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The Cello Seminar
May 31-June 6, 2010
Cello Seminar Concert Sunday, June 6 @ 2pm
Music From Salem,
The Brown Farm
154 Priest Road,
Salem, New York
Faculty
Rhonda Rider, cellist (Triple Helix; faculty, The Boston Conservatory)
Judith Gordon, pianist (faculty, Smith College)
David Russell, cellist (faculty, Wellesley College, Furious Band, formerly a member of the Eaken Trio and Tulsa Philharmonic)
The Cello Seminar is designed to explore music written for the cello by twentieth and twenty-first century composers. The wide range of repertoire, from classics to works on the cutting edge, will include pieces by such composers as Carter, Hyla, Harvey, Mackey, Jolas, Webern, Harbison and Tower. Works for solo cello and cello ensemble will be preformed at the end of the week in Hubbard Hall, a beautifully restored 19th-Century Vaudeville Hall in Cambridge, New York. Located at the Brown Farm in rural New York, the seminar is open to young professional and professionally bound cellists.
Daily Schedule
The daily schedule will consist of open lessons, rehearsals and masterclasses. Topics will include contemporary techniques and score analysis from the performer’s perspective, exploration of the tonal and technical range of the instrument, as well as some basics to cello playing such as bow control, ease and security in shifting and practice techniques. Discussions will cover such topics as making a living as a cellist, orchestra auditions, the ins and outs of chamber music groups and programming contemporary music. Participants will prepare approved solo and ensemble repertoire as well as brief introductory talks for a public performance in Hubbard Hall. Participants will be encouraged to take risks, extending their techniques and broaden their concepts.
The Cello Seminar Fees: $750 for tuition, room (double occupancy) and board at the Brown Farm. The Brown Farm offers a vegetarian cuisine prepared from locally grown produce.
For a list of suggested repertoire please contact: Rhonda Rider
E-mail: RRider@Bostonconservatory.edu
The Faculty
A founding member of the Naumburg Award-winning Lydian Quartet, with whom she played for over twenty years, cellist Rhonda Rider is currently a member of the celebrated piano trio Triple Helix. An active touring artist, She has performed internationally at the Kennedy and Lincoln Centers, Wigmore Hall, Moscow Conservatory, the Library of Congress and festivals including Concerts Spirituel de Geneve, Septembre Musique de L'Orne, American Academy in Rome and Tanglewood.
Dedicated to the performance of new music, Ms. Rider has premiered works by such composers as John Harbison, Lee Hyla, Steve Mackey and Elliott Carter. Her numerous recordings have been nominated for Grammy Awards and cited as "Critics Choice" by the New York Times and Boston Globe. She has given numerous masterclasses at schools including the Yale School of Music, Oberlin Conservatory and New England Conservatory, and served as panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and Chamber Music America. Ms. Rider is Chair of the Chamber Music Program at The Boston Conservatory and on the cello faculty.
Pianist Judith Gordon gave her New York recital debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Introductions series. She has been heard as soloist with Boston Pops, ProArte Chamber Orchestra, Civic Symphony of Boston, and Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Among her colleagues in recital and chamber music are violinists Rose Mary Harbison and Andrew Kohji Taylor; violists James Dunham, Cynthia Phelps, and Marcus Thompson; cellists Andres Diaz, Yo-Yo Ma, and Rhonda Rider; vocalists Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, James Maddalena, and Lisa Saffer; the Borromeo and Lydian String Quartets; and members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She has been featured in concerts and on recordings with Essential Music, Boston Musica Viva, and Collage New Music. Gordon has participated in festivals including Charlottesville, Rockport, Santa Fe, Spoleto, and Token Creek. A graduate of New England Conservatory, Judith Gordon was named Musician of the Year by the Boston Globe in their “Best of 1996 Classical”.
David Russell maintains a vigorous performance schedule both as soloist and as collaborator in the U.S. and Europe. He was appointed to the position of Assistant Principal 'cello with the Tulsa Philharmonic in 2000 and served on the teaching faculty of Oklahoma City University from 2001 to 2003. As a member of the Grammy-nominated Eaken Trio, formerly in residence at Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, he has toured extensively in France, Germany, Italy and England. A strong advocate of new music, he has performed with such ensembles as Phantom Arts Ensemble for American Music, Dinosaur Annex, Collage New Music, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Music on the Edge, AUROS Group for New Music, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players, and the Fromm Foundation Players at Harvard. He is a founding member of Furious Band, the 2000 contemporary ensemble in residence at the Aspen Music Festival. He obtained his D.M.A. in 'cello performance at the State University of New York at Stony Br ook, studying with Timothy Eddy, and holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, the University of Akron and Brandeis University. David is on the faculty of Wellesley College.