MEREDITH BLECHA-WELLS, Cellist
Guest Artists and Teachers
Members of the Ying String Quartet coach OSU students.
OSU students with members of the Tokyo String Quartet after a master class in October 2012.
We have been fortunate to have had a number of world class guests at OSU in the recent years. Students have been able to work with these magnificent teachers and have been able to hear their outstanding concerts. These are a few of the guest that we have had in the String Area at OSU:
2015
Emilio Colon
Alan Harris
2014
American String Quartet
Fifth House Ensemble
American Chamber Players
Carter Enyeart
2013
Lisa Caravan
Christopher Adkins
2012
Laura Metcalf
Christopher Adkins
Tokyo String Quartet
Benjamin Whitcomb
Jeremy Dittus
2011
Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio
David Ying
Ying String Quartet
Jeremy Dittus
Katri Ervamaa
Lisa Caravan (November 2013):
Lisa Caravan joins the faculty of the Music Department and Curriculum and Teaching Department at Auburn University. Previously she served as lecturer in the Music Department at Buffalo State University of New York.Dr. Caravan is an experienced performer in solo and chamber recitals and orchestral concerts. As soloist, Dr. Caravan has appeared with the Greater Rochester Women’s Orchestra and the Credo Summer Orchestra at the Warner Concert Hall in Oberlin Conservatory. She also was a prizewinner in the Atonement Bach Festival Series Competition.Dr. Caravan served as the assistant principal cellist in the Binghamton Philharmonic in Binghamton, NY, from 2006-2011. She has performed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Mercury Opera Orchestra and held principal cello positions with the Greater Rochester Women’s Orchestra, Roberts Wesleyan College Community Orchestra, the Temple University Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra.As a chamber musician, she has collaborated with pianists Kevin Moore and Sar Shalom Strong, and clarinetist/saxophonist, Ronald L. Caravan. Most recently she performed with Todd Wilson, Head of the Organ Department at The Cleveland Institute of Music, at the 2009 Celebrity recital series sponsored by the Rochester Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, the Eastman School, WXXI, and three local churches.Dr. Caravan is committed to the performance of new music. On the Temple University campus in Rock Hall, she premiered two compositions written specifically for her degree recital: Prelude, Cadenza and Rondo by Walter S. Hartley and Overture, Cadenza, and Scherzo by Ronald L. Caravan for alto saxophone, violoncello and piano. She collaborated with violinist Jo Nardolillo in the premiere performance of Cutting Contest by living composer Mark Olivieri, and performed Kamran Ince’s MKG Variations for solo cello and other works by Olivieri and Jonathan Miller in Heidelberg College’s New Music Festival. An avid teacher in the Rochester area, Dr. Caravan began her teaching career as a strings teacher at the elementary and secondary level, and while in Rochester was on the faculty of the Hochstein School of Music and Dance, the Kanack Suzuki School of Music and SCOR! (String Camp of Rochester)Dr. Caravan received her Master of Music degree in performance and literature along with the Orchestral Studies Diploma from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Alan Harris, and completed a Bachelor of Music degree in music education and performance from Temple University with Jeffrey Solow as her primary cello instructor. She recently received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Music Education at the Eastman School of Music. As a teaching assistant in the music education department, she supervised student teachers and assisted with string teacher preparation courses. Dr. Caravan is the first recipient of the Donald Shelter Music Education Prize and recently received Eastman’s 2009-2010 Teaching Assistant Prize for Excellence in Teaching.Dr. Caravan has presented her research at the Alabama Music Educator Conference and has presented with colleague, Abigail McHugh-Grifa, at the Suzuki Association of the Americas Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota and New York State School Music Association in Rochester, New York. Her research interests include cello pedagogy, small muscle development in young string performers, and teacher preparation.
Laura Metcalf (November 2012):
Cellist Laura Metcalf lauded for her “sensitive, melodic touch” (BlogCritics Magazine), is active in New York City and beyond as soloist, chamber musician, orchestral musician and teacher. Laura has been a soloist with the One World Symphony, Ensemble 212 Orchestra and the Orquesta Sinfonica Sinaloa, and has recently performed solo recitals on the Hewlett-Woodmere Gold Series, Shandelee Music Festival, Livingston Music Club, Church of Beethoven, and WMP Strad for Lunch series. She is cellist of Sybarite 5, a string quintet who won the prestigious Concert Artists Guilt competition in 2011, and with whom she has given over 200 concerts at, among many other venues, the Library of Congress and Lincoln Center. Sybarite5 will make their Carnegie Hall debut in 2012 at Zankel Hall, and their CD reached the Top 10 of the Billboard charts this year. As a member of the Ansonia Trio she won the 2009 Rutenberg Chamber Music Competition, and has recently been appointed to the condctorless Salome Chamber Orchestra. She has appeared on the Festival Chamber Music series at Weill and Merkin Halls, collaborating with members of the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera. She has attended the Aspen, Taos and Sarasota Music Festivals, the London Masterclasses, the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau (France) and the IMS Prussia Cove Masterclasses and Open Chamber Music. Outside of classical music, Laura is the newest member of the cello rock band Break of Reality, and has appeared on the Today Show, Conan O’Brien, David Letterman, and the View. Laura received her Master of Music degree from the Mannes College of Music, where she studied with Timothy Eddy and was awarded the James E. Hughes award. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Boston University's College of Fine Arts, where, as recipient of the prestigious Trustee Scholarship, she was the winner of the 2003 Bach Competition.
Tokyo String Quartet (October, 2012):
Sponsored by Chamber Music Tulsa
After 43 seasons, the Tokyo String Quartet has announced that 2012-2013 will be their last. Regarded as one of the supreme chamber ensembles of the world, the Tokyo Quartet—Martin Beaver and Kikuei Ikeda (violins), Kazuhide Isomura (viola) and Clive Greensmith (cello)—has collaborated with a remarkable array of artists and composers, built a comprehensive catalogue of critically acclaimed recordings and established a distinguished teaching record. Performing over a hundred concerts worldwide each season, the quartet has a devoted international following across the globe.
Officially formed in 1969 at the Juilliard School of Music, the quartet traces its origins to the Toho School of Music in Tokyo, where the founding members were profoundly influenced by Professor Hideo Saito. Soon after its formation, the quartet won First Prize at the Coleman Competition, the Munich Competition and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. An exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon firmly established it as one of the world's leading quartets, and it has since released more than 40 landmark recordings. The ensemble now records on the Harmonia Mundi label.
The members of the Tokyo String Quartet have served on the faculty of the Yale School of Music as quartet-in-residence since 1976. Deeply committed to coaching young string quartets, they conduct master classes in North America, Europe and the Far East.
The ensemble performs on the "Paganini Quartet", a group of renowned Stradivarius instruments named for legendary virtuoso Niccolò Paganini, who acquired and played them during the 19th century. The instruments have been on loan to the ensemble from the Nippon Music Foundation since 1995, when they were purchased from the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Christopher Adkins (April 2012):
CHRISTOPHER ADKINS, principal cellist of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, received his musical training at the University of North Texas and at Yale University, where he studied with the distinguished pedagogue Aldo Parisot. During his tenure at Yale, Mr. Adkins held the position of principal cellist with the New Haven Symphony. Upon receiving his Master of Music degree he assumed the duties of assistant principal cellist with the Denver Symphony. After two seasons in the Rockies, Mr. Adkins’ longtime dream of a major symphony principal chair was realized with the offer of the post with the Milwaukee symphony. In 1987, he returned to his native Dallas, to occupy the chair once held by his former teacher, Lev Aronson.
In addition to his duties with the Dallas Symphony, Mr. Adkins serves on the faculty of Southern Methodist University. He remains an active recitalist and chamber musician. A member of a large musical family, he has, with six of his brothers and sisters formed the Adkins String Ensemble, whose performances were praised by the Dallas Morning News as among the ten best concerts of the year.
Mr. Adkins enjoys gardening, songwriting and woodworking, but most of all spending time with his wife, Dallas Symphony violinist Alexandra Adkins, and his children, Rachel, Rebekah, Theresa, Christian, Carmen, and Ariel.
Benjamin Whitcomb (February 2012):
Benjamin Whitcomb, cellist and music theorist, has earned a national reputation as a highly skilled performer and teacher of music. An active recitalist and chamber musician, he performs more than twenty concerts a year. He appears regularly on the "Sunday Afternoon Live from the Chazen" concert series broadcast live on Wisconsin Public Radio. He collaborates with pianist Vincent de Vries in frequent recitals around the country, and he is a member of the Ancora String Quartet and the UW-Whitewater Piano Trio. He performs concertos with local orchestras, and he has also been a member of several orchestras in Texas and Wisconsin, including serving as Associate Principal Cello of the Madison Symphony and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. He has produced several CDs of his recordings, including his 2007 release of solo cello works by Bach and Gabrieli on the MSR Classics label.
Dr. Whitcomb is a frequent guest clinician and performer at high schools and summer camps, including the National String Workshop, and universities throughout the country. His book, The Advancing Cellist’s Handbook, is now available for purchase through various on-line bookstores. He is a contributing author to the third volume of Teaching Music through Performance in Orchestra. He has presented papers on cello and on music theory at several national conferences, including those of the American String Teachers' Association and the Society for Music Theory. He is also an articles reviewer and the editor of the Cello Forum of the American String Teacher journal. He is past president of the Wisconsin Chapter of the American String Teachers’ Association. Dr. Whitcomb served as chair of the instrumental faculty at the La Musica Lirica music festival in Nova Feltria, Italy, from 2004 to 2007.
Dr. Whitcomb is Associate Professor of Cello and Music Theory at the University of Wisconsin- Whitewater, where he initiated and continues to coordinate the Theory/History Colloquium speaker series, the Musical Mosaics Faculty Concert Series, and the UW-Whitewater String Chamber Music Camp. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and Oklahoma State University, and he has studied with Phyllis Young, George Neikrug, and Evan Tonsing.
Jeremy Dittus (2010,2011,2012):
Jeremy Dittus enjoys a career as a pianist, theorist, and Dalcroze eurhythmics instructor. An avid recitalist, he has performed solo and chamber programs in the United States, Switzerland, and Italy. A former Lecturer in piano, theory, and solfège at the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory in Cleveland, he also has instructed undergraduate solfège, piano, and composition courses at the University of Colorado at Boulder as well as eurhythmics and solfège at L’Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva, Switzerland.
Dr. Dittus has presented Dalcroze workshops at home and abroad including the World Piano Conference, International Early Childhood Music and Movement Convention, National Dalcroze Conference, National Flute Convention, Colorado Music Educators Association State Convention, Piano Celebration at Metro-State University in Denver, University of Louisville Piano Institute, in addition to several summer music institutes.
He completed a doctorate of musical arts in piano performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder; for the master of music, he studied piano performance and music theory at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. During his undergraduate work, he obtained bachelor degrees in piano performance and chemistry. His Dalcroze License and Certificate comes from the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, while the Diplôme Supérieur (a doctoral equivalent in Switzerland) comes from the L’Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in conjunction with La Haute École de Musique de Genève and Le Conservatoire de Musique de Genève. While in Geneva, he received top honors including the 2009 Prix pour les qualities musicales exceptionnelles and the 2010 Prix pour les qualités artistiques et pédagogiques exceptionnelles.
Currently, he is the founder and director of the Dalcroze School of the Rockies in Denver, Colorado. The DSR offers Eurhythmics classes for children ages 4-14, adult enrichment classes, and full time study toward the Dalcroze Certificate/License (Eurhythmics, Solfège, Improvisation, and Methodology/Pedagogy). Teachers include Lisa Parker, Anne Farber, Ruth Gianadda, Marie-Laure Bachmann, Sylvia del Bianco, Sylvie Morgenegg, Laurent Sourisse, Andrew Cooperstock, Michael Chertock, Frank Weinstock, and George Cherry.
Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio (November 2011):
Sponsored by Chamber Music Tulsa
Since making their debut as The Kalichstein Laredo Robinson Trio at the White House for President Carter’s Inauguration in January 1977, pianist Joseph Kalichstein, violinist Jaime Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinson have set the standard for performance of the piano trio literature for thirty years. As one of the only chamber ensembles with all its original members, The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio balances the careers of three internationally-acclaimed soloists while making annual appearances at many of the world's major concert halls, commissioning spectacular new works, and maintaining an active recording agenda.
The 2006-07 season sees major commemorations of the Trio's 30th anniversary at Carnegie Hall, the 92nd Street Y and the Kennedy Center, in addition to other important venues in the United States. In celebration of their first appearance at the Y 30 years ago, the Trio will open the season for the 92nd Street Y in New York with the complete Brahms piano trios in October/November 2006, followed by the trio-version of Schoenberg's Verklaerte Nacht (arranged by Edward Steuermann) in December. Also in December, the Trio will give the world premiere of composer Richard Danielpour's Piano Quartet, a work commissioned for their 30th anniversary by 10 presenting organizations nationwide, at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. The other commissioners, including the 92nd Street Y in New York, the Kennedy Center, La Jolla Chamber Music Society, Islip Arts Council, Detroit Chamber Music Society, Tucson Friends of Music, University of Iowa, Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle and El Paso Pro Musica, will present the new work either this season or next.
In April, Carnegie Hall will celebrate the Ensemble's 30-year milestone with a program of Mozart, Kirchner and Schubert that includes Pinchas Zukerman, viola, and Harold Robinson, bass. In addition, the Trio's 2006-2007 tour will bring them to Philadelphia, Boston, La Jolla, Miami, Fort Worth, El Paso, Tucson, Princeton and Calgary. A European tour to Hamburg, Oldenburg and Erlangen (Germany), Lisbon (Portugal) and Copenhagen (Denmark) is also scheduled for January 2007.
On the recording front, The Ensemble will enter an exciting new partnership with KOCH International Classics. The projected release date for their new Arensky & Tchaikovsky disc is set for October 2006. KOCH will also re-release many of The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio's hallmark recordings, including chamber works of Maurice Ravel, A Child's Reliquary (piano trio) and In the Arms of the Beloved (double concerto) by Richard Danielpour, the complete sonatas and trios of Shostakovich, trios by Pärt, Zwilich, Kirchner and Silverman written especially for the group, and their beloved collection of the complete Beethoven Trios. Other highlights of their vast discography include a critically acclaimed all-Haydn CD (Dorian), recordings of the complete Mendelssohn and Brahms Trios (Vox Cum Laude), Beethoven's Kakadu Variations and the Archduke Trio (MCA Classics), as well as Beethoven Triple Concerto with the English Chamber Orchestra (Chandos).
In December 2001, Musical America named The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio the Ensemble of the Year for 2002. More recently, they were awarded the first annual Samuel Sanders Collaborative Artists Award by the Foundation for Recorded Music. And the 2003-04 season was their first as Chamber Ensemble in Residence at the Kennedy Center. The steady stream of honors marks the high esteem the classical music field holds for The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio.
For the past seasons (2004-06), The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio maintained a heavy touring and teaching schedule, with dates in Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, Detroit, Dallas, Cincinnati, Portland, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, the Tanglewood Music Festival in Massachusetts, as well as two European tours in November 2005 and May 2006, including appearances in Great Britain (Wigmore Hall, London), Lisbon, Amsterdam (the Concertgebouw), Spain and Germany. They've collaborated extensively with the Miami String Quartet and the Guarneri Quartet, allowing opportunities to explore the rich literature for strings and piano.
Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson joined the faculty of the Indiana University School of Music in 2005, while Joseph Kalichstein continued as a long-revered teacher at The Juilliard School.
Memorable concerts over the years include The Kalichstein Laredo Robinson Trio's performance on Carnegie Hall's Centennial Series; several tours of Japan, New Zealand and Australia; a Brahms series with the Guarneri Quartet featuring his entire literature for piano and strings; the Beethoven cycle on Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series - the first time the complete Beethoven piano trios were performed at Lincoln Center - and performances with orchestras across America and Europe of new concertos written especially for the Trio by David Ott and Pulitzer Prize winner Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.
In Europe, The Kalichstein Laredo Robinson Trio has performed in Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Lisbon, London, Vienna, and Paris, as well as at major international music festivals in Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Granada, Helsinki, Highlands, South Bank, Stresa and Tivoli. They have toured the British Isles with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in performances of solo, double and triple concertos and have recorded the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the English Chamber Orchestra for Chandos.
The Trio is honored that the Chamber Music Society of Detroit has created The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award (KLRITA), an initiative with a two-fold purpose: to salute the Trio's contribution to chamber music worldwide and to encourage and enhance the careers of promising young piano trios. The KLRITA, in which 20 presenters nationwide participate, is awarded to a new ensemble every two years. The first ensemble is the exciting young American group, the Claremont Trio, and the second award has just been presented to the Trio con Brio Copenhagen of Denmark.
David Ying (March 2011):
Cellist David Ying is well known to concert audiences as the cellist of the Grammy Award winning Ying Quartet. With the Quartet he has performed worldwide in celebrated music venues from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House. The quartet is also known for its enterprising view of concert performance, which has led to visits to the White House as well as correctional facilities, and to business schools as well as hospitals. In its collaborations, the quartet has performed with chamber music greats Menachem Pressler, Gilbert Kalish, and Paul Katz, as well as explored new musical territory with folk musician Mike Seeger, the Turtle Island Quartet, and even actors, dancers, chefs and magicians.
With the Quartet, David has created a wide range of recordings that have received consistent acclaim, as well as a Grammy Award and four Grammy nominations. Their recorded work ranges from traditional- Tchaikovsky’s three string quartets and his Souvenir de Florence- to contemporary- three albums of their LifeMusic commissions. It also includes unique collaborations with the Turtle Island Quartet, pianist Billy Childs, and Phish frontman Trey Anastasio. In October 2011, the quartet released the two string quartets and piano quintet of Anton Arensky (Sono Luminus).
David first pursued chamber music avidly as a teenaged student at the Eastman School of Music with his piano trio, which was awarded first prize at the Coleman Chamber Music Competition. Later he would also win the Naumburg Chamber Music Award, this time with the Ying Quartet.
David is also highly regarded as an individual artist, having been awarded prizes in the Naumburg Cello Competition and in the Washington International Competition. As a solo cellist, he often performs with his wife, pianist Elinor Freer. Together they are also artistic directors of the Skaneateles Festival. Their imaginative view of music has helped to earn the festival a devoted following and national recognition, including a special ASCAP award for adventurous programming.
A graduate of both the Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard School, David owes a debt of gratitude to his many fine teachers, who include Leonard Rose, Channing Robbins, Paul Katz, Steven Doane, Robert Sylvester, and Nell Novak.
David presently serves on the cello and chamber music faculty at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester NY, where he and Elinor reside with their two children
Katri Ervamaa (January 2011):
Katri Ervamaa, cellist, has performed widely in the U.S., her native Finland, and throughout Europe. She is equally at ease performing traditional and non-traditional music; her repertoire ranges from standard solo works and chamber music to new compositions, electro-acoustic pieces and free improvisation.
As a member of the Owla String Quartet, Katri appeared in numerous international music festivals, including the Bowdoin, Orlando, Norrtälje, Haute Limousine and Kuhmo Festivals, as well as in concerts in six different European countries, Taiwan and the U.S. She is a founding member of Brave New Works, E3Q – the UM Residential College faculty trio, Ed Sarath’s Timescape, a nine-member free improvising group, and the newly formed Muse String Quartet. She also serves as a member of the board of directors.
Katri received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan and the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Northern Illinois University. Her primary teachers include Erling Blöndal Bengtsson, Marc Johnson, Kazimierz Michalik and Lauri Laitinen, as well as Andrew Jennings and the Vermeer, Borodin and Amadeus String Quartets. She is on faculty at the University of Michigan Residential College, where she is the head of the Music Program. She also teaches cello at the School for the Performing Arts - Ann Arbor. Previously, Katri has taught cello at the Eastern Michigan University and the Bowling Green State University, and has given master classes at Northern Illinois University, Lewis & Clark College, University of Puget Sound, Tufts University, SUNY-Pottsdam, University of Windsor in Canada and Oulu Conservatory in Finland.
Katri lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband, composer and trumpeter Mark Kirschenmann and their daughter Julia, born in 2004. In her spare time she enjoys going for walks with her family and reading, and dreams of having enough time for gardening and crafts.