MIC Academy: Faculty Listing

Marta Aznavoorian

Piano Faculty (Special Rate)

MM, New England Conservatory
BM Indiana University

Past Teachers:
Lev Vlasenko, Patricia Zander, Menachem Pressler, Evelyn Brancart, Carolyn McCracken, Chamber music coachings with Leon Fleischer and Gilbert Kalish

Additional Studies:
1994 Music Performer's Certificate Presidential Scholar in the Arts

Recent Awards:
Top prizewinner in Aspen Music Festival Piano Competition, Union League competition and Young Performer's Competition

Professional Affiliations & Activities
Solo performances with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony, New World Symphony, Aspen Concert Orchestra, San Angelo Symphony, San Diego Symphony and Tanglewood Music Festival; recitals at Kennedy Center, Steinway Hall, Jordan Hall, Weill Hall, Caramoor Festival, Music in the Loft, Dame Myra Hess Series and Green Lake Music Festival; collaborative pianist with Pacifica Quartet recording of Sonatas for violin and piano by Stravinsky and Ravel under ARTEC label.
Gilda Barston

Dean Emeritus
Program Director, Suzuki Instruction
Cello Faculty (Suzuki and Special Rate)
Teacher Training Faculty

MS, Juilliard School of Music
BS, Juilliard School of Music

Past Teachers:
Leonard Rose and Channing Robbins

Additional Studies:
Master classes with Janos Starker

Professional Affiliations & Activities
Suzuki Association of the Americas International Suzuki Association (Secretary) ASTA MTNA Society of American Musicians Chicago Cello Society. Secretary and member of the Board of Directors - International Suzuki Association Past Chair - Suzuki Association of the Americas Artistic Director - Chicago Suzuki Institute
Blake Brasch

Program Administrator, Suzuki Instruction
Cello Faculty (Suzuki)

BM, The Cleveland Institute of Music

Past Teachers:
Alan Harris and Mark Schroeder. Suzuki training with Gilda Barston, Tanya Carey, Richard Mooney, Carol Tarr and Catherine Walker
Tanya L. Carey

Cello Faculty (Special Rate)

DM, MM, BM
Performer's Certificate

Past Teachers:
Charles Wendt, Frank Miller, Ronald Leonard, Georges Miquelle, Karl Fruh, Louis Potter and Peter Farrell

Additional Studies:
Janos Starker, Fritz Magg and Shinichi Suzuki

Recent Awards:
Outstanding Studio Teacher. Illinois ASTA Outstanding Professor, Western Illinois University Suzuki Chair, U of Wisconsin, Stevens Point

Professional Affiliations & Activities
Muscians Union American String Teachers Association Phi Kappa Phi Music Honorary Suzuki Association of the Americas Music Teachers National Association. Artist Teacher Roosevelt University CPPA Artist Teacher MIC Academy Artist Teacher DePaul University CMA Teacher Trainer SAA.
Alan Chow

Piano Faculty (Special Rate)

University of Maryland, The Juilliard School and Indiana University

Past Teachers:
Nelita True, Sasha Gorodnitzki and Menahem Pressler

Recent Awards:
He has won First Prize in the Concert Artists Guild International Competition, the Palm Beach Invitational International Piano Competition and the UCLA International Piano Competition. He was also the winner of the Silver Medal and Audience Favorite Prize at the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition and a prizewinner in the William Kapell International Piano Competition

Professional Affiliations & Activities
Formerly Artist-in-Residence at the University of Arkansas, he presently serves on the faculty of Northwestern University. A Steinway artist, Mr. Chow has performed in recital and in concert with orchestra from coast to coast in 45 states and throughout Asia. His recitals have brought him to the major music centers including New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Washington, D.C., among many others and his concerto appearances include the National Symphony, Utah Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Tulsa Philharmonic and Omaha Symphony. His tours of China, Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan include performances with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Pan-Asia Symphony
David Cunliffe

Program Coordinator, Chamber Music
Cello Faculty (Special Rate)

PPRNCM, Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, England
Postgraduate studies, International Yehudi Menuhin Music Academy, Gstaad, Switzerland

Past Teachers:
Margaret Moncreiff, Moray Welsh, Antonio Lysy and Radu Aldulescu; additional studies with William Pleeth, Ralph Kirshbaum and Christopher Bunting

Recent Awards:
Winner, Terrance Weill and Leonard Hirsch Quartet; prizewinner with the Argyll Quartet and recipient of the Lady Barbirolli Prize for Chamber Music

Professional Affiliations & Activities
Principal cello, RNCM Chamber Orchestra and RNCM Symphony Orchestras; performances with BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish and Royal Scottish Symphony Orchestras and Camerata Lysy; member of the Lincoln Trio.
Marko Dreher

Violin and Viola Faculty (Special Rate)

MM, Cleveland Institute of Music
BM, violin and viola performance, Oberlin Conservatory of Music

Past Teachers:
Roland Vamos, Almita Vamo, Rachel Barton Pine and Stanley Konopka

Additional Studies:
Alumnus, Music Institute of Chicago, Weathersfield Music Festival, Bowdoin Music Festival

Professional Affiliations & Activities
Performances at the Kennedy Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Severance Hall, Symphony Center, Powell Hall, Vienna Conservatory; member, Illinois Symphony Orchestra; principal violist, Oberlin Conservatory Orchestra, Cleveland Institute of Music Symphony Orchestra; recorded for Traditional Crossroads, Smithsonian Folkways, National Endowment for the Arts record label, Omnium; Premier Artist, Ohio Arts Council; tours US with the world-renowned ensemble Harmonia.
Cyrus Forough

Violin Faculty (Special Rate)

Indiana University
Moscow Conservatory
Royal Conservatory of Music
Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth, Brussels

Past Teachers:
David Oistrakh, Josef Gingold and Arthur Grumiaux

Recent Awards:
Laureate Tchaikovsky Competition; United States Artistic Ambassador with pianist Carolyn McCracken, winners of State Department National Duo Competition.

Professional Affiliations & Activities
Performances: Europe, Asia, the Americas; Weimar Festival, E. Germany; Ploudiv Music Festival, Bulgaria; International Schubert Festival; Kennedy Center; National Gallery; Phillips Collection; Theatre Colon, Buenos Aires.
Matthew Hagle

Program Director, Musicianship
Musicianship Faculty
Piano Faculty
Composition Faculty

DMA, Yale School of Music
MMA, Yale School of Music
MM, Yale School of Music
BM, Peabody Conservatory of Music

Past Teachers:
Maria Curcio, Diamand Claude, Frank Donald Currier and Robert Weirich

Additional Studies:
Master Classes with Leon Fleisher, John O'Conor, Gilbert Kalish, Peter Frankl, Boris Berman and John Browning

Recent Awards:
Fulbright Grant for study in London

Professional Affiliations & Activities
Former Faculty: University of Notre Dame (Adjunct), Elmhurst College, International Institute for Young Musicians. Concerts in the Chicago area and throughout the U.S. Past concerts also in England, Japan, and Australia. Article published in Keyboard Companion Magazine, Summer 2008 issue. CD with Rachel Barton PIne, "American Virtuosa", received good reviews and reached #12 on Billboard Classical Chart. Chamber music/Collaborative Piano New Music Solo piano recitals including thematic programming or 20th century music Music Theory Composition
Hans Jorgen Jensen

Cello Faculty (Special Rate)

Soloist diploma, Royal Academy of Music, Denmark
Juilliard School

Past Teachers:
Leonard Rose, Channing Robbins and Pierre Fournier

Recent Awards:
Winner, Jacob Gades Prize, Danish Ministry of Cultural Affaris Grant for Musicians, Copenhagen Music Critics Prize of Honor, Artist International Competition (NY); named Outstanding Studio Teacher of the Year by Illinois chapter, American String Teachers Association; recipient, U.S. Presidential Scholar Teacher Recognition Award, U.S. Department of Education.

Professional Affiliations & Activities
Faculty, Northwestern University, Meadowmount School of Music; soloist, Copenhagen Symphony, Danish Radio Orchestra, Irish Radio Orchestra, Basel Symphony Orchestra.
Soo Young Lee

Piano Faculty (Special Rate)

Doctor of Music, Northwestern University
Master of Music, Northwestern University
Bachelor of Music, Northwestern University

Past Teachers:
Dr. David Kaiserman and Laurence Davis

Recent Awards:
Fine Arts Award from Mayor Daley

Professional Affiliations & Activities
President, The Society of American Musicians Founder and Artistic Director, ARK Ensemble The Sejong Cultural Society. Master Classes Adjudicator and lecturer at NSMTA and CAMTA Performances throughout Chicago area
Hye-Sun Lee

Violin Faculty (Special Rate)

DM, MM, BM, violin performance, Northwestern University

Past Teachers:
Almita Vamos and Roland Vamos

Additional Studies:
Master classes with Midori, Joshua Bell, Pinchas Zuckerman, Donald Weilerstein and Emerson String Quartet

Professional Affiliations & Activities
Teaching assistant to Almita Vamos, Northwestern University.
Julia Miller

Chair, Jazz/Folk Guitar Department
Jazz/Folk Guitar Faculty
Classical Guitar Faculty (Suzuki)
Banjo Faculty
Composition Faculty
Adult Guitar I, Group Guitar for Beginners and Fingerboard Harmony Faculty

DM, composition, MM, composition/guitar performance, Northwestern University; BM, composition and classical guitar performance, DePaul University

Past Teachers:
Mark Maxwell, Anne Waller, Suzuki training from Frank Longay and Bill Kassler.

Additional Studies:
Guitar master classes with Oscar Ghiglia and Robert Guthrie.

Recent Awards:
Recipient of grants awarded by Chicago Tribune Foundation, New York Art Ensemble, American Composers Forum and United Arts Council; finalist, Gaudeamus Music Week Composition Competition 1999; presentations at IRCAM Forum (Paris) and Suzuki Association of the Americas International Conferences.

Professional Affiliations & Activities
Former faculty, Suzuki-Orff School for Young Musicians and Hartt Suzuki Institute (Connecticut). Taught "Opera and Multimedia", Northwestern University.
Claire Aebersold Neiweem

Program Director, Chicago Duo Piano Festival
Piano Faculty (Special Rate)
Duo Piano Chamber Music Faculty

MM, Northwestern University
BM, The New England Conservatory

Past Teachers:
Ylda Novik, Theodore Lettvin and Orazio Frugoni

Additional Studies:
Performer's Certificate, Villa Schifanoia, Florence Italy; five Diplomas of Merit. International Master Classes, Arezzo, Italy; attended Peabody Institute of Music. Master classes with Irwin Freundlich, Leon Fleisher, John Browning.

Recent Awards:
Winner in National Arts and Letters competition, Three Rivers Competition.

Professional Affiliations & Activities
Member, with husband Ralph Neiweem, of award-winning duo-piano team of Aebersold and Neiweem
Ralph Neiweem

Program Director, Chicago Duo Piano Festival
Piano Faculty (Special Rate)
Duo Piano Chamber Music Faculty

Doctoral studies and MM, Northwestern University
BM, The Juilliard School

Past Teachers:
Emilio del Rosario, Olegna Fuschi, Irwin Freundlich and Orazio Frugoni

Additional Studies:
Performer's Certificate, Villa Schifanoia (Florence, Italy); attended the North Carolina School of the Arts. Master classes with John Browning; chamber music studies with Felix Galimir, Leon Fleisher.

Professional Affiliations & Activities
Member, with wife Claire Aebersold, of award-winning duo-piano team of Aebersold and Neiweem. Major articles for Clavier Magazine; Edpress award for 1987 article on the Piano Duo. Aebersold and Neiweem, annual international tours throughout U.S. and Europe, including six concert tours of Italy; numerous performances for WFMT radio; performances for PBS TV, Radio Italiana Television; 5 commercial CDS on the Summit label, including the first recording of Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 15 for piano 4-hands; co-founder, Chicago Duo-Piano Festival, held annually at the Music Institute of Chicago.
Gerardo Ribeiro

Violin Faculty (Special Rate)

Juilliard School
Soloist Diplomas, with honors, at both the Porto and Lucerne Conservatories

Past Teachers:
Ivan Galamian, Paul Makanowitzky and Felix Galimir

Recent Awards:
Numerous awards in distinguished international competitions such as the Montreal and Paganini followed. First Prizes were received at the Vianna de Motta contest in Lisbon and the Maria Canals competition in Barcelona. Awarded the Presidential Scholars Teacher Recognition Award from the White House's Commission on Presidential Scholars.

Professional Affiliations & Activities
Professor of violin at Northwestern University. He is a member of the Meadowmount Trio, ensemble-in-residence at the Meadowmount School of Music. Acclaimed recitals at New York City's most prestigious concert venues - Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and the Metropolitan Museum - Mr. Ribeiro has also appeared at Washington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center, and is well known in major European, South American and Far Eastern concert halls. As a concerto soloist, Mr. Ribeiro has appeared with the Philadelphia and Gulbenkian Orchestras, the Montreal, Dallas, Lucerne, Lisbon, Porto, Barcelona and Cali Symphony Orchestras, the Zagreb, Antwerp and Lisbon Philharmonics, the Taiwan, Beijing, Belgian and Portuguese National Orchestras, the Radio Orchestras of Paris (O.R.T.F.), Lisbon, Berlin, Hilversum (Holland) and North Germany (Hannover) and other leading ensembles.
Desiree Ruhstrat

Chair, String Department
Violin and Viola Faculty (Special Rate)

Curtis Institute of Music
Indiana University

Past Teachers:
Aaron Rosand, Joseph Gingold, Dorothy Delay and Harold Wippler

Recent Awards:
Top prize winner in Carl Flesch International, Tibor Varga, Mozart Festival and Julius Stulberg Competitions

Professional Affiliations & Activities
Soloist with orchestras including Milwaukee, Chicago Civic, Denver, Oregon, Debut Orchestra Los Angeles, Concerto Soloists Of Philadelphia, Concertante di Chicago, Orchestra de Aguascalientes, Gottingen Symphony, Philharmonia da Camera and Berlin Radio Symphony. Chamber music performances include Philadelphia Orchestra Chamber Series, Laurel Festival, Colorado Chamber Players, Pacifica Quartet, Utah Music Festival; Artist in Residence, Oklahoma University, University of Tennessee; faculty, Utah Music Festival, University of Wisconsin Chamber Festival
Jim Setapen

Program Director, The Academy
Program Director, Youth Bands and Orchestras
Program Director, Adult Orchestral Ensembles
Youth Bands and Orchestras Faculty
Conducting Faculty (Special Rate)

MM, Cleveland Institute of Music
BM with Distinction, Eastman School of Music

Past Teachers:
Christoph Eschenbach, Max Rudolf, Tom Briccetti, Boris Goldovsky, Anthony Addison and Willis Page

Professional Affiliations & Activities
Professional member, League of American Orchestras and member of the Conductors Guild. Board member Illinois Council of Orchestras and former board member of the Conductors Guild. Guest conductor, several orchestras and opera companies in United States and Europe. Guest conducting teacher - World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles 2009 conference. Guest judge and guest conductor, Illinois State University, January 2010. Orchestral and operatic conducting, opera coaching, Italian diction, teaching conducting, music lectures.
Abraham Stokman

Piano Faculty (Special Rate)

MM and BM, Juilliard School of Music

Professional Affiliations & Activities
Former vocal coach at Juilliard; formerly pianist-in-residence and assistant professor at Chicago Music College of Roosevelt Univ. and chairman of piano department of American Conservatory of Music in Chicago; composers Robert Lombardo, John Austin, Ralph Shapey, Ramon Zupko and Ernst Krenek have written works especially for him; premiered Zupko's "Windsongs" with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, and repeated the performance at Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and Lincoln Center in New York; recorded Ramon Zupko's music for CRI, "A Kurt Weil Cabaret" with singer Martha Schlamme for MGM, "Songs from the Magic Door" with Charles Gerber, a CD of solo twentieth century American music for Centaur records, and Shulamit Ran's "Hyperbolea" on a CD of her music; participated in Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival in Kalamazoo, MI, playing a solo program featuring a work written for him by Ramon Zupko and "Verticals" by Shulamit Ran; has performed as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; founded "Music for a While" series devoted to contemporary music.
Mathias Tacke

Chamber Music Faculty
Almita Vamos

Violin Faculty (Special Rate)

MM, The Juilliard School
BS

Past Teachers:
Louis Persinger and Mischa Mischakoff

Additional Studies:
Workshops and Master Classes throughout the U.S. Europe, Canada, Asia, Middle East, Central and South America

Recent Awards:
Distinguished Teacher 2009 Presidential Scholar's Teacher Recognition Award

Professional Affiliations & Activities
Northwestern University. Violin Solo and Chamber Music.
Roland Vamos

Violin and Viola Faculty (Special Rate)

DMA, Juilliard School
MA, Columbia Teachers College
MS, Juilliard School
BS, Juilliard School

Past Teachers:
Oscar Shumsky and William Lincer

Professional Affiliations & Activities
He has been invited as a conductor and soloist throughout Europe, Asia, Canada and the United States. He has presented master classes worldwide, and has served as jury member for many national and international competitions. His students are laureates of numerous national and international competitions, including the Tchaikovsky, Tchaikovsky Youth, Sibelius, Lexus, IM Klein, Queen Elizabeth, Folkestone, and Paganini. In 1993, he co-founded the Weathersfield Music Festival. Presently a Distinguished Professor at Northwestern University and teaches violin, viola, chamber music.

Music Institute of Chicago

Learning for Life

The Academy

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Academy Faculty