MET Orchestra Musicians Master Classes
Lessonface presents a series of free live online Master Classes with MET Orchestra Musicians.
In each of these upcoming Master Classes, members of the MET Orchestra will give performance feedback to selected advanced-level students. Musicians of all levels and classical music fans alike may view the live interaction of the panelists and performers in real time, over Zoom video conferencing. Viewers may also submit questions ahead of time for the panelists to address in the live sessions.
We are now accepting applications for advanced-level performers in the Master Classes for percussion, tuba, English horn, and violin. Find more information and apply here.
When
The Master Classes will be held on Sundays at 4 p.m. ET on the following dates with the panelists listed.
* April 25th's master class will be held at 8 p.m. ET.
Watch a past masterclass:
• August 2: VIOLIN: Sylvia Danburg Volpe, Catherine Ro, Katherine Fong.
• August 16: VIOLIN: Nancy Wu, Wen Qian, Sarah Crocker Vonsattel.
• August 30: VIOLIN: Qianwen Shen, Ann Lehmann, Garrett Fischbach.
• September 13: TRUMPET: David Krauss, Billy R. Hunter, Jr., Raymond Riccomini.
• September 27: CLARINET: Anton Rist, Dean LeBlanc.
• October 11: CELLO: Jerry Grossman, Joel Noyes, Kari Jane Docter, Julia Bruskin.
• October 25: FLUTE: Chelsea Knox, Maron Anis Khoury, Stephanie Mortimore.
• November 8: HORN: Eric Ralske, Brad Gemeinhardt, Anne Marie Scharer, Barbara Jöstlein Currie.
• November 22: DOUBLE BASS: Rex Surany, Leigh Mesh, Brendan Kane, Kingsley Wood.
• December 6: OBOE: Elaine Douvas.
• December 20: PICCOLO: Stephanie Mortimore, Koren McCaffrey.
• January 3: TROMBONE: Demian Austin, John Romero, Weston Sprott, Denson Paul Pollard
It's free to watch live! Enroll above and we will send you the link to join.
How It Works
Viewers can join the live event using a computer or mobile device. The live sessions are also recorded and will be made available for later viewing on Lessonface. Applicants selected to perform in the Master Classes will be asked to test their internet connection, webcam, and microphone with Lessonface staff 48 hours prior to the scheduled start time. Learn more about applying to be a performer in the Master Classes here.
About Lessonface, PBC
Since 2013, Lessonface has connected more than 10,000 students with over 1000 great teachers for live music & language lessons online, delivering on our mission to help students achieve their goals while treating teachers equitably.
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PERCUSSION: February 28
Gregory Zuber
Gregory Zuber is Principal Percussionist of the MET Orchestra and has been a member of the orchestra since 1986. He appeared with the orchestra as concerto soloist in Carnegie Hall in 2002 and performs regularly with the Met Chamber Ensemble. Mr. Zuber has been a coach at the Verbier Music Festival since 2000, where he also appears in recital and chamber music concerts. He has taught at The Juilliard School since 1993. Born in Boston, he grew up in Chicago. After two summers at The National Music Camp at Interlochen, he attended the Interlochen Arts Academy, then University of Illinois, and Temple University. Before joining the Met, he was Principal Percussionist with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra. His teachers include Tom Siwe (University of Illinois), James Ross (Chicago Symphony) and Alan Abel (Philadelphia Orchestra). Mr. Zuber often performs concerts with his wife, flutist Patricia Zuber. He has two wonderful daughters!
Rob Knopper
Rob Knopper is a percussionist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Since joining the orchestra in 2011, he has been featured on the Grammy-winning recording of Der ring des Nibelungen, 60 Minutes with the Met Orchestra, and in The Met: Live in HD movie theater presentations worldwide. Rob’s debut album, delécluse: douze études for snare drum, to be released in October 2014, is the first recording of snare drum’s most influential and elaborate composition, and was recorded in audio and HD video at The New World Center in Miami Beach, Florida, where Rob previously held a position with the New World Symphony. Rob has also performed with the All-Star Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra, and as the timpanist of the National Repertory Orchestra. As an educator, he is faculty at the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival, and he has taught clinics and masterclasses at the Juilliard Summer Percussion Seminar, Aspen Music Festival, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, National Repertory Orchestra, and the Interlochen Arts Academy. During the 2013-2014 season, Rob designed and created METOrchestraMusicians.org, which has been featured in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Rob is an avid ragtime xylophonist, songwriter, drumset player, and guitarist. He plays in the band The Paisley Fields, based in Brooklyn. Rob graduated from The Juilliard School in 2009 where he studied with Greg Zuber, Joseph Pereira, and Daniel Druckman. Visit robknopper.com for video, lessons, and the blog percussion hacker
Steven White
Steven White joined the MET Orchestra as a percussionist and assistant timpanist in February 2017. Before moving to New York, Steven held a percussion position with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago for two seasons, where he worked closely with Chicago Symphony percussionists James Ross and Cynthia Yeh. During his time in Chicago, Steven was a regular substitute musician with the CSO, and he accompanied them on their tour to Carnegie Hall in 2015. Steven has spent his summers at Tanglewood Music Center, Music Academy of the West, and Aspen Music Festival. Equally passionate about orchestral and solo playing, Steven was second prize winner at the Percussive Arts Society’s International Vibraphone Competition in 2013, as well as a competitor at the TROMP International Percussion Competition in Eindhoven, Netherlands in 2012. Steven holds a master’s degree in orchestral performance from Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Christopher Lamb, Duncan Patton, Kyle Zerna, and She-e Wu. He received his undergraduate degree from Northwestern University, where he studied with She-e Wu and James Ross.
TUBA: March 14
Christopher J. Hall
Christopher J. Hall has been Principal Tuba of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 1996. Before joining the Met Orchestra, Chris was tubist with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago for two years. He was a fellow in the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in 1995. In 1993, Chris was the winner of the United Musical Instruments International Solo Competition at the Rafael Mendez Brass Institute, Tempe, AZ, and in 1992, he was the winner of the International Tuba and Euphonium Conference Solo Competition, Open Division, in Lexington, KY. Aside from the Metropolitan Opera Brass recordings, Chris premiered and recorded Charles Wourinen’s “Never again The Same” for Bass Voice and Tuba. He can also be heard on the Saving Private Ryan soundtrack by John Williams, and Sever Tipei’s “Cuniculi for Five Tubas”, on Centaur CD. Chris has studied with Arnold Jacobs, Eugene Pokorny, Daniel Perantoni and Fritz Kaenzig.
ENGLISH HORN: March 28
Pedro Díaz
Before being named Solo English Horn with the Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera in 2005, Pedro Díaz had performed extensively on five continents. He has served extended tenures as oboe and/or English horn with the Filarmonica Jalisco (Mexico), the Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia (Spain), the Natal Philharmonic (South Africa) and the Pittsburgh Opera. His appearances as soloist include those at the Spoleto (Italy) Festival, with the New York Symphonic Ensemble (Japan tour), The Orquesta Sinfónica de Xalapa and with the Puerto Rico Symphony. Two solo appearences at the International Double Reed Society’s conventions, one of them the performance of Michael Daugherty’s “Spaghetti Western.”
VIOLIN: April 11
Bruno Eicher
French-born violinist Bruno Eicher is the Assistant Concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, which he joined in 2001, after serving for four years as Associate Concertmaster of the Atlanta Symphony and the previous four years as Assistant Concertmaster of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. His wide-ranging orchestral experience includes playing for the Vienna Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, among others. An avid chamber musician, Mr. Eicher has performed extensively throughout Europe and the U.S., as well as in South Korea. A native of Dijon, France, Mr. Eicher is a graduate of the Paris Conservatoire where he studied with Pierre Amoyal and Jean Hubeau. In the United States, he was a student of Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang at the Juilliard School, from which he holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees. In 1992, he was the 2nd prize winner of the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition.
Julia Choi
Korean-American violinist Julia Ahyoung Choi joined the First Violin section of The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in the 2019 season. Prior to her appointment with the MET, she performed extensively with The Philadelphia Orchestra, has been seen in performances with the New York Philharmonic, Montclair Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, San Diego Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and has appeared as Guest Assistant Concertmaster of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Choi has also served as the Concertmaster, Principal Second, and other leadership positions for the Juilliard Orchestra, Juilliard Opera, New York String Orchestra Seminar, Music Academy Festival Orchestra, Spoleto Festival Orchestra, and the Manhattan Chamber Sinfonia.
Elena Barere
Elena Barere, violinist with the Metropolitan Opera since 1994, was born and raised in Manhattan. She attended the prep division and later earned a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Music from Juilliard. She studied there with Dorothy Delay, then with Leventritt award winning violinist David Nadien. While a student she performed at Aspen, Vail, Spoleto and Marlboro music festivals. Moving into the NYC studio recording world, she became concertmaster for innumerable recordings and films. Artist discography includes Carly Simon,David Bowie, Paul Simon, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Harry Connick Jr, Tony Bennett. Film credits include Cape Fear, Ty Cobb, Muppet Christmas Carol and You’ve Got Mail. Independent films include Teeth, Why We Fight and Trumbo. Currently running at the NYC Planetarium she is heard, along with her vocalist daughter Carolyn Miller “Journey to the Stars” :Whoopie Goldberg, narrator; composer, Robert Miller. Elena resides in Westchester with her husband and two daughters.
VIOLIN: April 25
David Chan, Concertmaster
Concertmaster David Chan is one of today’s most sought after artists, both as a violinist and a conductor. The 2019-20 season marks not only his 20th as concertmaster of of the Met, but also his third as the inaugural Music Director of New Jersey’s Montclair Orchestra, with which he is already developing a reputation for innovative and adventurous programming, and his second as Music Director of Camerata Notturna, one of New York City’s foremost chamber orchestras. His guest conducting engagements in recent seasons include Belgium’s l’Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, the Malta Philharmonic, l’Orchestre Dijon Bourgogne in France, and the Grant Park and Classical Tahoe summer festivals. As a soloist, he has appeared under the baton of such conductors as James Levine and Fabio Luisi, with orchestras including the MET Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, and Moscow State Symphony. He is also a dedicated chamber musician who performs regularly in the New York area and at all the leading summer festivals.