Blog

The Summer Life of a Trumpet Player

dean_allan_creditunknownAllan Dean is Professor in the Practice of Trumpet at the Yale University School of Music and is currently performing with Summit Brass, St. Louis Brass and the Yale Brass Trio. In the early music field he was a founding member of Calliope: A Renaissance Band and the New York Cornet and Sacbut Ensemble. Dean was a member of the New York Brass Quintet for 18 years and freelanced in the New York City concert and recording field for over 20 years before joining the faculty of Indiana University in l982. Upon retirement of the New York Brass Quintet in 1984, Dean joined the St. Louis Brass. In 1989 he moved back to the Northeast to join the Yale faculty. At Yale, Dean coaches brass chamber music and directs the Yale Cornet and Sacbut Ensemble in addition to teaching trumpet. Dean performs and teaches each summer at the Mendez Brass Institute and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. He is a frequent soloist with Keith Brion’s New Sousa Band. Dean has also appeared at the Spoleto and Casals festivals, the Banff Centre (Canada), the Orford Arts Centre (Canada), Musiki Blekinge (Sweden), the Curitiba Music Festival (Brazil) and the Morella Festival (Spain). He can be heard playing both modern trumpet and early brass on over 80 recordings on most major labels including RCA, Columbia, Nonesuch, Summit and others. On early instruments he has recorded with Calliope, The New York Cornets and Sacbuts, the Waverly Consort, the Ensemble for Early Music and the Smithsonian Chamber Players. Dean joined the Yale faculty in 1988. He lives in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts with his wife, Julie Shapiro, an artist, and his daughter, Eloisa. He is an avid tennis player and practices hatha yoga daily. (more…)

The Tokyo Quartet’s Clive Greensmith on the first week of coachings

cliveClive Greensmith, cellist, joined the Tokyo String Quartet in June 1999. A graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music and the Musikhochschule in Cologne, his principal teachers were Donald McCall and Boris Pergamenschikow. He has held the position of principal cellist of London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. As a soloist, he has appeared with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, English Chamber Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, and the RAI Orchestra of Rome. He has collaborated with distinguished musicians such as András Schiff, Midori, Claude Frank and Steven Isserlis, and has won several prizes including second place in the inaugural Premio Stradivari held in Cremona, Italy. Mr. Greensmith has served on the faculties of the Royal Northern College of Music, Yehudi Menuhin School and San Francisco Conservatory of Music and is currently on the faculty of New York University. Mr. Greensmith’s recording of Brahms’ Sonatas with Boris Berman performing on Norfolk’s Bechstein piano from 1860 was recently released on the Biddulph label.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Week one in Norfolk confirmed that this is going to be another superb vintage. Following an engaging week of teaching with four remarkably fine groups, we all felt a pang of regret as we headed to Japan straight after our first performance in the Shed on Friday July 10th. (more…)

Reflections from Norfolk

Norfolk Festival alumni,  the Ying Quartet,  joined the Festival  faculty for the week (with each member coaching a student ensemble) and topped off its residency with a performance in the Music Shed on Saturday, July 31.

yingquartet_brown_officialshotnocreditgiven

Now in their second decade as a quartet, the Ying Quartet (Stephen Copes and Janet Ying - violins, Phillip Ying - viola, David Ying - cello) has established itself as an ensemble of the highest musical qualifications in its tours across the United States and abroad. The Quartet performs in the world’s most important concert halls, from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House. Its 2007 Telarc release of the three Tchaikovsky Quartets and the Souvenir de Florence (with James Dunham and Paul Katz) was nominated for a Grammy® Award in the Best Chamber Music Performance category. A collaboration with the Turtle Island Quartet, Four + 4 won a Grammy® Award in 2005.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

I can hardly be here again in this magical and beautiful place without thinking back to my first visit to the Norfolk Festival. (more…)


Festival News

Applications available for Summer 2010

Information and applications  are now available for the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival - Yale Schoo

More in Festival News

Music

The Summer Life of a Trumpet Player

Allan Dean is Professor in the Practice of Trumpet at the Yale University School of Music and is

More in Music

Interviews

An Interview With Cellist Marc Johnson

For thirty-five years cellist Marc Johnson performed with the renowned Vermeer Quartet. The Quartet

More in Interviews

School & Alumni

Luisa Rosina shares her summer musical experiece at Norfolk

As I write this blog it is the final days of the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and I will soon b

More in School & Alumni

Miscellany

The Tokyo String Quartet Sends a Postcard from Australia

Clive Greensmith, cellist with the Tokyo string Quartet,  sends a note  and a few photos to us fro

More in Miscellany