🎻 Masterclass with Curtis Stewart

I was invited to play in a masterclass with Violinist, Juilliard professor, and composer Curtis Stewart !

Rather than detailed dissection of the piece (ex. “In measure 7, this bowing… what if we did this instead to bring out this phrasing?”), Mr. Stewart’s approach was more imaginative and of the mindset of a composer—which is perfect for me because I am the same in both regards! He helped me bring more color to my performance of Barber Violin Concerto mvt. 1.

I appreciated learning his perspective and process when interpreting a piece. He asked questions like “What is the one moment you want the audience to take away?” and “Which part of the piece do you think the composer wrote first? That can help inform the big picture, the arc, the identity of the composition.” Just from considering the first question and playing the opening of the piece a few times, there was noticeable difference in my playing—which notes I emphasized, took my time with, and changed the tone on.

Mr. Stewart also observed that the Barber first movement is pretty much a G major scale with ornamentation, so we know which notes to bring out (those of the scale) and which notes to treat like an improvisatory noodle. Speaking of improvisation, he treated a section of a Beethoven piece another violinist played as an improvisation as well, which helped the player bring contrast to a line that repeats a few times with small variation each time.

I was very grateful to have been selected to participate in this masterclass!