Chamber Music Festival Workshop, Master Classes for Strings and Piano

Study chamber music in Italy this summer with outstanding performers and teachers in an atmosphere of medieval charm and artistic splendor. Young musicians from several countries who wish to perfect their knowledge of chamber music in small ensembles will include strings, piano and winds. Priority is given to students aged 16 to 25, but older players will be accepted if they apply in pre-formed groups or if their instrument and playing level permit us to complete student groups. Visitors are also welcome, space permitting. Housing and meals will be provided in the Istituto Teresiane, a beautiful convent in the center of Ripatransone where the Sisters have hosted Musical Passages musicians before and make us feel very welcome. The local cuisine provided by the convent is really delicious. Ripatransone is a lovely medieval town close to the Adriatic Sea in central Italy. Classes will be taught in Italian or English by well-known musicians who concertise throughout Europe, America and the Far East. They are also conservatory or university faculty in their chosen fields, and outstanding teachers committed to working with young musicians. Violinist Marcello Defant travels extensively in a very active performing and teaching career, which has taken him to China, the United States, France, Spain and throughout Italy. He has also performed in Turkey, Japan, South America, Africa, England, Portugal, Germany and the Netherlands. He studied violin with Ruggiero Ricci, Salvatore Accardo and Franco Mezzena, and viola and composition with Dino Asciolla and Renato Dionisi, and was recently granted his doctorate at the University of Bologna. He is currently concert master and musical director of the Officina de li Affetti and first violin and co-founder of the European Music Project ensemble. His discography as soloist is remarkable, since 1996 recording for the Phoenix Classics label. See www.defant.net. Cellist Kalin Ivanov is a prominent soloist, recitalist, chamber musician and recording artist who perfoms with ?dramatic urgency and expressive tone.- (the Strad). The Music Life Magazine (Moscow) called him ?-recognized master of the cello.- Compared by the press to Rostropovich, Yo-Yo Ma, Piatigorsky and Jacqueline du Pré, he has performed as a soloist with orchestras and as a chamber musician with the Forte String Quartet and the New York Empire Trio in major performing centers in Europe and the United States. He also appears regularly on radio and television programs, leads cello and chamber music master classes and is a judge of international competitions. A native of Bulgaria, Mr. Ivanov holds a Master of Music degree from Brooklyn College in New York. He is currently on the faculty at Brooklyn College/CUNY, Adelphi University, and the Long Island Conservatory/SUNY. He records for MSR Classics and Gega New labels. More at www.kalinivanov.com . Mr. Ivanov is presented by BULGARIAN VIRTUOSI Artists ? www.BulgarianVirtuosi.com. Violist Anthony Shorrocks is currently Head of Performance at Liverpool University, where he has taught violin and viola and conducted the university orchestra for thirteen years. The orchestea has toured in France, Germany and Italy, and Tony has worked as a musician and teacher in Zimbabwe and Iceland, in addition to extensive performing with such groups as the BBC Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Opera North, BBC Big Band, and various contemporary and early music ensembles. He is a Mentor for the Associated Board Professional Development section of the ABRSM. He has also coached chamber music in Italy, France and Spain and has taught at the Royal Northern College of Music. Pianist Vicenzo DeFilpo is known throughout Italy as a superb piano soloist and chamber musician. He has performed abroad as well in the U.S., Hungary, Brazil Switzerland, Malta and Spain. He currently is the principal piano instructor at the Conservatorio di Matera, as well as teaching in Taranto, Foggia, Agrigento and Perugia. He has been invited as judge for various national and international piano competitions, and has recorded extensively.