Coming weekend Yura Lee along with Lily Francis and Claudio Bohorquez will assume the role of lecturers in our chamber music project „ Mit Musik – Miteinander“. This project, which runs for many years now (happening twice a year) is designed to bring young soloists together with talented musicians  aged 13- 20 years. It is both a performing and a learning exercise, and the final concert on Sunday, May 22 will present to the public the results of two days of hard and inspiring work.

During the course of nearly three days all participants will join in different groupings in order to rehearse and perform a couple of classic chamber music works. Beginning on Friday afternoon in Kronbergs “Streitkirche” our team expects some 10 young musicians from Germany and Austria. Some of the young musicians have already participated in last year´s project, October 2010.

We wanted to ask one of the young lecturers, how she is about to prepare for this event and what is her attitude towards teaching and learning. So we asked Yura Lee, the 25-year old Korean, now living in the United States.

Yura participated in Kronberg Academy’s Chamber Music Connects the World in 2004 and joined Kronberg Academy Further Masters in September 2010, studying violin with Professor Ana Chumachenco and viola with Professor Nabuko Imai. Looking back at her early musical development one clearly sees a tremendous development. Her violin studies began at age 4 with Namyoon Kim in Seoul,Korea. Her talent was quickly recognized, when, at age 5, she won a top prize at the prestigious Hankook Ilbo Competition in Seoul. Two years later she made her debut with Korea’s leading orchestra, the KBS Symphony.

From 1994 to 2001, Yura studied at the Juilliard School of Music, under the late Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang. During the summers of1995-2000 she was a full scholarship student at the Aspen Music School. In 2001-2002 and 2007, she participated at the Steans Institute for Young Artists at Ravinia and from 2001-2005, studied with Miriam Fried and Paul Biss at Indiana University, and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. In 1997, she received the Debut Artist of the Year prize at the “Performance Today” awards given by National Public Radio. In 2007, she received, among other prizes, the prestigious Avery Fischer Career Grant.

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Here are our five questions that we asked Yura to provide some answers

Q: How do you prepare for the upcoming project MMM?

Not only will I be teaching but will be playing with the students, so the preparations include: learning the score of the piece visually (learning about the parts of other instruments), and practicing my own part of course. Also it always helps to know about the composers themselves, in my case for this MMM will be Mozart and Beethoven. It’s interesting to think about what they intended, in their historical context.

Q: How do you feel when performing as a teacher. What have been your experiences so far?

I have taught before (very young kids), but not at a conservatory or music school since I’m still 25 years old, and I feel that there are many things I need to learn. It is however, my first time actually performing with the students. I’m looking forward to it!

Q: What is essential for you when you think of teaching and learning ( from a teacher and a learner´s standpoint), what can a teacher learn while teaching?

For me, teaching (from teacher’s perspective) and learning (from student’s perspective) is all about opening up possibilities. A teacher can learn so much from students because everyone is different, everyone is unique. What may work for me, may not work for everyone. It’s exciting to think of new solutions, different ways of playing. Also, there are infinite amounts of things to learn – one should never stop exploring and learning, no matter how old you are or how long you’ve been playing music.

Q: Can you imagine becoming more active in the world of teaching?

I will spend part of this summer teaching at a festival in the United States. I never want to stop performing, but it would be great to have performing life with teaching life as well, in the future.

Q: What is your expectation and perhaps hope after those 3 days in Kronberg will have ended Sunday afternoon?

I hope the students will enjoy the process (practicing/learning) as much as result (our concert at the end). Chamber music is such a great thing, and it’s great to be exposed to it at a young age. I’m happy that we will experience it together.

Michael Heinz

Kronberg, im März 2010:

An einem der ersten Tage ohne Schnee in Kronberg waren sie alle versammelt: 7 Junge Solisten waren zusammengekommen, um Ana Chumachencos Meisterkurs beizuwohnen. Endlich hatte ich mal Gelegenheit, so viele junge Musiker unseres Studienganges „Kronberg Academy Masters/ Further Master Studies“ geballt an einem Platz zu erleben. Keine Übertreibung: das war ein angenehmes, familiäres Zusammentreffen von Alt und Jung, und was mir so mancher Junge  Solist nachher erzählte:  man kennt sich größtenteils untereinander. Aber der Reihe nach….

Wer war dabei….?

Peijun Xu, Benedict Klöckner, Yumiko Urabe, Alicja Smietana, Alina Ibragimova, Eri Sugita, Sasha Sitkovetsky, Soojin Han, Vilde Frang, der Berliner Gabriel Schwabe und schließlich David Gueran.

Während der Vormittag alleine dem Einzelunterricht gewidmet war, war nach dem gemeinsamen Mittagessen zunächst Kammermusik „vom Blatt“ angesagt und es durften nun auch einige Zuhörer des Academy Teams mit dabei sein. Absolut spannend dachte ich und ließ mich auf knappe 3 Stunden intensiven Musik-Hörens ein.

Direkt neben dem aufmerksamen Stephen Potts sitzend, dem Leiter des Academy-Master Studienganges,  versuchte ich , sowohl den Klängen der Musik zu folgen, als auch ein Gefühl für die Anstrengungen und Konzentration der jungen Musiker mit aufzunehmen. Den Auftakt machte das lebhafte und zugleich rasante Oktett von Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy – ein absolut begeisterndes Stück! Im Halbkreis sitzend, Frau Chumachenco als 4. Geige im Zentrum, musizierten alle mit viel Schwung und Klasse. Sasha Sitkovetsky, der mir zuvor stolz von seinen frühen Begegnungen mit Yehudi Menuhin berichtet hatte, hatte als erster Geiger die Führungsrolle inne – glänzend – so meine subjektive Empfindung.

Dann, nach einer kurzen Pause, stand Alina Ibragimova allein im Zentrum der Aufmerksamkeit: Sie intonierte die Sonate Nr. 2 Op. 94 von Prokofiev mit großer Inbrunst. Die begeisterten Kommentare Ana Chumachencos und der anderen Meisterkurs-Teilnehmer über ihr Spiel ließ die junge Russin, die in Großbritannien lebt, mit sichtlicher Freude und gut gelaunt über sich ergehen. Einer Katze gleich, lautlos und gewandt aus der Bodenperspektive fotografierend, war auch unser Fotograf Andreas Malkmus mit von der Partie, um diese Momente gewissermaßen für das Familien-Album  festzuhalten. Den Schlussakkord seiner Arbeit bildete ein wirklich schönes, familiäres  Gruppenfoto der jungen Musiker mit Frau Chumachenco –

dieses und weitere „atmosphärische“ Momentaufnahmen eines besonderen Meisterkurs-Tages  in der Kronberger Streitkirche können nun alle Fans und Freunde auf unserer Kronberg Academy Flickr- Seite bestaunen.

Michael Heinz

(Tag 2. der Geigen Meisterkurse)

Erste Eindrücke von den Geigen Meisterkursen bei den Dozenten Ana Chumachenco, Christian Tetzlaff und Mauricio Fuks. Sehr interessanter ist natürlich, wenn man die Chance hat, einen Meisterkurs, die ja öffentlich sind,  selbst zu erleben. Denn jeder der Dozenten hat seine ganz eigene Methode, wie er seinen Unterricht gestaltet. Sehr spannend!

Fotos: Copyright Nicole Gerster

Ulrike Schmid

Of Russian origin but born in Italy and of Argentinean and German nationality, Ana Chumachenco started to play the violin at the age of four under the supervision of her father, a disciple of Leopold Auer, and later with Ljerko Spiller in Buenos Aires.

After achieving a remarkable career in her early years, she returned to Europe at the age of 17 to continue her studies. A year later she was awarded the gold medal at the Carl Flesch competition in London, and a few years later the silver medal at the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels. Her musical mentors in those years were Joseph Szigeti, Sandor Vegh and Yehudi Menuhin.

Besides her appearances in recitals as a soloist with major orchestras, Ana Chumachenco has dedicated much of her time to chamber music, especially in a string trio with her husband and violist, Oscar Lysy, and cellist Walter Notas, with whom, under the name of the Munich String Trio, she has performed for over 20 years.

Presently Ana Chumachenco holds a professorship at the Musikhochschule in Munich, her students being outstanding young violinists who themselves are international performers. Ana Chumachenco is periodically invited to take part as a juror in major violin competitions, such as the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition of Belgium, the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in Helsinki, and others. She is professor to Kronberg Academy Masters.

Der Beginn unserer Geigen Meisterkurse rückt immer näher und so finden wir es an der Zeit, unsere Dozenten, die zum Teil auch in Konzerten zu hören sein werden, vorzustellen. Den Anfang macht Ana Chumachenco.

Russischer Herkunft aber in Italien geboren und argentinischer und deutscher Nationalität, begann Ana Chumachenco im Alter von vier Jahren mit dem Geigenunterricht, erst bei ihrem Vater, der selber aus der Schule von Leopold Auer kam, und später bei Ljerko Spiller in Buenos Aires.

Nachdem sie ihre Karriere mit sehr jungen Jahren in Argentinien rasch begann, kehrte sie im Alter von 17 Jahren nach Europa zurück, um ihre Studien fortzusetzen. Nach nur einem Jahr gewann sie die Goldmedaille beim C. Flesh Wettbewerb in London und anschließend die Silbermedaille beim Queen Elisabeth Wettbewerb in Brüssel. In diesen Jahren wurde sie von Joseph Szigeti, Sandor Vegh und Yehudi Menuhin unterrichtet.

Neben ihren Auftritten als Solistin bei Liederabenden und mit einigen der größten europäischen Orchestern widmet Ana Chumachenco einen großen Teil ihrer Zeit der Kammermusik, insbesondere seit über zwanzig Jahren zusammen mit ihrem Ehemann, dem Geiger Oscar Lysy und dem Cellisten Walter Notas in dem Münchner Streicher Trio.

Derzeit hat Ana Chumachenco einen Lehrstuhl für Geige an der Musikhochschule in München inne, unter ihren Schülern finden sich herausragende junge Geiger, die selbst internationale Künstler sind. Ana Chumachenco erscheint regelmäßig als Jury-Mitglied bei vielen angesehenen Violinen-Wettbewerben, darunter der internationale belgische Queen Elisabeth Musikwettbewerb, der internationale Jean Sibelius Violinenwettbewerb in Helsinki und andere. Sie ist Professorin des Kronberg Academy Masters.

We have 2 courses at Kronberg Academy Masters providing exciting and unique musical training for gifted young soloists. The first course is a Master of Music (M.Mus) that combines studies at Kronberg Academy Masters with the Hochschule in Frankfurt. By pooling our resources and Professors we maximise the benefits. Most of the practical and career related studies are undertaken with us whilst the more formal aspects of the degree study are undertaken at the Hochschule. The second, Further Masters Studies, is aimed at providing continuing support after completion of the Master of Music.

Why study at Kronberg Academy? Well, clearly the Conservatoires do a good job but they have many young artists to manage every year and can’t give the kind of individual attention that we can provide to promoting the highest standards in music performance and career development. Nor can they provide the distinctive environment that is Kronberg Academy. Just look at our Professorial team: Ana Chumachenco and Christian Tetzlaff (Violin), Nobuko Imai (Viola), Frans Helmerson and Gary Hoffman (Cello) – a ‘dream’ team if ever one existed! There is also myself, someone with years of experience teaching and running specialist music schools and University departments, who, I like to think, is approachable, knowledgeable and with insight into being able to mentor every aspect of a young soloist’s career. Our Studios, with excellent acoustics and new Steinway pianos, match up to the best in the world and there is always a warm, friendly welcome from those who help run the course.

Yes, you have to have a special talent to join but so is great potential. If you are interested in discovering more why not browse the website at Kronberg Academy. Opening the door may prove a moment of inspiration!

Stephen Potts
Director of Kronberg Academy Masters

Our first Violin Masterclasses are dedicated to the memory of the virtuoso violonist Yehudi Menuhin. The tenth anniversary of his death will be commemorated in 2009.

We will hold the Violin Masterclasses from 27 April to 4 May 2009. Young musicians will be able to spend one week being taught by world-famous violinists and drawing inspiration from a range of different violin schools. Ana Chumachenco, Mauricio Fuks, Christian Tetzlaff and Pavel Vernikov will be passing on their knowledge and experience in public masterclasses with selected students. Gidon Kremer and Roby Lakatos will be giving a workshop for all active and passive masterclass students.

Who can participate? Students aged 28 or under may purchase either a “Masterclasses Active” or a “Masterclasses Passive” ticket. Applicants for active participation will be required to audition at the start of the masterclasses and must therefore prepare two pieces from different stylistic periods. Piano accompanists will be available. A jury will decide who to admit to the masterclasses; its decision will be final. Each student will play in only one set of masterclasses (Chumachenco,Vernikov, Fuks, Tetzlaff). Students who are not accepted for active participation will be registered automatically as passive participants. Both active and passive participants will be able to observe all masterclasses and will be admitted free of charge to all concerts and other events (except the special concert “Yehudi Menuhin – a Homage” with Daniel Hope). Each active participant will be given at least two lessons by his/her tutor and will receive a certificate of participation at the end of the masterclasses.

More information and online-registration

Ulrike Schmid