Violin Fest
November 18-19, 2022
The WKU Violin Fest is an exciting event that brings together violinists and teachers
of all ages. The Violin Fest features an offering of masterclasses, group classes,
and special topic lectures from world-renowned guests. All classes will be held on
the campus of Western Kentucky University, in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The Artist-Faculty
includes: Grigory Kalinovsky (Indiana University), Geoffrey Herd (University of Lousiville), Emily Hanna Crane (Austin Peay State University), Christina McGann (Vanderbilt University), and Ching-Yi Lin (Western Kentucky University).
Check in is Friday 5:00PM in front of Fine Arts Center Recital Hall. There will be
a table set up and people there to answer any questions that you have. You will get
a packet of useful information for the weekend. You will receive an invoice by early
December in the mail.
Click Below to download PDFs of the Group music
Group Music - Violin part
Group Music - Violin+Piano
Schedule
Friday, November 18
5:00pm - Check in at FAC Recital Hall (google maps link)
6:00pm - Faculty Recital in FAC Recital Hall
Featuring: Geoffrey Herd, Ching-Yi Lin, Grigory Kalinovsky, and Christina
McGann.
Saturday, November 19
9:00am - 5:00pm - Masterclasses, group classes, lectures, and more.
- Masterclasses with Professor Kalinovsky
- Group Class Schedule
- 9:00-10:00am: Beginner Class
- Ant Song, GDG, AEA with bow
- Teacher: Aleka Chau
- 10:00-11:00am: Suzuki Book 4
- Seitz Concerto no. 5, mvt 1
- Teacher: Dr. Emily Hanna Crane
- 11:00-12:00 noon: Violin Ensemble
- Shostakovich Duet - Praeludium and Gavotte
- Teacher: Dr. Emily Hanna Crane
- 1:30 - 2:30: Suzuki Book 3
- Gavotte Martini & Gavotte in G Minor
- Teacher: Dr. Christina McGann
- 2:30 - 3:30: Suzuki Book 2
- Musette and Hunter's Chorus
- Teacher: Dr. Christina McGann
- 3:30 - 4:30: Suzuki Book 1
- Twinkle, Long Long Ago, Allegro
- Teacher: Dr. Christina McGann
5:00pm - Violin Fest recital, featuring participants and students of WKU
Travel and Parking
Park in the lot labeled “Gated Hilltop Lot” at the corner of Colonnade Dr and State
Street. There is massive construction going on, so the only way to access the Gated
Hilltop lot is from State Street. Don’t trust your phone navigation if it navigates
you through the campus on Hilltop or Colonnade drives.
This map pin is placed across the street from the parking lot. Use your GPS app to
navigate to it, and it will avoid the construction: https://goo.gl/maps/Dvq2WpG1GRAZdgrU8
Hotel Information
We have a special group rate at the Hyatt Place, which is within walking distance
to the music building. Click here for the reservation information.
For more information, contact Dr. Lin at strings@wku.edu or (270) 745-5939.
Registration Form
Registration fee is $25 for all students. If you want to play in a master class, there
is an extra charge of $50.
Faculty Members
Grigory Kalinovsky
Grigory Kalinovsky is professor of music in violin at the Indiana University Jacobs
School of Music, where he was appointed to faculty in fall 2013. He also teaches at
the IU Summer String Academy and continues to teach at the Heifetz International Music
Institute.
Hailed by critics as a “superior poet” (Vancouver Sun) and praised for his “heart and indomitable will” (Gramophone), Kalinovsky has performed at some of the world’s major venues, from all three stages
of Carnegie Hall in New York to Musikhalle Grosser Saal in Hamburg.
As a recitalist and avid chamber musician, he has appeared at numerous concert series
and festivals, including the Asheville Chamber Music Series, Lyric Chamber Music Society
of New York, Lucas Foss’s Festival at the Hamptons, Newport Music Festival, and Pavel
Vernikov's festival, “Il Violino Magico” in Italy. He has collaborated with such renowned
musicians as Pinchas Zukerman, Shmuel Ashkeniasi, Ralph Kirshbaum, Miriam Fried, James
Buswell, Dora Schwarzberg, and Paul Coletti, among others.
A devoted educator, Kalinovsky was previously a faculty member at the Manhattan School
of Music and has taught at many summer music festivals, including Pinchas Zukerman’s
Young Artists Program in Canada, Keshet Eilon Mastercourse in Israel, Bowdoin International
Music Festival in Maine, Soesterberg International Music Festival in Holland, Summit
Music Festival in New York, “Il Violino Magico” in Italy, and Manhattan in the Mountains,
where he was also one of the founding artistic directors.
His book ViolinMind, on theory and technique of playing using different tuning systems, written in collaboration
with famed cello professor Hans Jørgen Jensen, was published by OvationPress in 2019.
Kalinovsky has presented master classes at many major U.S. festivals and music schools,
including New England Conservatory, Colburn School, Meadowmount, University of Maryland,
San Francisco Conservatory, and Seattle Conservatory. He has also presented at numerous
European and Asian institutions, such as the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Buchmann-Mehta
School of Music and Jerusalem Music Center in Israel, Hochschule für Musik “Hanns
Eisler” in Germany, Beijing Central Conservatory in China, and Seoul National University
and Korea National University of Arts in Seoul.
Kalinovsky’s students have won top prizes at national and international competitions,
including the Tibor Varga Youth Competition, Menuhin Young Artists Competition in
England, Andrea Postacchini Young Violinists Competition in Italy, and Fischoff International
Chamber Music Competition in Chicago. They have gone on to study at institutions such
as Curtis, Colburn, Juilliard, Yale, New England Conservatory, Manhattan School of
Music, and Indiana University, among others.
His recording with pianist Tatiana Goncharova featuring Shostakovich’s Violin Sonata
and Twenty-Four Preludes transcribed for Violin and Piano by Dmitri Tziganov—with
several of the transcriptions commissioned by Kalinovsky from the celebrated composer
Lera Auerbach—was released by Centaur Records to great critical acclaim and hailed
by the composer's son, conductor Maxim Shostakovich, as “a must-have for any Shostakovich
music connoisseur.” The duo’s recording of the complete set of sonatas for violin
and piano by Mieczysław Weinberg was released on the Naxos label in 2017.
Kalinovsky started his music education with Tatiana Liberova in his native St. Petersburg,
Russia. After coming to New York, he continued his studies with Pinchas Zukerman and
Patinka Kopec at the Manhattan School of Music, where he served as a faculty member
shortly after graduating and until his move to Indiana University.
Geoffrey Herd
Violinist Geoffrey Herd leads a varied and impactful career as a soloist and chamber
musician, innovative artistic director and dedicated pedagogue. He has performed throughout
the United States, Latin America, and Asia at venues such as the Isabel Stewart Gardner
Museum of Art in Boston and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall as well as at universities
and conservatories globally. An avid chamber musician, Mr. Herd has collaborated with
leading musicians including Ettore Causa, Jinjoo Cho, James Dunham, Clive Greensmith,
Ani Kavafian, and Laurie Smukler. Mr. Herd has performed concertos with numerous orchestras
including the Rochester Philharmonic, the Thailand Philharmonic, the Cayuga Chamber
Orchestra, the Ithaca College Symphony, the Amherst Symphony, the Finger Lakes Symphony,
the University of Tennessee Symphony Orchestra, and the Longmont Symphony.
Mr. Herd is the founder and director of the Geneva Music Festival, currently celebrating
its 11th annual season. The festival is recognized as a leader in innovative programming
and promotion of diversity and inclusivity in the arts. By celebrating and highlighting
the contributions of African-American, Women, and Latinx artists to the field of music,
the festival has given recognition to composers and musicians who have often been
neglected on the concert stage. The festival gathers many of the nation’s finest performers
within the realms of classical music and jazz each summer and is regularly supported
by the National Endowment for the Arts as well as other competitive granting organizations.
As a pedagogue, Mr. Herd is on faculty at the University of Louisville School of Music
where he has built a thriving studio, attracting students from around the globe. His
students frequently participate in the nation’s top music festivals including the
Aspen, Brevard, Killington, Sarasota, and Wintergreen festivals, have gone on to graduate
school at the Yale School of Music and the Cincinnati Conservatory and are frequent
competition winners throughout the country. Mr. Herd has also been on faculty at the
Killington and Sewanee Music Festivals, and a guest artist at Encore Chamber Music
and Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival. He is also co-director of the Knoxville Suzuki
Academy and president-elect of the Tennessee Chapter of the American String Teacher
Association. Mr. Herd studied at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University,
the Yale School of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music with Ani Kavafian, Paul
Kantor, William Preucil and David Updegraff. He plays on the “Berkic-Pennington” Carlo
Bergonzi made in Cremona in 1687.
Christina McGann
Christina McGann has been a featured performer at the Kennedy Center, the Tel Aviv Performing Arts
Center, New York City’s Merkin Hall, Symphony Space, and Bargemusic, and at various
venues throughout the U.S., Korea, El Salvador, and Europe. She has also performed
concertos with orchestras including the National Symphony Orchestra, the Richardson
Symphony, Musica Bella Orchestra in New York, the Moldovan Chamber Orchestra, the
National Chamber Orchestra in Washington D.C., Ohio University New Music Ensemble,
and the St. Petersburg Academic Symphony in Russia.
McGann has been awarded prizes at the Johansen International Competition, the National
Symphony Young Soloist Competition, the Lennox Competition, the Ackerman Chamber Music
Competition with Trio Artica, Chamber Music Yellow Springs with the iO Quartet, and
the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition.
McGann holds both B.Mus. and M.Mus. degrees in violin performance from The Juilliard
School, where she was accepted with Presidential Distinction. Her foundational teachers
include Ronald Copes, Victor Danchenko, Robert Mann, and Donald Weilerstein. She also
completed her doctoral degree at SUNY Stony Brook under the guidance of Soovin Kim,
Philip Setzer, and Hagai Shaham.
Also an avid educator, McGann began her teaching career in New York as a Juilliard
Morse Fellow, a program that brings Juilliard students extensively trained as artist-educators
into public school classrooms on a weekly basis throughout the school year. In addition
to private teaching experience, McGann taught as part of Juilliard’s Instrumental
Music Program, has been on faculty at Brooklyn College Preparatory, coached chamber
music as a graduate assistant at SUNY-Purchase, received her Suzuki pedagogy training
through all books at New York City’s School for Strings, and has served as Artist
in Residence at Ohio University School of Music.
McGann is currently Visiting Assistant Professor of Viola and Violin at the Blair
School at Vanderbilt University. In addition to chamber music and recital engagements,
she is Concertmaster of the Nashville Opera Orchestra and the violist of the Blair
String Quartet.
Emily Hanna Crane
Emily Hanna Crane is the Professor of Violin and Viola and the Coordinator of the Orchestra Strings
Area at Austin Peay State University. In addition to a vibrant performing career,
she is an active adjudicator, coach, and clinician for summer festivals, honor orchestras,
and conferences across the country. Dr. Crane is a Suzuki-trained teacher and is an
active member of the American String Teachers Association, serving in leadership roles
at the state and national levels.
Dr. Crane has performed as co-concertmaster of Clarksville’s Gateway Chamber Orchestra,
guest concertmaster and associate concertmaster of the Valley (Tex.) and Tallahassee
(Fla.) Symphony Orchestras, principal second violin of the Paducah Symphony Orchestra
(Ky), and has played in the violin sections of Nashville (Tenn.), Jacksonville (Fla.),
Bryan (Tenn.), Laredo (Tex.), and Columbus (Ga.) Symphony Orchestras. She has performed
as soloist with the Gateway Chamber, APSU Symphony, Trevecca Symphony, Parthenon Chamber,
and the Valley Symphony Orchestras. As a chamber musician, Dr. Crane has been as a
member of the Hanna-Yang Duo, Tango Sur, Quartet alla Turca, and the Eppes Quartet
(FSU). Dedicated to promoting contemporary music, Dr. Crane has premiered several
works by living composers including Jeffrey Wood, Clifton Callender, and Ju-Hwan Yu.
She can be heard on numerous film and video game soundtracks as a studio musician
in Nashville.
Dr. Crane earned degrees in violin performance from Florida State University (Doctor
of Music and Master of Music, studies with Eliot Chapo, Gary Kosloski, Karen Clarke)
and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Bachelor of Music, studies with
Richard Luby).
Ching-Yi Lin
Violinist Ching-Yi Lin’s recent performances and masterclasses have taken her to the
Barratt Due Institute of Music in Norway, the Shenyang and Xi’an Conservatories in
China, Northwestern University, Vanderbilt University, and the University of British
Columbia. She’s also performed in New York on the Museum of Modern Art’s Summer Garden
Series, at Sejong Center in South Korea, and in Taiwan at the National Concert Hall
in Taipei.
Her recent album on MSR Classics features sonatas for violin and piano by Charles
Ives, William Bolcom, and John Corigliano. In reviewing the album, Gramophone noted
the “panache and warmth” of Ms. Lin’s playing and described her interpretations as
“a series of tender, lively, and challenging conversations.”
A dedicated and creative teacher, Ching-Yi Lin is Associate Professor at Western Kentucky
University and also serves on the faculty at the Indiana University Summer String
Academy and the WKU Summer String Institute. Previously, she served on the faculty
of the Sommersymfoni i Kristiansand in Norway and Chicago Chamber Music Festival.
In 2013, Ching-Yi was presented with the prestigious Jefferson Award for Public Service
in Washington, DC, recognizing her work in bringing music into the lives of young
people throughout her community. And in 2017, Ching-Yi received a Sisterhood grant
from Western Kentucky University to direct student teachers and volunteers in teaching
the violin to refugee children in Bowling Green, KY. In 2020, this program developed
into a non-profit organization called Bridging Cultures with Music. The program offers
college music majors an opportunity to teach, inspire, and make an impact in a global
classroom setting.
Ching-Yi regularly presents at the American String Teachers Association National Conference
and is an active clinician and adjudicator. As a board member for the Daraja Music
Initiative, a non-profit organization in Moshi, Tanzania, Dr. Lin founded a beginning
strings program for students of the Majengo Primary School in 2016. Over 60 string
instruments were donated from across the United States for this endeavor. She also
currently serves as the Secretary and on the Board of Directors of the Suzuki Association
of the Americas.
Dr. Lin holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from the Indiana University
Jacobs School of Music, and she undertook additional studies at the Vienna Conservatory.
She plays on a violin made in 1863 by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume.
www.chingyilin.com
