Oregon ASTA
The Oregon Chapter of the American String Teachers Association
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Masterclass Series: Passport to Bach
Oregon ASTA is delighted to present a series of presentations about the solo violin and cello music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Violinist Tomas Cotik's class is open to string players of all stringed instruments as it addresses general issues of Bach interpretation. Violist Arnaud Ghillebaert and Cellist Valdine Mishkin each held a one hour class focusing on the cello suites. Please join us, whether this is your first experience with solo Bach or you have already begun to explore this magnificent and challenging music!
Classes were held live via Zoom and were recorded for enrolled participants to view at their convenience.
Classes listed as TBD have already passed, and recordings are instantly available after purchase (an email will be sent with the recording link).
ASTA Members and Member Students
$10 per 60 minute class
Non-Members
$20 per 60 minute class
The interpretation of Bach's Sonatas and Partitas Recording Available
Description
A year after his 2020 album release and a 10 article series in The Strad Magazine about Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas, Dr. Tomás Cotik presents a session in which he discusses the contradictions between the different trends in Bach interpretation and his solutions to them. The session will include a discussion about the bow, sound, articulation, string crossings, slurs, dynamics, intonation, vibrato, ornaments, trills, tempo rubato, and more.
Dr. Tomás Cotik
Hailed by Michael Tilson Thomas as "an excellent violinist," Tomas Cotik was a first-prize winner at the National Broadcast Music Competition in his native Argentina in 1997, and the winner of the Government of Canada Award for 2003-2005. He is internationally recognized as a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. An avid recording artist, Dr. Cotik is currently involved in more than fourteen CD recordings for Naxos and Centaur Records, which have received over a hundred reviews and the highest praises from some of the best-known publications such as Fanfare, American Record Guide, Downbeat, Washington Post and The Strad. These recordings include Schubert’s complete works for violin and piano, Mozart complete sonatas for violin and piano and two Piazzolla albums with Cotik’s own arrangements.
Tomas Cotik has performed hundreds of recitals and chamber music concerts across the globe. Formed in 2011, the Cotik/Lin Duo was recently selected as the only duo on the roster of the Live on Stage concerts and will tour extensively throughout the U.S. in the coming seasons. He was also a member of the acclaimed Amernet, Delray, and Harrington string quartets, a rotating concertmaster of the New World Symphony, and performed as concertmaster of the Minas Gerais Philharmonic in Brazil.
Committed to passing on his passion for music, Tomas Cotik regularly provides master classes, lectures, and presentations around the country. In the work with his students, Tomas emphasizes a natural approach to the instrument, providing tools to avoid physical tensions. His recent articles on this philosophy and other topics were published by The Strad. His ultimate goal is to guide his students so that they cultivate, develop, and further their individual artistic visions and professional dreams. Another emphasis as a mentor is guiding his students to develop career tools that will help them succeed as performers in the 21st century.
Tomas Cotik earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Miami. He holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Freiburg University of Music in Germany and an Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School in Toronto.Dr. Tomas Cotik was appointed Assistant Professor of Violin at Portland State University in 2016. He previously taught at West Texas A&M University, Florida International University, and at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music.
Bach for Violists Recording Available
Description
Bach suites have become an essential part of the 21st century violist repertoire. Most college auditions and professional auditions require Bach suite movements to be performed. Yet the demands of this repertoire can make it challenging for students to approach it. This session is intended for high school and college students, from complete Bach beginners to more advanced players, and hopes to provide simple tools to decipher their Bach suite movements. How do you first approach a Bach Suite if you’ve never played one? What is the role of a prelude? What are the characteristics of each dance? How can structure, harmony, cadences help in making interpretative choices? How does one choose their edition? How does one practice 3 or 4 string chords?
Arnaud Ghillebaert
Originally from Paris, Arnaud Ghillebaert has performed as an orchestra musician with The Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields (Sir Neville Mariner) and the London Symphony Orchestra. He toured Europe for two summers with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra under the baton of Sir Colin Davis and Herbert Blomstedt in venues such as the Royal Albert Hall in London or the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and is now a member of the New Haven Symphony and the Artosphere Festival Orchestra (Corrado Rovaris, musical director). He played in the Southbank Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra in England for one year and appeared in London’s National Theatre production of Tom Stoppard’s and Andre Previn’s Every Good Boy Deserves Favour. A founding member of the Elsewhere Ensemble, in 2013 he created the role of the Shadow in His Majesty the Devil-a play with music. The show, inspired by Dostoyevsky, was performed at 59E59 Theaters in New York City, FringeNYC, and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. A dedicated chamber musician, he was invited to perform at the Louis Moreau Institute in New Orleans and in the “Starry Nights” music series at the Staller Center for the Arts at Stony Brook University alongside Colin Carr, Eugene Drucker (Emerson String Quartet) and Nick Cords (Silkroad Ensemble, Brooklyn Rider). He received his Masters from the Royal College of Music in London and completed his Doctorate in Violin and Viola performance at Stony Brook University in 2016. He has been the viola instructor at the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance (Eugene, OR) since Fall 2017. Since arriving in Oregon he has performed in the Oregon Bach Festival, is the principal violist of the Oregon Mozart Players, and has been playing concerts with Chamber Music Amici, Microphilharmonic and with the Eugene Symphony (viola and violin section).
Bach for the Cellist Recording Available
Description
Bach suites are an essential part of the 21st century cellist repertoire. Most college auditions and professional auditions require Bach suite movements to be performed. Yet the demands of this repertoire can make it challenging for students to approach it. This session is intended for high school and college students, from complete Bach beginners to more advanced players, and hopes to provide simple tools to decipher their Bach suite movements. How do you first approach a Bach Suite if you’ve never played one? What is the role of a prelude? What are the characteristics of each dance? How can structure, harmony, cadences help in making interpretative choices? How does one choose their edition? How does one practice 3 or 4 string chords?
Valdine Mishkin
Canadian Cellist Valdine Ritchie Mishkin performs with Third Angle New Music, FearNOMusic, March Modern, 45th Parallel, cross-over group Portland Cello Project, is half of Duo Apaixionado with Peruvian guitarist Alfredo Muro, and moonlights as an extra cellist with the Oregon Symphony. A champion of contemporary music, she has premiered numerous works including composers John Luther Adams, Kenji Bunch, Nancy Ives, and Karim Al-Zand, can be heard on Third Angle Records and Albany Records, and is a frequent guest on All-Classical FM Portland. Beginning studies at age 3 and making her solo debut at age 10 with the Winnipeg Symphony, she has since performed concerti with the Sunnyside Symphony, Chehalem Symphony, and the Mercury Ensemble.
On faculty at Willamette University and with a bustling private studio, her students are frequent finalists in local and national competitions and hold leadership positions in area youth orchestras. She serves as an adjudicator, coach, clinician, conference presenter, author, and on the board of OR-ASTA. She holds Doctoral and Master degrees from Rice University under Lynn Harrell and Norman Fischer, and a Bachelor degree from McGill University under Antonio Lysy.