Please, teacher: Stringing along with the profs
NewsThe Korean violist Sara Kim is leaving Leipzig to be professor of viola and chamber music in Bremen. Sara (pictured) starts in April.
Ex-Bavarian Radio violist German Tcakulov is now viola professor at Salzburg’s Mozarteum University.
The German-Spanish cellist Gabriel Schwalbe is now professor at the Music Academy in Lübeck.
And ex-Kronos cellist Jeffrey Zeigler has rejoined the faculty of Mannes School of Music in New York.
Also noted: The Deutsche Hochschulverband has awarded Prof of the Year to Nils Mönkemeyer, Professor of Viola at the University of Music and Theatre Munich and from April 2025 at the Hanns Eisler University of Music Berlin.
And: The Royal Conservatory of Brussels has a new bassoon teacher, Gordon Fantini.
These music schools continue to hire players with minimal teaching experience. Some of these faculty hires are so young, it seems they will be competing with their own students for gigs; maybe that’s why they’re hired.
Ivan Galamian, Dotty DeLay, the Schoenfelds, the Vamoses, the Gruppmans, and numerous others were/are valued as marvelous teachers.
Hiring early career orchestral dropouts? Wild move.
Bravo to all involved!
In the old days those with degrees, especially advanced degrees were assumed to not be good players because why would you stay in school if you can actually play.
OLd days Teachers: Auer, Joachim, Carl Flesh, Ysaye…Wow, they couldn’t really play the violin!
I can see that you write some trash comment without any knowledge or interest. extremely rude. I’ve been teaching since more than 11 years in 3 conservatories like Hanns Eisler, Munich and Leipzig starting as an assistant and continuing as adjunct and having my own studio of 6-7 students.
So did German – Salzburg is his second professorship. if you still want to mention that this is minimal experience – you have some problems. And before mentioning about the last century, I would open eyes and see what is actually happening in the classical world nowadays.
I don’t know how it is in Europe, but in the USA, there are simply too many music schools offering performance degrees, with the vast majority of the students having no chance at even a modest performance career. Meanwhile, many of these students accrue $100,000 or $200,000 or more in student loan debt. Unscrupulous and irresponsible of these low level “conservatories”.