Viola Master Class with Milan Milisavljević, Craig Mumm, Désirée Elsevier - MET Orchestra Musicians Master Classes
MET Orchestra Musicians Master Classes
Sign up to watch the video of this Master Class with MET Orchestra Musicians.
Program
– January 31, 2021: Viola
– Panelists: Milan Milisavljević, Craig Mumm, Désirée Elsevier
– Performers: Lucas Freitas, Joseph Skerik, Cameren Anai Williams
Hoffmeister: Viola Concerto; I. Allegro
Hindemith: Viola Sonata, Op. 11 No. 5; IV. Passacaglia
Bach: Suite No. 4, BWV 1010; Allemande, Sarabande
Berlioz: “Roman Carnival Overture"
Enroll above for immediate free access to the recording of this master class.
Viola: January 31, 2021
Milan Milisavljević - Principal Viola
Milan Milisavljević is Principal Viola with the MET Orchestra, having served as Assistant Principal of the MET for twelve seasons. He has also performed as guest Principal Viola of orchestras worldwide, such as the Toronto Symphony. Milan’s solo album Sonata-Song, published by Delos Music, has been reviewed by the Strad magazine as “most recommendable” and “tonally alluring”, with the recording of A. Khatchaturian’s sonata on the album hailed as “definitive”. He has won prizes at competitions such as ARD, Lionel Tertis and Aspen Lower Strings and has performed at Marlboro, Cascade Head and Aspen music festivals. Milan has appeared as soloist throughout the world, with orchestras such as the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Belgrade Philharmonic, Aspen Sinfonia, Classical Tahoe, Orquesta Filarmónica de Boca del Río and many others. His teachers include James Dunham, Nobuko Imai and Atar Arad. In addition to his activities as a violist, Milan is increasingly in demand as a conductor and teacher worlwide.
Craig Mumm - Associate Principal Viola
Associate Principal violist, Craig Mumm grew up in Milwaukee where he studied violin with his father, Edward Mumm, Concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. In college, Craig studied violin and viola with Shmuel Ashkenasi, first violinist of the Vermeer String Quartet. Before joining the MET, Mumm performed in orchestras in Chicago and Germany. In addition to his work at the MET, Craig coaches the viola sections of the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, Filharmonica Joven de Colombia, and teaches and performs throughout Latin America. Craig is married to Mary Ann Mumm, instructor of violin at Montclair State University. The Mumm’s two children are also musicians. Daniel is a cellist and Andrea a harpist. The Mumms live in an historic townhouse in Jersey City, New Jersey where they often host the legendary MET Orchestra poker game.
Désirée Elsevier
A New York native, Désirée Elsevier began her studies at the age of 5 on the violin and at the age of 12 on the viola, and she has been a regular member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 1987. In October 2013, she performed the Bartok concerto for viola with the Greeley Philharmonic in Greeley, Colorado. A champion of new music, she premiered Glen Cortese’s Viola Concerto for viola and chamber orchestra in Buffalo, NY in February, 2013. An avid chamber musician, she appears frequently in the New York area among others with her quartet named IRIS, and at Weill recital hall at Carnegie Hall with the MET Chamber players. In addition, she teaches at Bennington College at the Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East in Vermont since 2004. Since 1998 she has been a member of the World Orchestra for Peace (founded by Sir Georg Solti, now conducted by Valery Gergiev), which performs concerts in the name of world peace and harmony across the world, from Chicago all the way east to Beijing. Also a busy recording artist, she can be heard on many CDs and films. Her first job was as Assistant Principal Viola in the Orchestra di San Carlo in Naples, Italy. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Cornell University (where she also studied composition with Karl Husa and Stephen Stucky) and Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in music from the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Lillian Fuchs and Karen Tuttle. In addition to being a full-time member of the orchestra, from 2001 to 2012 she held the additional position of Assistant Orchestra Manager. In her spare time she reads, writes essays and fiction, knits, swims/bikes/runs, gardens and is working on an animated film.
THE METROPOLITAN ORCHESTRA
Thrilling audiences with more than 200 performances each season, the MET Orchestra is one of the world’s great performing ensembles, both on stage and in the opera pit. Since its founding in 1883, the MET Orchestra’s performances have encompassed not only the entire opera repertoire, but symphonic and chamber programs at Carnegie Hall, international tours, and countless musician activities outside of the Metropolitan Opera House. The MET Orchestra has grown in the past four decades into an ensemble noted by singers, critics, conductors, and audiences as one of today’s most stylistically versatile and musically satisfying orchestras.
About Lessonface, PBC
Lessonface's mission is to help students achieve their goals while treating teachers equitably. Since 2012, we've hosted more than 30,000 students and 2,000 teachers for live music, language, and arts lessons and classes online.