2010 Chamber Music Workshop Faculty
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Robert Bassill, Chamber Music Program Coordinator, Camp Director and Orchestra Director, violin, received his Bachelors of Music from DePaul University and his Masters of Music Education from Case Western University. Mr. Bassill is the Director of Orchestras and Music Theory at Lake Forest High School and is on the chamber music faculty at Midwest Young Artists. As a performer, Mr. Bassill freelances around the Chicago area playing in local orchestras. In addition to performing, Mr. Bassill conducts the Summer Concert Orchestra at MYA and has served as conductor for the Centerstage musical in Lake Forest, IL, and as Assistant Conductor for the Case Western University Orchestra.
Susan Bates, viola, is an instructor of chamber music and viola at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Preparatory Division. She has directed and instructed at Summer Music West, California Summer Music and currently the Lake Tahoe Music Festival’s Summer Music Academy. Ms. Bates is the 1992 recipient of the Chamber Music America’s Gruber Award for Excellence in Chamber Music Teaching.
Amanda Dennis, cello, is a faculty member at Midwest Young Artists. In addition to teaching and coaching students, Mandy has performed with Indiana Unversity Chamber and Philharmonic Orchestras, DePaul University Orchestra, Kankakee Valley Symphony Orchestra, Danville Symphony, and she was principal cellist at Chatauqua Music Festival. Amanda is also a Midwest Young Artists alumna, where she was principal cellist of the Midwest Young Artists' Symphony Orchestra, and two time medalist at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Her teachers have included Janos Starker and Hans Jensen.
Anthony Elliot, cello, is Professor and Conductor at the School of Music at University of Michigan. Anthony Elliott has given master classes at many leading music institutions including the Glen Gould Conservatory in Toronto, the Cleveland Institute of Music, Eastman School of Music, the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, Indiana University, Oberlin Conservatory, Peabody Conservatory, the Meadowmount School, and Interlochen Arts Academy. Mr. Elliott was also invited to give a workshops for conductors at the Midwestern Conference of Music Education at the University of Michigan, and for the Texas Orchestra Directors Association. Other recent engagements include the Sphinx Symphony, Plymouth (MI) Symphony, the Prince George’s Philharmonic, the University Symphony Orchestra at the University of Michigan, the Washington, Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, Maryland, Alaska, and North Dakota All State Orchestras, and the All Northwest Orchestra.
Charles Pikler , viola, joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as a violinist in 1978. In 1986 he was appointed principal violist. Charlie is presently a member of the North Park University and Northwestern University faculties. Charlie also served on the faculty of the Sewanee Summer Music Festival in Sewanee, Tennessee. He was the featured soloist on the Sewanee Symphony's recording of Berlioz's Harold in Italy for Solo Viola and Orchestra under Victor Yampolsky. Charlie has appeared as soloist with many other orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Chamber Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, and the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra. Charlie has given master classes throughout the world and is an active chamber music performer. He also enjoys coaching viola sectionals of the Midwest Young Artist or chestras, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, as well as those of other orchestra and chamber ensembles.
Sarah Plum , violin, is the Assistant Professor of Violin and Viola at the Drake University department of music. Since winning the first prize in the International Stulberg Competition in 1984 she has appeared on stages in the US and abroad as a soloist and chamber musician. Additionally, she has played in European orchestras both as a leading and section player. She is a graduate of the Juilliard School where she received a Bachelor's and Master's degree and the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where she received a DMA. Her major teachers were Szymon Goldberg, Joyce Robbins, Dorothy Delay and David Cerone.
Gene Purdue, violin, achieved national recognition as a founding member of the Thouvenel String
Quartet. As first violinist, he won first prize at the Weiner String Quartet Competition, performed on NBC’s Today Show, and was a finalist in the Naumberg Competition. Currently, he
is a member of the chamber music faculty of Midwest Young Artists. His teachers include Josef Gingold, Tadeusz Wronski, Franco Gulli, Daniel Guilet and Dorothy Delay. Gene is the Summer Program Artistic Director at Midwest Young Artists.
Gerardo Ribeiro, violin, has received numerous awards in distinguished international competitions, including the Paganini and Montreal competitions, and First Prize at the Vianna de Motta contest in Lisbon and the Maria Canals competition in Barcelona. After serving on the violin faculty at the Eastman School of Music,Mr. Ribeiro joined the Northwestern University faculty as a full professor of violin. As a concert soloist, Mr. Ribeiro has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra; the Montreal, Dallas, Lucerne, Lisbon, Barcelona, and Cali Symphony Orchestras; the Zagreb and Antwerp Philharmonics; the Taiwan and Belgian National Orchestras; the Radio Orchestras of Paris, Hilversum, and North Germany; and other leading ensembles. Also active in chamber music, he has served as artistic director of the International Chamber Music Institute in Munich and has performed at the Marlboro and Lucerne International Music Festivals. Mr. Ribeiro's recordings are available on the EMI and RCA labels.
Thomas Rosenberg, cello, is nationally known as a dynamic performer, chamber music coach, and teacher. He is a prize winner at the Munich (Germany), Portsmouth (England) and Chicago Discovery Competitions, and is a three-time Naumburg Chamber Music Award finalist. Mr. Rosenberg was a founding member of the highly acclaimed Chester String Quartet and was solo cello of the New York Chamber Ensemble. He currently plays in 4 piano trios and frequently performs with both the Minnesota Orchestra and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Since 1981 he has been Artistic Director of the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. He is on the faculties of the University of Minnesota , Macalester and Carleton Colleges and has been named String Teacher of the Year by ASTA Minnesota.
Rami Solomonow, viola, is a graduate of the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel-Aviv, Israel, where he studied with Oedoen Partos. He was a member of the Israel Chamber ORchestra until 1972 and received prizes in chamber music from the American-Israel Foundation. Mr. Solomonow moved to the U.S. in 1973 where he studied with Shmuel Ashkenasi and served as principal violist for the Lyric Opera of Chicago from 1974 to 1995. In 1995, Mr. Solomonow became a member of the Chicago Chamber Musicians, and from 1995-2004 he was the violist of the Chicago String Quartet, the resident quartet of The Chicago Chamber Musicians and the Tao Music Festival. Mr. Solomonow has been a faculty member at DePaul University since 1981. He has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in numerous festivals in the U.S. and abroad in Israel, Japan, and South America. Mr. Solomonow has performed on live broadcasts on WFMT, WQXR and NPR, and he has been a guest violist with many string quartets. He has recorded with the Vermeer Quartet, The Chicago Chamber Musicians, the Chicago String Quartet and with the DePaul University Wind Ensemble as a soloist.
Tatyana Stepanova, piano, is originally from Kiev, Ukraine. She graduated from Tchaikovsky Kiev State Conservatory and Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg (Russia) Conservatory of Music, where she worked as an assistant professor while pursuing her doctoral program in piano performance. Her concert appearances include chamber concerts with faculty Northwestern University School of Music, DePaul University School of Music, performances with the Storioni Ensemble, live WFMT performances with the Heritage Trio, the Piano Duo concerts, and many others.
