Betty Haag and a New Generation of Violinists - NSCMF 2024

June 12, 2024, 1:03 AM · I haven't seen too many professional classical music festivals that also showcase the talents of four-year-old beginners and Suzuki students.

But the North Shore Chamber Music Festival (NSCMF) is not your typical festival. Its founders - violinist Vadim Gluzman and pianist Angela Yoffe - care deeply about legacy, and about bringing along the new generation of musicians.

And Betty Haag is clearly not your typical Suzuki teacher - she is more like a Chicago-area legend. She is the violin teacher who gave a champion start to violinists such as Rachel Barton Pine and Chicago Symphony assistant concertmaster Stephanie Jeong, among many others. Haag has continued to teach into her 10th decade - and in fact Haag was as celebrating her 92nd birthday last Friday, when about 25 students from her Betty Haag Academy of Music were featured in NSCMF's pre-concert performance, entitled "The New Generation."

Violin teacher Betty Haag with her student Sofie, 4.

Frankly, their performance made my jaw drop. Ranging in age from just-turned-four through high school, they showed exceptional discipline, with incredibly straight bows, perfect posture, ability to play very precisely together and on top of it - a capacity for fun.

Before they played, Gluzman and Yoffe - whose grown daughter Orli was once a student of Haag's - said that Haag's advice had been crucial, when they started this music festival (NSCMF) 14 years before. "If not for her, we wouldn't be here."

Betty Haag Academy students have participated in the festival since its beginning, and their first piece stemmed from a tradition that began even before that. It was 1997 when Gluzman first joined the studio in a group performance of Sarasate's "Zigeunerweisen" that intersperses solo playing with group playing. This is how they began the day's show, and as you can see below, they didn't save all the hard parts for Gluzman.

The concert continued with performances by students of all different levels - even the youngest beginners. This included a solo by Sofie, age 4, who played Schumann's "Two Grenadiers" from Suzuki Book 2 (see below). I will argue here that even college professors have a hard time getting students to play with that kind of bow direction and distribution!

And they just kept going - performing pieces both in the Suzuki books and well beyond them. Leading three very small children (who looked to be under five) was just a slightly older one - they played a medley of Book 1 tunes, all with picture-perfect straight bows, ending with a nice fast "Perpetual Motion."

Next a group of older kids took the stage, and another student led them in an excerpt from Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Four more kids joined for an arrangement from Copland's "Rodeo" that had them all racing up and down the fingerboard. A few more joined for Fritz Kreisler's "Preludium and Allegro," and they performed several more pieces, including the Allegro from Corelli's Christmas Concerto. At the end was a little fun - a show-stopping fiddle tune in which the students displayed some fun tricks: playing while spinning a hula hoop, lying down, hooking bow arms with a neighbor and walking in circles...check it out:

Of course this is by no means the first time that the Betty Haag Academy has put on this kind of show - over the decades, generations of her students have been playing these pieces in similar concerts, wearing the same signature white dresses and shirts, red sashes and ties.

But it is no less inspiring.

Lately Betty Haag has been talking about retirement. Certainly her legacy will endure for a very long time. After the concert I spoke with Kristina Stojanovic, mother of the very young violinist Sofie. "Mrs. Haag is a priceless treasure trove of wisdom and experience," Kristina said. When it comes to her students, "their discipline, technique and precision of ensemble is incredible. One time Gil Shaham performed with them, and afterwards he said, 'These kids make you want to practice - I’m going back to my hotel room to practice now!' After a performance with (flutist) James Galway, he said, 'These children give me hope for the future of classical music.' I agree fully! In a culture of mediocrity, I’m glad to find a teacher who expects the children to do their best."

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