Manhattan School of Music
Studies

Academic
Departments

Accompanying
Brass
Chamber Music
Composition
Contemporary
    Performance

Guitar
Harp
Humanities
Jazz
Keyboard Skills
Music History
Music Education &
   Performance
   Dual Degree

Opera Studies
Orchestral
   Performance
   Program

Orchestral Studies &
    Operations

Organ
Percussion
Piano
Pinchas Zukerman
   Performance
   Program

Strings
Theory & Skills
Voice
Woodwinds

String Department

String majors are provided with a wide array of performance opportunities and courses taught by a faculty of dedicated teachers and performers. The programs of study for string majors are designed to develop skilled performers who are familiar with the standard solo, ensemble, and orchestral literature for their instruments. Students must demonstrate a high degree of professional competence and appropriate stylistic approaches to the literature of various historical periods.

Majors in violin, viola, cello, and bass are offered on the undergraduate, graduate, doctoral, and professional studies levels. Manhattan School of Music offers a unique graduate program in orchestral performance, specially designed for those musicians who have chosen an orchestral career path. The professional studies certificate and doctor of musical arts programs are highly specialized for the advanced musician as is the Pinchas Zukerman Performance Program, offered to violinists and violists.

We are fortunate to have had the American String Quartet in residence at Manhattan School of Music since 1984. The ensemble — whose members are violinists Peter Winograd and Laurie Carney, violist Daniel Avshalomov, and cellist Wolfram Koessel — perform a season of concerts and supervise a group of student chamber ensembles, as well as serve as individual members of the string faculty. For further information about this ensemble, visit the American String Quartet page.

In addition to studies with our expert faculty, students are provided additional opportunities to play for and observe world-renowned guest artists. Recent master classes in this department have included: Shmuel Ashkenasi (violin), Yuri Bashmet (viola), Jeff Bradetich (orchestral bass), Robert Chen (orchestral violin), Max Dimoff (orchestral bass), Sidney Harth (violin/orchestral), Marta Istomin (cello), David Kim (violin), Ralph Kirshbaum (cello), Peter Lloyd (orchestral bass), Samuel Magen (cello), Tom Martin (orchestral bass), Anne Martindale-Williams (orchestral cello), Leigh Mesh (orchestral bass), Edgar Meyer (bass), Mstislav Rostropovich (strings/cello), and Owen Young (orchestral cello). In addition, American violinist Pamela Frank is our 2002-2003 Misha Elman Chair, presenting a series of classes focusing on string sonatas, concertos, and chamber music.

To download a PDF version of the String Department Handbook, click here.

Courses

The degree sequence plans for the various majors, which will show you what courses and numbers of credits are required for graduation, are found by clicking the links below:

 

Admission

General admission information regarding taped auditions, audition fees, required materials, and applications can be found by visiting our Audition Procedures Page.

Specific audition requirements can be found by clicking the links below:



String Faculty

Nicholas Mann,
Department chair

Timothy Cobb
Bass
David Grossman
Bass
Linda McKnight
Bass
Orin O'Brien
Bass

Ardyth Alton
Cello
Marion Feldman
Cello
David Geber
Cello
Wolfram Koessel
Cello
Julia Lichten
Cello
Nathaniel Rosen
Cello
David Soyer
Cello
Alan Stepansky
Cello
Frederick Zlotkin
Cello

Daniel Avshalomov
Viola
Irene Breslaw
Viola
Karen Dreyfus
Viola
Lawrence Dutton
Viola
Burton Kaplan
Viola
Patinka Kopec
Viola
Isaac Malkin
Viola
Robert Rinehart
Viola
Michael Tree
Viola
Pinchas Zukerman
Viola

Stanley Bednar
Violin
Laurie Carney
Violin
Glenn Dicterow
Violin
Grigory Kalinovsky
Violin
Patinka Kopec
Violin
Curtis Macomber
Violin
Isaac Malkin
Violin
Nicholas Mann
Violin
Robert Mann
Violin
Albert Markov
Violin
Maria Radicheva
Violin
Lucie Robert
Violin
Sylvia Rosenberg
Violin
Laurie Smukler
Violin
Yoko Takebe
Violin
Peter Winograd
Violin