Shmuel Ashkenasi
Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Mr. Ashkenasi attended the Musical Academy of Tel Aviv and gave his first public performance at the age of eight. After studying with Ilona Feher, he came to the United States to study with Efrem Zimbalist at the Curtis Institute of Music. He won the Merriweather Post Competition, was a finalist in Belgium's Queen Elisabeth competition, and received second prize in the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Mr. Ashkenasi has toured the former Soviet Union twice and concertized extensively in Europe, Israel, the Far East, and the United States, and he has collaborated with Rudolf Serkin, Thomas Hampson, Murray Perahia, Peter Serkin, and Menahem Pressler. As first violin of the famed Vermeer Quartet, he has gained a reputation as one of the world's outstanding chamber musicians. From 1969 until 2007, Mr. Ashkenasi was professor of music and artist-in-residence at Northern Illinois University, and, for the last several years, he taught at Roosevelt University in Chicago. Mr. Ashkenasi joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2007.
Pamela Frank
Ms. Frank, a 1989 Curtis graduate, has performed regularly with today's most distinguished soloists and ensembles, including the orchestras of Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Baltimore, as well as the Berlin, St. Petersburg, and Israel philharmonics. As a recitalist, she has performed in the major cities of the world. Her chamber music projects include performances with such artists as Peter Serkin, Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, and her father, Claude Frank, and frequent appearances with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and Musicians from Marlboro. With Claude Frank at the piano, she has recorded the complete Beethoven sonata cycle for Music Masters Classics and an all-Schubert disc. For Sony Classical Ms. Frank recorded the Chopin Piano Trio and Schubert Trout Quintet with Mr. Ax and Mr. Ma. On Decca she has recorded all of the Mozart violin concertos, the Dvorak concerto, and, with Peter Serkin, the complete Brahms sonata cycle. In 1999 she was awarded a coveted Avery Fisher Prize. Ms. Frank joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1996.
Ida Kavafian
Internationally acclaimed as a violist as well as violinist, Ms. Kavafian is an artist-member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and former violinist of the Beaux Arts Trio. She performs as a soloist; in recital with her sister, Ani; as a guest with ensembles such as the Guarneri, Orion, and American string quartets; and as artistic director of music for Angel Fire in New Mexico. She is also on the faculty of the Bard College Conservatory of Music. Ms. Kavafian has premiered numerous works, including concerti by Toru Takemitsu and Michael Daugherty; has toured and recorded with jazz greats Chick Corea and Wynton Marsalis, as well as fiddler/composer Mark O'Connor; and had a solo feature on CBS SUNDAY MORNING. Cofounder of the group Tashi, Ms. Kavafian also cofounded the piano quartet OPUS ONE. Born in Istanbul of Armenian parentage, she is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where she studied with Oscar Shumsky. She made her debut under Young Concert Artists with the pianist Peter Serkin. She resides with her husband, violist Steven Tenenbom, in Philadelphia and Connecticut, where they breed and train prizewinning Hungarian vizsla show dogs. Ms. Kavafian joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1998..
Mr. Rosand, world-renowned violin virtuoso and pedagogue, carries on the tradition of Leopold Auer and Eugène Ysaÿe, having studied with their disciples Efrem Zimbalist and Leon Sametini. Mr. Rosand, born of a Russian mother and Polish father, gave his recital debut at age nine and his orchestral debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra a year later. He made his New York recital debut in 1948 and his New York Philharmonic debut with Leonard Bernstein in 1960. He has been solo artist with major orchestras and conductors of the world and frequently combines master classes with concert engagements. Mr. Rosand has recorded extensively throughout his career and, to date, has over thirty CDs and DVDs on various recording labels in the United States and Europe. They are available at retailers and through his award-winning website: www.aaronrosand.com. Mr. Rosand joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1981.
Yumi Ninomiya Scott
Ms. Scott is a graduate of the Toho School of Music in her native country of Japan, as well as the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Ivan Galamian. She has been a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 1984, and was a member of the Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and Curtis String Quartet from 1969 to 1982. She has students in many of the major orchestras. Ms. Scott, who is also on the faculty of Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance, joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1970.
Joseph Silverstein
The Aaron Rosand Chair in Violin Studies
A 1950 Curtis graduate, Mr. Silverstein began his musical studies with his father, Bernard. He continued with Josef Gingold, and, at Curtis, studied with Efrem Zimbalist and Veda Reynolds. He then held positions with the orchestras of Houston, Philadelphia, and Denver before joining the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1955 as its youngest player. In 1959 he won third prize (silver medal) in the Queen Elisabeth Competition, and in 1960 he won the Naumburg Award. In 1962 he was appointed concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and he became its assistant conductor in 1971. He served as music director of the Utah Symphony for fifteen years and was named its conductor laureate in 1998. A member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Mr. Silverstein performs frequently in New York and has appeared as a soloist and conductor with more than one hundred orchestras in the United States, Japan, Israel, and throughout Europe. He has served on the faculties of Yale and Boston universities, New England Conservatory, and Tanglewood Music Center, and he has recorded for such labels as RCA, Deutsche Grammophon, Delos, CBS, Nonesuch, EMI, and Image. Mr. Silverstein joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2000.
Born in Los Angeles, Mr. Steinhardt began his studies with Karl Moldrem, Peter Meremblum, and Toscha Seidel and made his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age fourteen. At the Curtis Institute of Music, he studied with Ivan Galamian and later with Joseph Szigeti. In 1958 Mr. Steinhardt won the Leventritt Award and appeared as soloist with major United States orchestras, such as the Cleveland Orchestra, where he was invited by George Szell to serve as assistant concertmaster (1959 to 1964). When the Guarneri String Quartet was founded in 1964, Mr. Steinhardt became its first violin, a post he held through the group's retirement in 2009. He continues to perform throughout the world and has made many recordings as soloist and with the Guarneri Quartet, about which he has written the widely acclaimed book INDIVISIBLE BY FOUR. His latest book, VIOLIN DREAMS, appeared in 2006. Mr. Steinhardt writes a monthly blog, Fiddlers Beat, on his website: www.arnoldsteinhardt.com. He teaches at the University of Maryland, Bard College, and the Colburn School of Music; he joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1968.
