Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at Juilliard

Violinist.com editor Laurie Niles' coverage of the biennial symposium for advanced violin pedagogy, held at The Juilliard School in New York. Coverage below includes the 2023, 2021, 2019, 2017, 2015, 2013, 2011, 2009, and 2007 events.

2023

Music by Women Composers: Brian Lewis on Lyric Violin Works by Amy Beach
American composer Amy Beach (1867-1944) was a naturally gifted musician who blazed a trail of public success during an era when women seldom had the chance to do so, due to societal restraints. She left a number of late-Romantic gems for violin - delightful music that provides just enough challenge for students and that works well in programming for recitals. Read more...

Violinist Curtis Stewart: A Place for the Blues in Classical Music
When you don't find your voice in the music that's out there, then create it. That was one of the messages of a lecture this spring by violinist Curtis Stewart at the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at the Juilliard School. The lecture was called "A Place for the Blues in Classical Music," but it might also have been called "A Place for YOU in Classical Music." Read more...

Master class with Danielle Belen
The great Renaissance Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet Michelangelo reportedly once spoke a truth about his artistic process that has lasted through the ages: "The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work - I just have to chisel away the superfluous material to discover it." Read more...

Master Class with Violinist Catherine Cho; Recital with Randall Goosby
Mad creativity reigned on Friday during a master class with longtime Juilliard violin professor Catherine Cho at the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at the Juilliard School. Read more...

Master Class with Violinist Li Lin
Violin pedagogue Li Lin doesn't let anyone breeze along in their comfort zone - this was clear from his master class Thursday at the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at the Juilliard School. Read more...

Master Class with Francesca dePasquale
Posture, rhythm and energy - these were a few of the topics covered in a master class Wednesday by Francesca dePasquale. Read more...

Master Class with Joel Smirnoff; Recital Featuring Rachell Ellen Wong
The first in-person Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies in four years began on Tuesday at The Juilliard School with an insightful master class by former Juilliard Quartet member Joel Smirnoff followed by an extraordinary recital by violinist Rachell Ellen Wong and colleagues. Read more...

In-Person Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at Juilliard
The biennial Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies will take place May 23-27 at The Juilliard School in New York - the first time the event has been in-person since 2019. Read more...

2021

Conversation with Violinist Nicole Cherry: Overcoming Historical Racism in Classical Music
How can music teachers and performers make a difference, when it comes to healing racial divides and promoting diversity within classical music? Conversation with violinist Nicole Cherry, Assistant Professor of Violin at The University of Texas at San Antonio as well as second violinist of the Marian Anderson String Quartet. Read more...

Noa Kageyama: How Violinists Can Avoid Choking Under Performance Pressure
Why do we choke under performance pressure? And what are strategies for preventing that? Here is great advice from violinist and performance psychologist Noa Kageyama of The Bulletproof Musician. Read more...

Master Class with James Ehnes
Canadian violinist James Ehnes offered poetry and practicality - not to mention his respectful engagement with each student -- at his master class this week at the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies. Here are the highlights! Read more...

Injury Prevention for Violinists, with Pamela Frank and Howard Nelson
How do you stop doing the things that put you at risk for injury, when you play an instrument as physically demanding as the violin? Violinist Pamela Frank and physical therapist Howard Nelson offered practical advice and strategies. Read more...

Violin Master Class with Giora Schmidt
"If you can convey your ideas through this Coca-Cola can of a medium called Zoom, you'll be so good live!" Words of wisdom from violinist Giora Schmidt, whose excellent master class got the 2021 Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies off to a great start. Read more...

The 2021 Virtual Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies begins Tuesday
The virtual Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies begins on Tuesday with all these wonderful artists and pedagogues. Check Violinist.com daily for coverage of the masterclasses, pedagogy sessions, performances and talks! Read more...

NOTE: Violinist Pinchas Zukerman gave a 2021 master class which The Juilliard School and the Starling-DeLay Symposium chose to remove from its archives due to use of offensive cultural stereotypes. You may read about what happened at this link.

2019

Brian Lewis Presents Lesser-Known Works for Violin and Piano
How do you keep a student inspired? One way is the help them uncover some "hidden gems" in the repertoire -- pieces that are not played as frequently as the repertoire on graded exam lists or in the Suzuki books. There are plenty of pieces that still help students reinforce new skills and techniques but that are off the beaten trail. This kind of piece allows a student to take a little more "ownership" and to make a little splash at the recital, playing something that people haven't heard before. Read more...

Violin Masterclass with Mark Kaplan
When it comes to giving a masterclass, violinist Mark Kaplan is more the soft-spoken professor than the tsunami of energy. But listen closely, and his ideas are wonderfully intelligent and often completely game-changing. Read more...

Review: Violinist Philippe Quint in Recital with Peter Dugan at Juilliard
A wide-ranging recital at Paul Hall by violinist Philippe Quint and pianist Peter Dugan gave the 200 violin teachers and student artists in attendance a chance to put down our pencils, stop practicing for a few hours and enjoy some artistry. Read more...

Violin Masterclass with Midori
Midori Goto has long been a star -- it's clear at this point that she is a guiding star. At her master class at Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at The Juilliard School on Thursday, Midori tended to work not toward immediate perfection, but toward communication and deeper understanding. Read more...

Violin Masterclass with Patinka Kopec
Violinist Patinka Kopec insisted, persisted and kept the energy high during her master class Wednesday at the 2019 Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at The Juilliard School. Read more...

Violin Masterclass with Kathleen Winkler
"Musical intention should always guide our technique," said Kathleen Winkler at the first masterclass of the 2019 Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies Tuesday at The Juilliard School. "Sometimes students wrestle with technique so much that they never get to the musical essence of the piece." Read more...

The 2019 Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies begins Tuesday at Juilliard
Next week violinists from around the world will gather in New York for the 10th biennial Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies. The Symposium is a biennial celebration of violin performance and teaching, featuring five days of master classes, recitals, lectures, and pedagogy sessions, all at The Juilliard School. Read more...

2017

Kurt Sassmannshaus: Technique in Paganini Caprices
The great 19th-century violinist Nicolo Paganini dedicated his 24 Caprices "to the artists," but he never performed them in public himself. So how are we supposed to? Read more...

Nicholas Kitchen Examines the Extended Expressive Language in Beethoven's Manuscripts
Chances are, if you are looking at the modern sheet music version of a piece by Ludwig van Beethoven, you are not seeing the whole story. That's because Beethoven had an enhanced system of musical notation that was far more detailed than what we see in a typical score today. Read more...

Brian Lewis: Canons and Music for Four Violins
Bringing a group to an outreach concert also means having repertoire on hand that works, even when you don't have the ideal quartet of a cello, viola and two violins. For example, sometimes you just have four violins. What repertoire can you use, that's both fun to play and fun to hear? Read more...

Master class with Paul Kantor
If you're going to be brutally honest, it helps to also be exceedingly kind and polite about it - and to offer concrete solutions. Rice University violin professor Paul Kantor offered all of that and more at the fifth and final master class at the 2017 Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at The Juilliard School. Read more...

Master class with Shmuel Ashkenasi
Though his body language was casual and he spoke in a straightforward and amiable tone of voice, Ashkenasi was a complete stickler, like the cop who will give you a speeding ticket for going five miles over the speed limit -- and then give you another ticket a block later when you fail to come to a full stop at the stop sign. The good news is that you're not going to keep up with those traffic offenses for long, with that kind of oversight. Read more...

Master Class with Stephanie Chase
During Thursday's class she demonstrated quite a lot, often playing the solo part in unison with the student. If Chase wanted to show the student a different way, it was rather "out-of-unison" as she played faster or slower then the student, just letting it all clash. At first I found this jarring, as the disunity came off a little like an argument. But then I noticed that every single student who played for Chase was smiling and at ease by the end of their time together on stage. Teaching by its very nature is disruptive, if you wish for a student to consider a change. Read more...

Master Class with Joan Kwuon
Kwuon, who has taught at Juilliard, is currently a faculty member and head of the violin department at the Cleveland Institute of Music. With a smile and a gentle manner, she spoke in beautifully-worded descriptions about both music and technique, often demonstrating on her own violin to back up what she was saying. Read more...

Master Class with Donald Weilerstein
You have to free up your body in order to free up your sound on the violin. That was the main message that I took away from a master class by Donald Weilerstein on Tuesday that kicked off the ninth biennial Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at The Juilliard School. Read more...

The 2017 Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies begins at Juilliard
Highlights this year include master classes with Donald Weilerstein, Joan Kwuon, Stephanie Chase, Shmuel Ashkenasi, and Paul Kantor. Pedagogy classes will feature various topics with Brian Lewis; Paganini Caprices with Kurt Sassmannshaus; personality and motivation with Susan Crook; and Beethoven with Nicholas Kitchen. Read more...

2015

Live from New York! The 2015 Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies begins next Tuesday
It promises to be an exciting week, with so many wonderful artists and teachers scheduled to participate. I will be in New York to bring you coverage of the master classes, concerts and pedagogy classes, which begin Tuesday and run through Saturday. Here is a little preview: Read more...

Snapshots from New York
arrived Monday in New York for the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies, which begins on Tuesday at Juilliard. Tomorrow is a master class with Sarah Chang and a recital with Sean Lee, so check back for articles about those events. Today, I could not resist the allure of perfect weather, so I wandered around a bit. Here are a few scenes from a gorgeous afternoon in New York: Read more...

Master Class and Interview with Sarah Chang
On Tuesday, superstar violinist Sarah Chang returned to her alma mater, The Juilliard School, to conduct the first master class in the 2015 Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies and to talk with participants about her own career. She was generous in her support for the young artists who played for her and open about what she has learned from a career that began when she was a tiny child and continues at full throttle today, some 30 years later. Read more...

Master Class with Ronald Copes
In a manner both persistent and assuring, Ronald Copes returned to themes of musicality and connection during a master class he gave Wednesday at the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at Juilliard. Copes is the chairman of the Violin Department at The Juilliard School and has been a member of the Juilliard String Quartet since 1997. Read more...

Master Class with Laurie Smukler
When Laurie Smukler finished teaching her master class Thursday at the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies, the audience full of teachers clapped -- and clapped, and clapped and clapped. Read more...

Review: Ani and Ida Kavafian in Recital
Sisters Ida and Ani Kavafian know how to create some seriously big energy when they take the stage together. They did so Friday night in a concert at The Juilliard School's Paul Hall for the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies. Read more...

Master Class with Daniel Heifetz
Daniel Heifetz gets asked one particular question, quite often. "Yes, I am related to Jascha, I'm a distant cousin," he said on Friday, before even being asked. In fact, Daniel once said to his famous cousin, "Do you know how hard it is to go on stage with a name like Heifetz?" Jascha responded, "Danny, don't tell me. That's your problem." On Friday, Daniel Heifetz gave a master class at the 2015 Starling DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies. He was intensely enthusiastic and unrelenting about getting results. Like his 19-year-old Heifetz Institute summer program, he focused on the bigger idea of going beyond technique to play in an uninhibited way, with a focus on reaching every audience member. Read more...

Master Class with Giora Schmidt and Brian Lewis
A little surprise greeted us for the last master class in the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies: a change of teacher! With Paul Kantor unable to teach due to temporary illness, Giora Schmidt agreed to teach the master class, with just a few hours' notice. While it was a disappointment not to see the wonderful teaching of Paul Kantor, Schmidt hit it out of the park, teaching with a style all his own, combining frank assessment, deadpan humor and a lot of empathy for each student. What a treat. Since Schmidt had to leave early to catch a flight, Brian Lewis taught the last student of the day. Also a treat! Read more...

Pedagogy Class with Brian Lewis: Information Through Sound
Listen to the sound you are making on the violin. That sounds simple enough, but sometimes students are so busy thinking about all the difficult logistics of playing that they make decisions that are not informed by their actual sound. "One of the most important things is to listen to the sound of the violin," said Brian Lewis in a pedagogy class called, "Tone Production: Information Through Sound" at the 2015 Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at Juilliard. Read more...

James Stern: A Reason for 'Crooked' Bowing, and Why We Move When We Play
In describing the rather complex calculus of bow motion, violinist James Stern delivered some good news on a number of fronts: First, "crooked bowing" is not always a bad thing. And second, motion serves a legitimate function in playing -- though it's not necessary to move quite as much as some performers do in order to benefit from that movement. Read more...

Kurt Sassmannshaus: Teaching Left Hand Basics
As Dorothy DeLay used to say, now and then one must "clean the pots and pans." Kurt Sassmannshaus invoked his former teacher's saying in introducing the first of his two lectures at the 2015 Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at The Juilliard School, one about left-hand basics and one about right-hand basics. This article will focus on the left-hand basics. Read more...

Benjamín Ramírez Analyzes Films and Photographs of Master Musicians
Ramírez is at the forefront of Instrumental Wissenschaft ("Instrumental Science"), which is a lot like sports science. But instead of analyzing actions like cross-court basketball passes or backhand tennis strokes, he uses videos, physiological measurement techniques and modern imaging technologies to study the movements of master musicians. In analyzing those movements, he also compares them with other kinds of movement, in fine art, sports, animals and physics. Read more...

Brian Lewis: Teaching Versatility - The Music of Fritz Kreisler
Do you need a short-term goal? Would you like to practice putting your spiccato, bariolage or other techniques to use? Are you going cross-eyed working on a huge concerto and need something smaller to work on for a while? Do you need a clever but pleasing short piece to fill out a recital program, or simply to cheer you up? Read more...

James Stern: Interpreting the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
Ah, the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. "It is pretty much the yardstick by which we measure good violin playing," said violinist James Stern at a lecture called "Interpreting Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto" at the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at The Juilliard School. Read more...

Kurt Sassmannshaus: Teaching Right Hand Basics
Though the bow gives us a great variety of expressive possibilities, the mechanics of sound creation with the bow can be reduced to just three elements: speed, pressure and sounding point. Read more...

2013

Snapshots from New York
Being in New York, meeting new colleagues and reuniting with old ones -- this is part of the fun of going to Starling-DeLay! Here are a few pictures from Tuesday, the first day of this giant gathering of violinists. Read more...

Master Class with Jorja Fleezanis
"Don't think for a minute that I think of your wretched violin, when I compose a melody." Indiana University Violin Professor Jorja Fleezanis quoted those words from Beethoven at a master class on Tuesday, the first day of the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at The Juilliard School. Of course, we have to think of our wretched violins and all kinds of things, but ultimately, it's all about giving voice to that melody. Read more...

Violin Recital with Giora Schmidt
Violinist Giora Schmidt played a recital that ranged from the outrageously virtuosic to the most quiet and intimate of music -- a fitting musical display to top off the first night of the 2013 Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at The Juilliard School. Giora and pianist Victor Santiago Asuncion proved a well-matched pair, showing a beautiful synchronicity in sound, timing and musical idea throughout the evening. Read more...

Master Class with Sylvia Rosenberg
Sylvia Rosenberg is one sharp thinker, who takes in a great deal of detail when listening to a student. And she doesn't hold back: "Aside from the intonation, rhythm, and tone, you play well." "It's a little bit 'nothing.' A little too casual." "Play, don't cheat, because that's exactly what I don't like." Ouch! Yet there is a certain kind of generosity in this kind of blunt assessment, a willingness to go straight for the blemish and clean until it shines. Read more...

What Inspires and Motivates Student Artists
What motivates and inspires a committed young violinist to practice extra hours, to seek a demanding teacher, to strive toward becoming a true artist? The ten young artists who are performing for master classes and recitals this week explored these questions -- answering with a good deal of wisdom -- during a panel discussion Thursday morning at the 2013 Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at The Juilliard School. Read more...

Itzhak Perlman: Variation on a Master Class
I think I see why living-legend violinist Itzhak Perlman isn't wild about traditional master classes. "I don't like proper master classes," Perlman said. "The actual goal is for someone to sound really bad, then you say something, they sound great and everyone claps." Instead, Perlman has some fun with the format, playing more of a game with the students, a bit like the class he gives in a video you can find on his website. How many different ways can you play a piece? It's at least one way to start the conversation about violin playing without making a victim of your student. Read more...

Master Class with Ani Kavafian
It's not every day that a famous violin teacher hands over her 1736 Stradivarius and tells you to give it a try. But Friday was a lucky day for Eric, 16, of Alabama, who was one of five young artists who played for Yale Professor of Violin Ani Kavafian in a master class at the 2013 Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at The Juilliard School. Read more...

Master Class with William Preucil
"I can't wait to hear Bill Preucil talk about Mozart!" I overheard one of my colleagues say at the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at The Juilliard School. How often do you get to hear the wisdom of someone who has sat in the concertmaster chair, heard hundreds of auditions, played as a chamber musician, played as a soloist and also taught at the highest level? Read more...

Recital with William Preucil
Every now and then I need to be reminded of what elevates violin playing to art, and violinist William Preucil did just that on Friday in a recital with pianist Elizabeth Johnson at Paul Hall at The Juilliard School, as part of the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies. Read more...

Postcards from Juilliard
What could be better than a gathering of violinists, during the spring, in heart of New York city? Here are some scenes from the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at The Juilliard School, to bring you there (or bring you back!) Read more...

Pedagogy Class with Odin Rathnam: Galamian Principles in Action
When violinist Odin Rathnam came to study with Sally Thomas, he had to start all over again with his bow arm. His elbow was so high, "it looked like a dog peeing on a fire hydrant," he laughed. And his energy was also completely out of control, which was a problem. In violin playing, "emotional feeling that does not manifest as expression through the instrument, manifests as tension," he said. You can emote all you want up on the stage, but it won't translate into music unless you exert some control over your instrument. "If I am the victim of my emotions, how can I manipulate yours? We are in the business of manipulating emotions." Read more...

Pedagogy Class with Michael McLean: Bach Sonatas and Partitas
This is Michael McLean, and he's a Bachaholic. Why do we want to look more closely at the Six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin by Bach -- these epic works that Bach wrote for unaccompanied violin? "This is the nicest car you're going to drive in," Michael said of the Sonatas and Partitas. "To really access the full potential of it, you have to get out and take a look under the hood." Read more...

Pedagogy Class with Brian Lewis: The Musical Gems of Josef Suk
Josef Suk is not the household name that Antonín Dvořák is, but he certainly wrote some great pieces. This year in a pedagogy class at Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at The Juilliard School, violinist and University of Texas professor Brian Lewis taught us the "Four Pieces" for violin and piano by Josef Suk, a Czech composer whose mentor (and eventually father-in-law) was Dvořák. I had never heard these pieces, but Brian had this music, its history and pedagogy in our heads and fingers by the end of two classes. Read more...

Pedagogy Class with Katie Lansdale: Bach Solo Works
"It's time," said Ronda Cole to her former student, Bach specialist Katie Lansdale, handing her an unmarked urtext edition of the Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin by Johann Sebastian Bach. Ronda, violin mentor to many, meant it was time for Katie to write her own edition of the Bach. But was it? Is it? Will it ever be? Certainly she has the expertise, but for Katie, "I enjoy the inquiry as much as I enjoy the answers," when it comes to Bach. Katie has been inquiring for a long time and has become a go-to expert on the subject. A faculty member at the Hartt School in Connecticut, Katie recorded all the Sonatas and Partitas in 2001 and has performed the complete solo Bach works in concert more than a dozen times throughout North and South America. She gave several classes on Bach at the 2012 Suzuki Association of the Americas Conference, and this year her Bach expertise was featured at the 2013 Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at The Juilliard School. Read more...

2011

Teri Einfeldt: Preparing Students for Successful Concerti Study
How do you get from student level to artist level? This was the question at hand for a lecture by Teri Einfeldt earlier this month at the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at The Juilliard School. Teri is Chair of the Hartt School Community Division Suzuki Program, a Suzuki Association of the Americas (SAA) registered Teacher Trainer, Chair of the SAA, and adjunct professor at University of Hartford's The Hartt School, where she also is assistant director of the Suzuki Institute. Read more...

Juilliard String Quartet Performs Beethoven and Discusses Music-Making
Music must live in the moment it is played. This is an important operating principle for Juilliard String Quartet, who performed earlier this month at the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies, playing Beethoven's String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat Major, Op. 130. Read more...

Ray Iwazumi on Ysaye's Sonatas No. 2 and No. 5
The Belgian violinist and composer Eugene Ysaye was a bright star whose originality lives on through the works he left behind, not to mention the legacy he passed through his students such as Joseph Gingold, William Primrose, Nathan Milstein, Jascha Brodsky, and more. Violinist and musicologist Ray Iwazumi has made the violinist the focus of much of his life's work, and we had the privilege of hearing Ray both lecture about and perform Sonatas No. 2 and No. 5 earlier this month at the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at The Juilliard School. Read more...

Julie Lyonn Lieberman on How Violinists Can Prevent Injury with Proper Stretches and Set-up
Ninety incorrect positions are better than one correct position. This was one of many ideas that Julie Lyonn Lieberman shared in her lectures about the ergonomics of violin playing at the 2011 Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at Juilliard. Read more...

Master Class with Joseph Lin
If Bach is a mystery, violinist Joseph Lin is a brilliant sleuth. Sometimes Bach seems like minefield, with so many chances for a mis-step, so many rules and so much analysis required. But when Lin talks about Bach, the analysis seems more like revelation and the choices like opportunities for expression. Read more...

Brian Lewis on Teaching Individuality in the Music of Fritz Kreisler
Those little pieces that the early 20th-century violinist Fritz Kreisler "found in a monastery" make wonderful music for teaching students about expressive possibilities, said Brian Lewis Thursday at the 2011 Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies in New York. Read more...

More coming this week on Starling-DeLay! Pictures from NY
I just wanted to let you know that there was so much violin bliss to take in at the 2011 Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at Juilliard, that it's taking me a little more time to get all the articles out to you! Read more...

Brian Lewis's 'Suzuki Rap'
Brian Lewis, whose mother is Suzuki teacher Alice Joy Lewis, was among the first crop of American Suzuki students to make it to high-level music schools such as The Juilliard School in the 1980s. Read more...

Master Class with Glenn Dicterow
Did you know that the Russian word for "violin" means "scratch"? That was just one of the many ideas that came out of a masterclass last Wednesday by New York Philharmonic concertmaster Glenn Dicterow, a graduate of The Juilliard School and former concertmaster of the LA Philharmonic. Read more...

Master Class with Itzhak Perlman
Have you ever tried to do something musically on the violin, and it just doesn't come out? Maybe you haven't analyzed what technique creates the musical language you aim to speak through your violin. Read more...

Sarah Chang and others remember Dorothy DeLay
Some of the Dorothy DeLay's most celebrated students showed up today at Juilliard to talk about their late teacher, including a surprise appearance by Sarah Chang. Read more...

Ida Kavafian master class
The 2011 Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies began with a master class with Ida Kavafian, violin faculty at the Curtis Institute and former violinist of the Beaux Arts Trio. Read more...

2009

2009 Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at Juilliard: Paul Kantor Masterclass
The 2009 Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies began Tuesday in New York at the Juilliard School, with Paul Kantor teaching a three-hour masterclass, Joan Kwuon and Joel Smirnoff in recital, and a fun surprise at the end of the day! Read more...

2009 Starling-Delay, day two: Don't lose your adrenaline, use it! Don Greene on performance psychology
Performance psychologist Don Greene never tells a musician to calm down or relax before a performance. Read more...

2009 Starling-Delay, day two: Masterclass by Joel Smirnoff
Today we bring you, from the 2009 Starling-Delay Symposium on Violin Studies at Juilliard, a masterclass by Joel Smirnoff, President of the Cleveland Institute of Music and longtime first violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet. Read more...

2009 Starling-Delay, day three: Masterclass with Itzhak Perlman
Superstar violinist Itzhak Perlman had some fun with six of his violin students and answered questions Thursday at the 2009 Starling DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at The Juilliard School. Read more...

2009 Starling-Delay, day three: Don Greene on practicing for performance stress
Today, we learned how to practice stressing out (not too much of a stretch for me) and then how to deal with it. Read more...

2009 Starling-Delay, day three: Pictures from New York
In between classes at the Juilliard Symposium, I am having quite a lot of fun while I'm here in New York, so I thought I'd share a few pictures. Read more...

2009 Starling-Delay, day three: Monica Huggett on Baroque violin
Wouldn't you like to cast aside all the controversy on Baroque music and simply travel back in time to watch how they really played Bach? Read more...

2009 Starling-Delay, day four: More pictures from New York
What a wonderful day at the Juilliard Symposium! Read more...

2009 Starling-Delay, day four: David Kim on orchestra auditions
How does one learn to play in an orchestra, learn to perform orchestral excerpts and learn to get through an audition day with confidence intact? Read more...

2009 Starling-Delay, day four: Robert Duke on music education
What is the point of learning to play the violin â€“ are we clear on that as teachers? Do our students know? And how do we teach musical decision-making? Or perhaps the question is: Do we teach it at all? Read more...

2009 Starling-Delay, day five: Brian Lewis on the Barber Violin concerto
As Brian explained, the Barber has one of those interesting stories, kind of like the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, in which the original dedicatee took issue with the work and refused to play it. Read more...

2009 Starling-Delay, day five: Chee-Yun Kim on devotion to learning
Chee-Yun Kim's ability to turn a potentially devastating moment for a student into a hopeful and inspiring learning experience speaks to her devotion to teaching â€“ and her devotion to continued learning. Read more...

2007

Starling-Delay 2007: Greetings from New York!
I'm here for the fourth biennial Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at Juilliard, which begins on Tuesday. Read more...

Starling-Delay 2007, day one: Nurturing excellence
Stephen Clapp teaches the first master class, and Indianapolis violin competition winner Augustin Hadelich performs. Read more...

Starling-Delay 2007, day two: A Conversation with Itzhak Perlman
The violin superstar answers questions from participants at Juilliard. Read more...

Starling-Delay 2007, day two: Master Class with Itzhak Perlman
The violin virtuoso challenged students to better express themselves through their performances. Read more...

Starling-Delay 2007, day three: Pedagogy session with Mimi Zweig
The Indiana University professor shows violin teachers to focus on proper positioning and keeping students relaxed. Read more...

Starling-Delay 2007, day three: Simon Fischer covers some basics
The violin pedagogue talks about tone production and intonation. Read more...

Starling-Delay 2007, day three: Master Class with Paul Kantor
Start by studying the composer's wishes, and go from there. Read more...

Starling-Delay 2007, day four: Robert Duke on the nature of expertise
Today, we hear from a wind player who has much to teach violinists. Read more...

Starling-Delay 2007, day four: Brian Lewis teaches Kreisler's 'Gitana'
Don't forget the value of having fun! Read more...

Starling-Delay 2007, day five: Robert Duke on practicing
When practicing is working, it feels great, But sometimes we seem to be swimming backwards in the practice room, or maybe even drowning. What are we doing wrong? Read more...

Starling-Delay 2007, day five: Brian Lewis on expressive and Bravura playing
How do we make music say SOMETHING? How do we know what to say? Read more...

Starling-Delay 2007, day five: Kurt Sassmannshaus' violin master class
Narrow your focus to help your students to become more productive. Read more...

Starling-Delay 2007: A wonderful opportunity
Brandon Garbot is one reason why we fight so hard for music in the schools. Read more...

Starling-Delay 2007: Thoughts on the week
Dorothy DeLay's proteges are an honor to her memory. Read more...