Online Solo Strings Intensive: November '25

Benjamin Beilman has earned international acclaim for his passionate performances and distinctive tone—The New York Times called it “muscular with a glint of violence,” while The Strad praised its “pure poetry.” Praised for his instinctive sense of form and color, he brings a balance of elegance and surprise to his playing—uncovering new depths in familiar works and expanding the violin’s expressive range through his commitment to contemporary music.

Associate Professor of Violin at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance in Ann Arbor, Danielle Belen is already making a name for herself as a seasoned pedagogue with a strong studio of young artists. Her students have won major prizes in national and international competitions including the Menuhin, Stulberg and Klein competitions, as well as being accepted into top conservatories and universities across the country.

Winner of the 2008 Sphinx Competition, Ms. Belen has appeared as a soloist with the Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Nashville and San Francisco Symphonies, the Boston Pops, and the Florida and Cleveland Orchestras. Zachary Lewis from the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote “Violinist Danielle Belen… captivated every ear with an assured, impassioned performance of Ravel’s “Tzigane,” knocking off the daunting showpiece as if it were a trifle.”

A graduate of the USC Thornton School of Music and the Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles, Ms. Belen joined the faculty of the Colburn School of Performing Arts in 2008. In addition to maintaining her own violin studio, she was the teaching assistant to renowned pedagogue Robert Lipsett for five years. During that time, Ms. Belen also served as the Director of the Ed and Mari Chamber Music Institute at Colburn.

In 2010, Ms. Belen founded Center Stage Strings, a summer camp and performance festival for gifted young musicians in central California. After gaining national attention, CSS moved to the campus of The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor as part of MPulse, a summer program at the School of Music, Theatre and Dance. As the Artistic Director and head of the violin faculty for Center Stage Strings, she has attracted students and seasoned artists from around the world. Lynn Harrell, James Ehnes, Arnold Steinhardt, Sarah Chang, William Hagen, Rohan de Silva and Stefan Jackiw have joined to perform in support of the program.

As the winner of the 2014 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, Ms. Belen performed for Justice Sonia Sotomayor and her guests at the Supreme Court in Washington DC, where she was awarded a $50,000 career grant. In turn, she used that money towards a matching campaign for Center Stage Strings, doubling the amount into $100,000 for student scholarships.

Ms. Belen plays on a violin made in Mantua, Italy by Stefano Scarampella.

Cornelia Heard currently holds the Valere Blair Potter Chair at Blair School of Music, Vanderbilt University, where she is professor of violin and chair of the string department. She has served on the artist faculty of the Aspen Music Festival and School since 2005 and is co-director of the chamber music program. As a member of the Blair String Quartet, she has toured extensively throughout the United States, presented complete Beethoven and Bartok cycles and recorded for the Naxos, Innova, Warner Reprise, New World, Blue Griffin and Pantheon labels. She has recently participated in festivals in Portillo and Santiago, Chile, Guangzhou, China and Loja, Ecuador. Ms. Heard has performed on concert series at the Library of Congress and at New York’s 92nd Street Y, as well as at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Merkin Hall and Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall. She served on the faculty of the Sewanee Music Festival from 1985 to 1999 and the Killington Festival from 2002-2004. Other summer festival appearances have included Chamber Music Northwest, Colorado, Highlands-Cashiers, Kapalua, Maverick, Music Mountain, Roycroft, Sedona and Skaneateles Festivals, as well as performances in Italy, Ecuador and Iceland. 

Hailed by critics as a “superior poet” (Vancouver Sun) and praised for his “heart and indomitable will” (Gramophone), Grigory Kalinovsky has performed at some of the world’s major venues, from all three stages of Carnegie Hall in New York to Musikhalle Grosser Saal in Hamburg. As a recitalist and avid chamber musician, he has appeared at numerous concert series and festivals, including the Asheville Chamber Music Series, Lyric Chamber Music Society of New York, Lucas Foss’s Festival at the Hamptons, Newport Music Festival, and Pavel Vernikov’s festival, “Il Violino Magico” in Italy, collaborating with such renowned musicians as Pinchas Zukerman, Shmuel Ashkeniasi, Ralph Kirshbaum, Miriam Fried, James Buswell, Dora Schwarzberg, and Paul Coletti, among others.

A devoted educator, Prof. Kalinovsky joined the Jacobs School of Music faculty in the fall of 2013 and continues to teach at the Heifetz International Music Institute and IU Summer String Academy. Previously a faculty member at the Manhattan School of Music, he has taught at many summer music festivals, including Pinchas Zukerman’s Young Artists Program in Canada, Keshet Eilon Mastercourse in Israel, Bowdoin International Music Festival in Maine, Soesterberg International Music Festival in Holland, Summit Music Festival in New York, “Il Violino Magico” in Italy, and Manhattan in the Mountains, where he was also one of the founding artistic directors. His book “ViolinMind” on theory and technique of playing using different tuning systems, written in collaboration with famed cello professor Hans Jørgen Jensen, has been published by OvationPress in 2019.

He has presented master classes at many major U.S. festivals and music schools, including New England Conservatory, the Colburn School, Meadowmount, University of Maryland, San Francisco Conservatory, and Seattle Conservatory, and at numerous European and Asian institutions, such as the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Buchmann-Mehta Scool of Music and Jerusalem Music Center in Israel, Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Germany, Beijing Central Conservatory in China, Seoul National University and Korea National University of Arts in Seoul.

Prof. Kalinovsky’s students have won top prizes at national and international competitions, including the Spohr International Violin Competition, Tibor Varga Junior Competition, Menuhin Young Artists Competition in England, Andrea Postacchini Young Violinists Competition in Italy, and Fischoff International Chamber Music Competition in Chicago, and have gone on to study at institutions such as Curtis, Colburn, Juilliard, Yale, New England Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, and Indiana University, among others.

His recording with pianist Tatiana Goncharova featuring Shostakovich’s Violin Sonata and Twenty-Four Preludes transcribed for Violin and Piano by Dmitri Tziganov – with several of the transcriptions commissioned by Kalinovsky from the celebrated composer Lera Auerbach – was released by Centaur Records to great critical acclaim and hailed by the composer’s son, conductor Maxim Shostakovich, as “a must-have for any Shostakovich music connoisseur.” The duo’s recording of the complete set of sonatas for violin and piano by Mieczysław Weinberg was released on Naxos label in 2017.

Kalinovsky started his music education with Tatiana Liberova in his native St. Petersburg, Russia. After coming to New York, he continued his studies with Pinchas Zukerman and Patinka Kopec at the Manhattan School of Music, where he served as a faculty member shortly after graduating and until his move to Indiana University.

For more than two decades, omnivorous violist Nicholas Cords has been on the front line of a growing constellation of projects as performer, educator, and cultural advocate. As former Co-Artistic director of Silkroad, viola and chamber music faculty member at New England Conservatory, violist of Brooklyn Rider, he is deeply committed to music from a broad variety of traditions and epochs, with a particular passion for the cross-section between the long tradition of classical music and the wide range of music of today. 

As a soloist, he has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Bridgeport Symphony. Recent other highlights include performances at the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg in works ranging from Feldman to Wuorinen (many heard in Russia for the first time) and the Vail International Dance Festival, where he participated in a revival of a long dormant Balanchine choreography set to Stravinsky’s Élegie for solo viola with the great Brazilian ballerina Carla Körbes. His highly acclaimed 2013 debut solo album, Recursions, features works ranging from Biber to Hindemith to Cords’ own Five Migrations. His 2020 recording Touch Harmonious (In a Circle Records), recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, is a reflection on the arc of tradition spanning form the baroque to today, featuring multiple premieres. He has appeared frequently over the years on television and radio including a Chinese National Television broadcast from the Great Wall, the David Letterman Show, numerous National Public Radio broadcasts, Good Morning America, NHK Japan, and a four year run as resident commentator and performer on WQXR New York’s Radio weekly On A-I-R. In addition, he has worked with many ensembles, including the Knights, the Caramoor Virtuousi, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, An Die Musik, and the Metropolitan Museum Artists in Concert.

Beginning his musical education at the Juilliard School, Nicholas won top honors in the viola competition and subsequently gave the New York premiere of John Harbison’s Viola Concerto at Avery Fisher Hall. He completed his studies at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music. His teachers and mentors have included Karen Tuttle, Harvey Shapiro, Joseph Fuchs, and Felix Galamir. A committed teacher, Nicholas currentlyserves on the viola and chamber music faculty of New England Conservatory. Mr. Cords plays on an instrument made for him in 2019 by famed French luthier Patrick Robin. He performs on bows from a wide variety of the world’s top modern makers including Charles Espey and Benoit Rolland.  

Violist Wenting Kang, an acclaimed performing and recording artist, joins NEC from the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid, where she has been an assistant professor alongside the renowned violist Nobuko Imai since 2016. A former violist of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Wenting is currently the principal violist of Orquesta Sinfonica de Madrid at Teatro Real of Spain, as well as one of the founding members of the Madrid Soloists Chamber Orchestra. Her debut CD recording with pianist Sergei Kvitko, “Mosaic,” was released in 2022 to critical acclaim, winning the gold medal in the Melómano Magazine in Spain. Its tracks were selected to the “Best New Classical” playlist on Spotify, and selected for the “New Music Friday” playlist of the American Society of Composers and Publishers. Previously, Wenting has collaborated with Gil Rose and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project on the recording of Serenade No. 1 of George Perle.

Carol Rodland enjoys a distinguished international career as a concert and recording artist and teacher. First prizewinner of the Washington International Competition and winner of the Artists International Auditions and the Universal Editions Prize at the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, she made her solo debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra as a teenager. Critics describe her playing as “larger than life, sweetly in tune, infinitely variegated” and “delicious” (Fanfare) and her recordings on the Crystal and Neuma Record Labels have been critically acclaimed. A passionate advocate for contemporary music, she has commissioned, premiered and recorded works of Kenji Bunch, Dan Coleman, Adolphus Hailstork, David Liptak, Christopher Theofanidis, and Augusta Read Thomas.

 A dedicated teacher, Ms. Rodland is Professor of Viola and Chamber Music at the Juilliard School. She is also an artist-faculty member at the Perlman Music Program, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, and the Karen Tuttle Coordination Workshop.   Previous positions have included professorships at the Eastman School of Music, where she was also Co-Chair of the String Department, at New England Conservatory, where she was recognized with the “Krasner Award for Excellence in Teaching”, at the Musikhochschule “Hanns Eisler” Berlin, and at Arizona State University.    

In 2009, Ms. Rodland founded “If Music Be the Food…”, a fully volunteer benefit concert series whose mission is to increase awareness and support for the hungry in the local community through the sharing of great music. “If Music Be the Food…” has inspired musicians across the country to implement initiatives based on this concept in their own communities.

Ms. Rodland studied on full scholarship with Karen Tuttle at the Juilliard School and as a Fulbright Scholar with Kim Kashkashian at the Musikhochschule Freiburg.  She had the unique privilege of serving as teaching assistant to both of her mentors.

For further information please visit www.carolrodland.com and www.ifmusicbethefood.com

Profiled by the Strad magazine as “a man of limitless energy and purpose – he mentors high achievers who make their mark in top positions the world over,” Peter Slowik has been a featured performer and teacher at eight International Viola Congresses, and has recorded on the Deutsche Grammophon, deutsche harmonia mundi/BMG, American Grammophone, Erato and Cedille labels.  Mr. Slowik has performed with William Preucil, Anner Bylsma, Leonard Rose, the Mirecourt Trio, the Jasper, Arianna, Saint Petersburg and Vermeer Quartets, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, and members of the Cleveland, Chester, Orford, and Smithson quartets.  Past orchestral associations include service as Principal Violist of the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra, Concertante di Chicago, and the American Sinfonietta.  Between 1986 and 1999 Slowik performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and was solo violist at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.   He has taught master classes in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, Europe, New Zealand, and most of the significant US conservatories

Mr. Slowik is Professor of Viola at Oberlin Conservatory and Artistic Director for Credo Music.   Past teaching posts include Northwestern University, Indiana University, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Eastman School of Music.  He has been named to the highest teaching awards at both Oberlin and Northwestern.  Mr. Slowik was the recipient of the Maurice Riley Viola Award from the American Viola Society for “outstanding teaching, scholarship, and performance.”

His viola and chamber music students have won first prize in numerous significant national and international competitions.  Slowik students may be found in virtually every significant professional orchestra in the US (many serving in titled positions) and in leadership positions in universities and conservatories throughout the country.

Cellist Julie Albers is recognized for her superlative artistry, her charismatic and radiant performing style, and her intense musicianship. Born into a musical family in Longmont, Colorado, she began violin studies at the age of two with her mother, switching to cello at four. She moved to Cleveland during her junior year of high school to pursue studies through the Young Artist Program at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Richard Aaron. Ms. Albers soon was awarded the Grand Prize at the XIII International Competition for Young Musicians in Douai, France, and as a result toured France as soloist with Orchestre Symphonique de Douai.

Ms. Albers made her major orchestral debut with the Cleveland Orchestra at the age of 17 and thereafter has performed in recital and with orchestras throughout North America, Europe, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand. Past seasons have included performances with the symphony orchestras of Colorado, Grant Park Music Festival, Indianapolis, Munchener Kammerorchester, Rochester, San Diego, Seattle, Vancouver, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra among others. In 2001, she won Second Prize in Munich’s Internationalen Musikwettbewerbes der ARD, and was also awarded the Wilhelm-Weichsler-Musikpreis der Stadt Osnabruch. While in Germany, she recorded solo and chamber music of Kodaly for the Bavarian Radio, performances that have been heard throughout Europe. In 2003, she was named the first Gold Medal Laureate of South Korea’s Gyeongnam International Music Competition.

Ms. Albers was named principal cellist of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in 2015, a position she currently holds. In addition, she regularly participates in chamber music festivals including ChamberFest Cleveland, La Jolla SummerFest, Rome Chamber Music Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Society, and Toronto Summer Music. 2009 marked the end of a three year residency with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two. Teaching has also held a very important place in Ms. Albers’ musical life from the age of 12 when she started teaching her first students. She held the position of Assistant Professor at the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia from 2009-2022.

Ms. Albers’ debut album with Orion Weiss includes works by Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, Schumann, Massenet, and Piatiagorsky and is available on the Artek Label. Julie Albers performs on a N.F. Vuillaume cello made in 1872.

Nicholas Canellakis has become one of the most sought-after and innovative cellists of his generation, praised as a “superb young soloist” (The New Yorker) and for being “impassioned … the audience seduced by Mr. Canellakis’s rich, alluring tone” (The New York Times). A multifaceted artist, Canellakis has forged a unique voice combining his talents as soloist, chamber musician, curator, filmmaker, and composer/arranger.

Recent concert highlights include concerto appearances with the Virginia, Albany, Delaware, Stamford, Richardson, Lansing, and Bangor Symphonies, the Erie Philharmonic, The Orchestra Now, the New Haven Symphony as Artist-in-Residence, and the American Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall. He performs recitals throughout the U.S. with his longtime duo collaborator, pianist-composer Michael Stephen Brown, and recent appearances have included Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the Four Arts in Palm Beach, New Orleans Friends of Chamber Music, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, and Wolf Trap near Washington D.C.

Canellakis is an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, with which he performs regularly in Alice Tully Hall and on tour internationally, including London’s Wigmore Hall, The Louvre in Paris, the Seoul Arts Center in Korea, and the Shanghai and Taipei National Concert Halls. He is also a regular guest artist at many of the world’s leading music festivals, including Santa Fe, Ravinia, Music@Menlo, Bard, Bridgehampton, La Jolla, Hong Kong, Moab, Chamberfest Cleveland, and Music in the Vineyards. He was recently renewed as the artistic director of Chamber Music Sedona, in Arizona, where he has made a major impact through his dynamic programming and educational and community outreach.

A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and New England Conservatory, his teachers included Orlando Cole, Peter Wiley and Paul Katz, and he was a student of Madeleine Golz at Manhattan School of Music Pre-College. He began his Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center career as a member of the Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two), and he has also been in residence at Carnegie Hall as a member of Ensemble Connect.

Canellakis’s next album with Michael Stephen Brown, (b)romance, featuring some of his original compositions and arrangements, will be released by First Hand Records in 2023.

Filmmaking and acting are special interests of Canellakis. He has produced, directed, and starred in several short films and music videos, including his popular comedy web series “Conversations with Nick Canellakis.” His latest film, “Thin Walls,” was nominated for awards at many prominent film festivals, and is currently available on Amazon Prime.

Canellakis plays on an outstanding Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, from 1840.

Amir Eldan performs as a soloist, chamber musician, and as guest principal cellist. In 2011-12, he served as principal cellist of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra by invitation from Zubin Mehta and a year later, as guest principal cellist with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. At age 22, he became the youngest member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York, when he won the position of associate principal cellist and was invited by James Levine to perform with the MET Chamber Ensemble in Carnegie Hall.

As the winner of the Juilliard Competition, Eldan made his New York debut with the Brahms Double Concerto in Lincoln Center and has performed the six Bach Cello Suites in a series of concerts worldwide.

Eldan has collaborated in chamber music performances with members of the Cleveland, Guarneri, and Juilliard String Quartets and the Beaux Arts Trio, pianist Richard Goode, and cellists Lynn Harrell and Steven Isserlis.

Music festivals appearances include Bowdoin, Giverny (France), La Jolla (California), Pilsen (Czech Republic), Prussia Cove (England), and West Cork (Ireland). He also participated in the Marlboro music festival and toured with Musicians From Marlboro.

In 2006, while working on his doctorate, Eldan was appointed cello professor at the Oberlin Conservatory and served as chair of the String Department from 2015-19. He was a member of the Oberlin Trio and performed with the Trio throughout the U.S. and South Korea.

Professor Eldan holds a DMA and MM, both from Juilliard where he also served as a guest teacher. His performances have been featured on public television and radio in the U.S., Europe, and in Israel.

He was appointed a professor of cello at the University of Michigan in 2019.