Summer Cello Institute Faculty

Uri Vardi
Institute Director
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Timothy Eddy
Julliard School

Hans Jørgen Jensen
Northwestern University

Laurence Lesser
New England Conservatory

Pablo Mahave-Veglia
Grand Valley State University

with

Jane Peck
Baroque Dance

Hagit Vardi
Feldenkrais

 

Institute accompanists

Nariaki Sugiura
DePauw University School of Music; Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and String Academy

Christina Lalog
Freelance Accompanist

 

Timothy Eddy, violoncellist, has earned distinction as a recitalist, soloist with orchestra, chamber musician, recording artist, a winner in numerous national and international competitions.  He presently teaches cello at the Juilliard School and the Mannes College of Music and he is Professor Emeritus at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.  He appears regularly in duo recital with pianist Gilbert Kalish, and has been a member of the NY Philomusica and the Bach Aria Group.  As cellist of the Orion String Quartet, he is in residence with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Mannes College of Music, and Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music (2007- 2008), and has appeared in major musical centers in the U.S., Canada and Europe, including festivals in Lockenhaus (Austria), Spoleto (Italy), New York ("Mostly Mozart"), Charleston (SC), Mondsee (Austria), Lofoten Island (Norway), Turku (Finland), and Vancouver (Canada).  Mr. Eddy has recorded for Koch International, Columbia Records, Angel, Vanguard, Nonesuch, C.R.I., New World, Vox, Musical Heritage, Delos, Arabesque, and Sony Classical.

In June of 1975, Mr. Eddy received top honors at the Gaspar Cassado International Violoncello Competition held in Florence, Italy.  He has also won prizes in the Dealey Contest (Dallas), the Denver Symphony Guild Competition, the North Carolina Symphony Contest, and the New York Violoncello Society Competition.  In addition to numerous solo and chamber recitals throughout the U.S., he has appeared as concerto soloist with many U.S. orchestras, including the Dallas, Denver, Stamford, Jacksonville, and North Carolina Symphony Orchestras.

Mr. Eddy received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees with honors from the Manhattan School of Music, where he was a scholarship student of Bernard Greenhouse.  He spent several summers as a participant in the Marlboro Music Festival and has toured the U.S. frequently with the "Music From Marlboro" concert series.  Recently, Mr. Eddy has spent his summers with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Sarasota Music Festival, and the Steans Institute, with visits to Chamber Music Northwest (Portland, OR), Domaine Forget in Quebec, the La Jolla Summerfest, and the Bridgehampton (Long Island) Festival, as well.  Mr. Eddy was a member of the faculty of the bi-annual Isaac Stern Chamber Music Workshops at Carnegie Hall in 1993, 1995, 1997, and 2001.

During the 2003–2004 season, Mr. Eddy presented, for the first time, the complete Six Suites of J.S. Bach for Solo Cello in two consecutive days, at the Boulder (Colorado) Bach Festival and at the Brattleboro (Vermont) Music Center.  This project was the realization of a lifelong ambition and the culmination of years of study and performance of these landmark works, as well as extensive performance of the cantatas, chamber music, and orchestral music of Bach.

Timothy Eddy is highly sought-after as a teacher, and his former pupils have come from England, France, Germany, Holland, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Japan, and Korea, as well as the U.S. and Canada, and they have won positions in major orchestras and universities in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and the Far East; many have also achieved distinction in their careers as chamber musicians and soloists. 

 

Hans Jørgen Jensen is currently Professor of Cello at Northwestern University and a faculty member of both Meadowmount School of Music and The National Arts Center's Young Artist Program.

Mr. Jensen received a Soloist Diploma from the Royal Academy of Music in Denmark as a student of Asger Lund Christiansen and studied with Leonard Rose and Channing Robbins at the Juilliard School. In addition, he studied with Pierre Fournier in Geneva, Switzerland. At Juilliard he studied chamber music with Robert Mann and Earl Carlyss. From 1979 to 1987 he was Professor of Cello at the School of Music at the University of Houston. He has been a guest professor at the School of Music at the University of Southern California, the Tokyo College of Music, and the Musashino Academy of Music in Japan.

Mr. Jensen has performed as a soloist and recitalist in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Japan, including solo appearances with the Danish Radio Orchestra, the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Copenhagen Symphony, and the Irish Radio Orchestra. He has given numerous workshops and master classes across the U.S., Canada, and Japan including those at the University of Cincinnati, the Royal College of Music in Calgary, the Music Bridge Festival in Calgary, the Glenn Gould Professional School in Toronto, the University of British Columbia, the International Banff Center, Southern Methodist University School of Music, the University of Arizona, the University of Denver, the University of New Mexico, the Texas Music Festival, the University of Colorado, the National Suzuki Convention, the Midwest Orchestra and Band Convention, and Indiana University School of Music.

His former students are members of major orchestras throughout the U.S. and Canada. Many are first prize winners in the MTNA National Competition, the ASTA National Competition, the Sphinx Competition, the Stulberg International Competition, the Madison Symphony Young Artist Competition, the Corpus Christi International Competition, the Chicago Symphony Young Artist Competition, and the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. They are also prize winners in the WAMSO Young Artist Competition, the Klein International Competition, and the Lutoslavski International Cello Competition.

Mr. Jensen was awarded the Copenhagen Music Critics Prize, the Jacob Gades Prize, and the Danish Ministry of Cultural Affairs Grant for Musicians, and was also the winner of the Artist International Competition that resulted in three New York recitals. In 1998 he was named the outstanding teacher of the year at Northwestern University and in 1999, the outstanding studio teacher of the year by Illinois ASTA. In 2001 he was awarded the U.S. Presidential Scholar Teacher Recognition Award by the U.S. Department of Education.

E.C. Shirmer, Boston, publishes his transcription of the Galamian Scale System for cello, and Shar Products Company publishes his cello method book, Fun in Thumb Position.

 

Laurence Lesser, President Emeritus of New England Conservatory, has enjoyed a multi-faceted career as concert artist, teacher and arts administrator.  A native of Los Angeles, Mr. Lesser was a top prize winner in the 1966 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and a participant in the historic Heifetz-Piatigorsky concerts and recordings.  Mr. Lesser has been soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the New Japan Philharmonic and other orchestras worldwide.  He has performed under the batons of Ozawa, Rostropovich and Tilson Thomas, among others. As a chamber musician he has participated at the Casals, Marlboro, Spoleto and Santa Fe festivals.  He has served as jury member for numerous international competitions and in 1994 was chairman of the Tchaikovsky Competition (cello) in Moscow.

Laurence Lesser was President of NEC from 1983-1996, during which period America's oldest independent school of music enjoyed an impressive rise in reputation.  A high point during his tenure was the complete restoration in 1995 of the 1000-seat Jordan Hall, one of the world's greatest acoustical spaces. He came to NEC in 1974 as a member of the faculty, a position he still holds, and during the academic year 2006-7, served as Interim CEO of NEC.  He teaches an international class of highly gifted cellists. Mr. Lesser plays a 1622 cello made by the brothers Amati of Cremona, Italy.

 

Pablo Mahave-Veglia resides in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he is a professor of cello at Grand Valley State University.  Mr. Mahave-Veglia is a cellist and teacher of broad interests whose repertoire ranges from the baroque, performed on period instruments, to his ongoing interest in researching, performing and recording the work of contemporary Latin-American composers. In the last year, he has appeared as soloist with the Holland (MI) Symphony on Shostakovich’s First Concerto, performed at the Bang on a Can Marathon in New York City, and toured widely with a solo program of the Bach Cello Suites using original instruments, including a 5-string violoncello piccolo. As a member of Trio Montecino, he recently finished a CD recording of Latin-American music; the trio will shortly embark on their second European tour. He teaches and performs every summer at the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina.

An alumnus of the Interlochen Arts Academy, Dr. Mahave-Veglia holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Indiana University, and the Eastman School of Music. A former faculty member at the University of Evansville, Ripon College, St. Cloud State University, and the Eastern Music Festival, he has appeared as soloist or chamber musician in his native Chile, Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica, Europe and Malaysia. In the U.S. he has performed at such venues as the Mammoth Lakes Chamber Music Festival, the Saugatuck Music Festival, the Dame Myra Hess Recital Series in Chicago, the Renee Weiler Hall in New York City, and the Elvehjem (Chazen) Museum in Madison, Wisconsin.

Professor Mahave-Veglia performs on a baroque cello made by Chilean Luthier Marcelo Cigna in 1986. His modern instrument is a 1790 William Forster on loan to him by an anonymous private collector.

 

Jane Peck, a specialist in dance history, has researched, choreographed, and performed dance across the U.S., Canada, and France for twenty years. She has choreographed for numerous dance, theater, and music ensembles, working with Shelley Gruskin, Grant Herreid (Piffaro), Catherine Turocy (N.Y. Baroque Dance Company), Jean Paul Cloutier (Canada), and Sybille Dahms (Austria), among others. She has extensive training in both modern dance and dance history, directing performances with her company Dance Revels Moving History since 1990. Prior to 1990 she was a choreographer for Ex Machina Baroque Opera.

Ms. Peck has years of experience working with both the court/concert dance of 1500-1920, as well as the folk dance and social dances of many eras. Her folk dance specialty is the French and French-Indian dance heritage of the American Midwest and Canada. She also specializes in the blending of commedia dell’arte theater with the dance and music of 16th-18th c. France.

Highly regarded as a dance educator, Ms. Peck has taught dance to many ages for 30 years, including school dance residencies and teacher mentoring in movement.  She has served as an adjunct professor of dance at Bemidji (MN) State University, and the Dance and Theatre Departments of University of Minnesota and Gustavus Adolphus College.  She has taught historical dance at the Bloomington Early Music Institute, the Madison Early Music Festival, National Suzuki conferences, and college music departments across the upper Midwest, and has conducted numerous workshops for college theatre classes in period dance.

Ms. Peck has done landmark research into Midwest regional dance history.  She has multiple publications in academic journals, including Society of Dance History Scholars, Dalcroze Journal, and Teaching Artist Journal.  Her MA thesis in Education, Designing a College Dance/Theater Methods Course for Pre-service Teachers, reflects her experience in training teachers in using the arts.

 

 

Hagit Vardi is currently the Feldenkrais Practitioner at the Integrative Medicine Clinic of the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics. She also has a private practice in Madison, Wisconsin. Ms. Vardi collaborates with medical and professional staff working with diverse groups of people. Her work includes individual and group classes for those who suffer from musculoskeletal and neurological disorders, anxiety, trauma, cancer, and cardiac conditions.

She received a Bachelor's degree in flute performance from Indiana University, and a Master's of Library Science from Southern Connecticut State University. In addition to her Feldenkrais certification by the Feldenkrais Guild of North America, Vardi is a graduate of The Anat Baniel Method for Children Mastery Program and the Anat Baniel Method for High Performers (athletes, musicians, dancers, etc.) Mastery Program.

Ms. Vardi graduated from Mia Segal's From Practice to Teaching program as a Trainer in Training, allowing her to train practitioners under the auspices of the MBS Academy.

 

Uri Vardi has performed as a recitalist, soloist, and chamber player across the United States, Europe, South America, and Israel. Born in Szeged, Hungary, Vardi grew up on kibbutz Kfar Hahoresh, Israel. He studied at the Rubin Academy in Tel Aviv, was an artist diploma student at Indiana University, and earned his Master's degree from Yale University. His teachers have included Janos Starker, Aldo Parisot, Eva Janzer, and Uzi Wiesel. Mr. Vardi has recorded and toured widely with the Israel Chamber Orchestra and was a founding member of the Sol-La-Re String Quartet. He has served as assistant principal cellist of the Israel Chamber Orchestra and principal cellist of the Israel Sinfonietta.

In 1990, following an extensive teaching and performing career in Israel, Vardi was appointed professor of cello at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition to his work at Wisconsin, Vardi has taught and conducted master classes at numerous music schools, including the Juilliard School, Eastman School, New England Conservatory, Indiana University, Yale University, Oberlin College, Cleveland Institute of Music, University of Iowa, Ohio State University, Geneva Conservatory (Switzerland), Paris Conservatory (France), and the Jerusalem Music Center (Israel). He has also participated in several summer music festivals across the U.S. and Israel. Professor Vardi's students have been successful as soloists, chamber players, faculty members of major music schools and members of major orchestras. In his teaching, Mr. Vardi puts great emphasis on the choreography of playing, the relationship between movement and sound. In order to further his understanding of this approach, Mr. Vardi has specialized in the Feldenkrais Method, for which he received the 1999 UW-Madison Arts Institute Faculty Development Award. He completed a Feldenkrais Practitioners Training and was certified by the Feldenkrais Guild of North America and by the International Feldenkrais Federation as a Feldenkrais practitioner in 2003.

 

Institute Accompanists

International concert pianist Nariaki Sugiura frequently tours as a recitalist and chamber musician, and gives lessons and master classes throughout the U.S. as well as tours in Europe and Asia.  He has recently appeared on the concert stages at the Roundtop Music Festival in Texas, the Fox River Chamber Music Festival in Wisconsin, and in South Korea and Japan.  Since 2002, he has been collaborating with a cellist Emilio Colón, and they have toured in the U.S. as well as South Korea, Japan and Puerto Rico. He is an active performer and promoter of contemporary music, and has premiered many newly written pieces including Robin Macheel’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (2005).

He is a featured solo and chamber music artist on several CD recordings including a solo album, which features his performance of Barber's Piano Sonata, released by T.K. Music Productions.  In 2007, T.K. Music Productions released a new CD of his collaboration with cellist Joseph Kaizer.  In 2006, Klavier Music Productions Esencia was produced, a recording featuring Mr. Sugiura and Colón in an album of music for cello and piano from South America and the Caribbean. He also has been an editor of musical scores published by Master's Music Publications since 2002.

Born in Hakodate, Japan in 1975, Mr. Sugiura began piano study with his mother at age five, later studying at the Tokyo College of Music High School. In 1996, he entered Indiana University.  Under the tutelage of Michel Block and Shigeo Neriki, he received a Bachelor's and Master's of Music in Piano Performance.  He will be completing his doctoral study at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in 2008.  He is the winner of numerous competitions including both the 1999 and 2000 Indianapolis Matinee Musicale Competitions and the Annual Competition of Music from Spain and Latin America in 1999. Other awards include third place the 47th Japan National Student Music Competition in 1993.

Mr. Sugiura has held the position of Adjunct Lecturer and Associate Instructor of Piano at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and is currently a staff accompanist for DePauw University School of Music, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (the distinguished cellist and pedagogue Janos Starker’s studio) and Indiana University String Academy.

 

 

Pianist Christina Lalog is a newcomer to the Madison area, but has quickly become part of the musical community as an active freelance pianist and member of the piano faculty at Sun Prairie Music Academy. 

Miss Lalog recently completed a Master's degree in accompanying and chamber music with Jean Barr at the Eastman School of Music.  A native of Florida, she completed her Bachelor's degree in Piano Performance at Stetson University with Michael Rickman, where she graduated summa cum laude.  Lalog also received Stetson's prestigious Presser Scholar Award and the Leroy Greenspan Award for Community Service, and was a prizewinner at the MTNA state piano competition for Florida.

Collaborative performances have taken Miss Lalog to New York City, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and the Czech Republic.  She has spent past summers as collaborative pianist at Quartet Program, Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory, and Brevard Music Center.  Collaborative highlights include performances with violinist Charles Castleman and tenor Stephen Ng.  Honors include membership to Pi Kappa Lambda, the Mortar Board Honor Society, and Omicron Delta Kappa.  Upcoming projects include accompanying for Wisconsin Public Radio's Neale-Silva competition, and serving as orchestral pianist for a production with Stoughton Opera Company.