very nice, fun people.

They are an inspiration and wonderful role models for the young people attending SPA.
This will be an experience that I know Cameron will never forget and I feel blessed to have been able to share some of it with him.

Thanks for your post, Dr. Mittleman! I hope that all of our students feel the same way.

During the year, we at SPA will be using this space to keep you updated on SPA deadlines and Harlem Quartet concerts, and to talk about other music camps to which SPA students might attend. I hope you've enjoyed our recounting of events at SPA 09!

Sincerely,

Chris

Faculty Dinner & Thielke Masterclass

Hi everyone! This is Dean Jenkins. I wanted to post something Ilmar Gavilan, violinist of the Harlem Quartet, had to say about Dr. Laura Thielke's master class at SPA. He also wrote about a great faculty dinner we had, cooked by Karlos Rodriguez, cellist of the resident quartet. Dr. Thielke, director of chamber music at Walnut Hill and an incredible cellist herself, has been giving our students chamber music master classes for the past three years, and they have always been incredible. And I wanted to point out that SPA is a lot of hard work for everyone, but the faculty do get to relax and enjoy ourselves sometimes!

La Dr. Thielke dio una master class muy divertida y educativa. Es una maestra que hace lo n ecesario para agarrar la atencion de los estudiantes. Admitido por ella misma, ella no tiene miedo de lucir ridicula haciendo sus exuberantes y comiquisimos ejemplos musicales por tal de que el estudiante entienda con claridad. No faltaron las risas como tampoco falto la informacion que nos brindo. Todos quedamos complacidos y agradecidos por su master class!

Por la noche tuvimos una velada increible. Parecia talmente como una reunion familiar por Navidad o algo asi. Todos los maestros nos reunimos en la casa. Karlos Rogriduez fue el cocinero, el menu ropa vieja con arros blanco, frijoles negros y maduros fritos. Por supuesto acompaniado por mojitos y de postre un pastel de melocoton delicioso confexionado por Jannina Berfield. Quien con Jesy Montgomery tambien se encargaron de presentar la mesa con velas y flores frescas acabadas de cortar del jardin. El ordinario comedor se transformo en un restaurante cubano de lujo pero en Rio de Janeiro porque la musica de fondo era Brasilera aunque una vez que decidimos empezar pusimos un poco de Celia Cruz quien le puso mas salsa a la ropa vieja que estabamos comiendonos.

Mientras cocinabamos o mas bien apoyabamos a Karlos nunca falto la risa. Nos acordamos de muchas anecdotas que hemos pasado juntos porque esta grupo de maestros se conoce por mucho tiempo y el mas reciente Desmond Neysmith ( celista del quarteto harlem ) ya tiene 3 anios viniendo. Por eso cuando digo que es una reunion familiar no exagero.

Fue una cena inolvidable de la facultad de SPA.

SPA's Special Guest Artist

Hi! This is Juan-Miguel Hernandez, violist of the Harlem Quartet. I had a great time at the master class given by Marcus Thompson, our guest artist this year, and wanted to write about it on the blog.

Sunday July 5th we had the great pleasure of receiving Marcus Thompson, world-renowned violist, at SPA. Professor Thompson is a professor of viola at MIT and the New England Conservatory, and Artistic Director of the Boston Chamber Music Society. First off, we had a fun dinner talking about his recent trip to Alaska, which was especially exciting for the Harlem Quartet since we will be going there next April. Now we know what we need to visit when we go there, including the highest mountain in North America, Mt. McKinley! After dinner we had about 20 minutes before the master class and instead of giving M. Thompson time to digest and relax, we kept him busy and asked him to listen to us play. So we played the first movement of the Ravel Quartet for him.

The master class for the SPA students was a delight. It was informative and gave some of the students the chance to play under pressure. I found it particularly interesting when he talked about the use of ornaments in baroque music as one of the students was playing the Teleman Viola Concerto. I think the kids represented SPA very well and left a good impression for Professor Thompson's first visit here.

We ended the evening at the Head's house where we enjoyed good food and conversation. I learned that Professor Thompson performs regularly on the viola d'amore, which is like a viola but with 14 strings (7 strings on which you play, and 7 sympathetic strings beneath the first set of strings to create more resonance, I believe). This instrument was a popular baroque instrument but interestingly, Paul Hindemith (a modern composer and violist) wrote a sonata for viola d'amore. I now have a new goal of playing the viola d'amore. But first I need to acquire one....

Finally, my favorite part.... we sight-read Brahms string sextets to end the evening. And what an ending it was!! I had a great time playing beside Marcus Thompson and the rest of the awesome SPA faculty. Too bad time flies by so fast when you are having fun.

That's all for now, folks! Don't worry, be happy!

Instruments on Loan

I wanted to check in and post two great pictures of Mirna and Nadeerah with the instruments loaned to us by Douglas Cox. They sound great, and I'm glad that our students have had a chance to play on them. Here are the two of them after their performances at the mixed recital last night. Nadeerah performed the first movement of J.C. Bach's viola concerto in C minor, and Mirna played Viotti's 23rd violin concerto. Thanks again to Mr. Cox for his generosity!

Mixed Recital Rocks!

This is Chris Jenkins, Dean of SPA writing again. I was very excited to see our students' mixed recital on Tuesday night! We call a recital "mixed" when the program has a combination of chamber groups and solo performances. We also were fortunate enough to have a pianist, Ayako Yoda, to accompany the solo performers. I think that everyone played really well tonight, and I was very happy to hear both of the chamber groups coached by Desmond Neysmith, cellist of the Harlem Quartet. His students did a great job. You can see him here with one of his chamber groups; tonight, they performed the scherzo of Beethoven's quartet Opus 18 no. 2.

It was awesome to hear Mirna Lopez, violinist, and Nadeerah Lamour, violist, perform on instruments loaned to SPA by luthier Douglas Cox. We were really grateful that he decided to loan us instruments this year! Only four full days of SPA remain...

String Quartets in Action: Part II

Hi! My name is Emanuel Howard and I am a viola student at SPA this summer. On Friday night, I attended the Harlem String Quartet's recital. Their sound and unity is unlike any other quartet I have heard. And they have only been playing together for 4 years! The highlight of the concert for me was the Beethoven quartet Op. 59 No. 2, "Razumovsky." This piece, as Ilmar explained, is the second of 3 string quartets commissioned by Russian count Andreas Razumovsky. These quartets, which all feature a Russian theme are known as some of the hardest string quartets in the literature.

In concerts like this one, SPA through the example of our teachers, shows students how hard work can result in success in the competitive discipline that is the classical music world.

String Quartets in Action

This is Monica Davis, Assistant Dean and first-time SPA attendee. It is hard to believe that SPA is almost half over! The past two nights have been treats for our SPA students. Last night the Resident Quartet, including faculty Jessie Montgomery, Jannina Barefield, Karlos Rodriguez, and Dean Chris Jenkins gave a rousing performance of works by Piazzolla and Dvorak. In addition to the teaching and mentoring that we provide, I think that the chance for the students to watch us perform is almost as instructional.

A major portion of the students' time here at SPA is spent working in their assigned string quartets. While some of our students, like a group of four who came from the same music school in Puerto Rico, have worked in a string quartet before, many have never rehearsed on their own in a chamber music setting. To watch a string quartet, like our Resident Quartet or the Harlem Quartet live in action is an opportunity they might not have very often.

Day 3: Attention to Detail

This is Melissa White, violinist in the Harlem Quartet. I'm excited to be here to mark our third year of coaching chamber music at SPA!

Today is day 3 of SPA, and there's already been progress which is extremely exciting!! For me I always feel like I won't know where to begin with coaching my chamber groups on the first day. It's hard to arrange chamber groups before the kids get here because we only know their ability based on repertoire they've rehearsed and prepared for an audition months in advance. Therefore, I step into my room and it's like a box of chocolates....I never know what I'm going to get. Luckily this year, I've got eight good players who seem to be eager, and ready to do things over and over again until we get them right!

One of my groups I was super picky with today and we worked on one line for about an hour! I knew they could get every eighth note together with convincing dynamics in the correct part of the bow and for their sake, I was not going to let them move on until they heard the same "togetherness" I heard in my head for them. Therefore, we dissected the first line, drilled every detail and rehearsed it for 60 minutes!! In the end, I think (and hope) it created a new standard of playing for each of them individually as well as for them collectively as a group. My goal is to make sure each player takes responsibility for their part at all times in their chamber piece, so ultimately the end performance is the result of their own thought and musical decision. That's something which they can be extremely proud of!

SPA 2009 Kicks Off!

Welcome to SPA 2009! We've just gotten through the first day, and I think it was a fun-filled and exciting time. This is Chris Jenkins, Dean of SPA and viola faculty this summer. Throughout our two-week program, I'll be blogging with updates about our daily activities, with help from faculty, staff, and SPA students, in order to keep you up to date on the latest news from SPA.

Our first day began pretty early. Some of our kids were practicing this morning at 7 am! We had a full morning of lessons and practicing until lunchtime at 12:30 pm, and then had a little break until 2:30, when students had a chance to meet the other members of their chamber group and begin rehearsing. I got to coach a few of the chamber groups, and everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun.

Tonight we watched the Sphinx documentary, and then our students had free time until check-in and lights out at night. We still have almost two more weeks of camp, so I hope that they're getting a lot of sleep!

Welcome to SPA 2009 @ Walnut Hill

The Sphinx Organization warmly welcomes all SPA students and faculty to Walnut Hill School in Natick, Massachusetts. Founded in 1893, Walnut Hill is one of the premier, independent arts boarding high schools in the world. The School is located near Boston and is affiliated with the New England Conservatory of Music.

Join us for the next two weeks as students and faculty at SPA post about their exciting lessons, performances, master classes and field trips!

Happy Practicing!