Skip to Navigation | Skip to Content
performing

Strings - Performing

Strings | Performing | Solo | Chamber | Orchestra

Solo Performance at Calvin

Music is meant to be shared with an audience in performance.  Therefore, solo performances are the natural result of private lessons.  At Calvin College, solo playing takes the form of departmental recital hours, individual recitals and the annual concerto competition.  To further help students develop as soloists, Master Classes with guest artists are offered on a regular basis.

Highlights:

  • Master Classes have recently featured guest artists such as Tchaikovsky Violin Competition Medalist Dylana Jenson, Cleveland Orchestra cellist Alan Harrell, and Academy of St. Martins in the Field violinist Martin Burgess. Calvin College students have also played in Master Classes sponsored by the Grand Rapids Symphony and the St. Cecilia Music Society, including Indianapolis Violin Competition winner Augustin Hadelich and the famed English cellist Steven Isserlis. Master Class opportunities for 2009/10 include guest artists James Buswell (violin) and Carol Ou (cello).
  • The Calvin College Orchestra Concerto Competition has included several string players in recent years. In 2008/09, bassist Paul Nienhuis was among the winners. Esther Miller (now a graduate student at the University of Memphis) played the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the CCO during the 2007/08 season; Phil McMillan (violin) and Laurie Bos (bass) did likewise in 2006/07. Cellist Jon Wiest (a recent Masters Degree graduate from Temple University) performed the Saint-Saens Concerto as a Concerto Competition winner in 2005/06.
  • The bi-annual Bach Festival provided an opportunity for Calvin string players to shine in 2005 – Hillary Van Woerkom and Jonathon Wiest performed Bach Suites and Philip McMillan performed movements of the Unaccompanied Sonata in G minor. While the 2007 event was snowed out, Calvin College students again performed in the "Bach Around the Block" event in 2009, including violinist Courtney Vander Hulst and cellist Lisa Van Lopik.

Chamber Music

Chamber Music is musician’s music, combining the joy of playing the vital melodies of a soloist with the support of playing with a small team of friends. There is a wealth of repertoire composed for various combinations and it can even be a workshop for living out the Christian faith. At Calvin College, there are numerous opportunities to participate in chamber ensembles and to plumb the depths of what those experiences have to offer. Current Calvin string quartets performing extensively both on campus and in the community include the Gioioso Quartet and the Capricioso Quartet. Highlights from recent years include:

  • April, 2008 - Quartetto Senza Limitazioni performed on the Orchestra Solo Night, while a Chamber Music program featured the Calvin String Ensemble, Gioioso Quartet, Melodica Quartet, Atlantica Quartet, Quartetto Cantabile and Quartet 441.
  • February, 2008 - The Gioioso Quartet performed in a Master Class for the Guarneri String Quartet in an event co-sponsored with the St. Cecilia Music Society. Also on the program was the Kalliope Quartet, which included Calvin cellist Peter Plantinga.
  • October, 2007 - The annual Fall Music Festival included the Gioioso Quartet, performing a movement of the Shostakovich Eighth Quartet.
  • March, 2006 - The Cavani String Quartet performed on Calvin’s Artist Series and also gave a pair of Master Classes for Calvin's Quartets.
  • January, 2006 - Four quartets performed in England on the Calvin College Orchestra tour. In the spirit of the English-American theme, the ensembles performed works by Samuel Barber, Frank Bridge, George Gershwin and William Grant Still.
  • March, 2005 - Five quartets from Calvin presented a program on the downtown music series “Music at Mid-day.”

Orchestra at Calvin

Much of the greatest music of the western classical tradition has been written for orchestra and Calvin College students have the opportunity to experience it in several ways.

  • The Calvin College Orchestra is a full-sized student ensemble that performs, tours and records.  With Robert Nordling as conductor, the CCO has performed diverse programs that include beloved classics (Copland’s Appalachian Spring and Dvorak’s New World Symphony), audition standards (Mozart’s 39th Symphony and Brahms’ 2nd Symphony) and adventures in contemporary music (Penderecki’s Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima and Cage’s Atlas Eclipticalis).
  • All of the Calvin string faculty perform regularly with the Grand Rapids Symphony and a discounted ticket program aids students in attending concerts by the highly-regarded GRSO, conducted by David Lockington.  Recent guest soloists have included Sarah Chang, Elmar Oliveira, Janos Starker and Edgar Meyer.
  • The orchestral background of Calvin’s string faculty assists students in becoming accomplished orchestral musicians through sectionals and the study of audition excerpts.  Periodic Master Classes on audition repertoire are also offered, the latest with Maestro Lockington.
  • The annual Orchestra Festival provides the opportunity for high school orchestras from across the state of Michigan to have sectionals with Calvin faculty, rehearsals alongside Calvin students, clinics with a highly-esteemed guest artist and a rousing final concert – all in one day!  For more information about this event, contact David Reimer (drr2@calvin.edu).