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STULBERG COMPETITION MASTER CLASSES

May 16th, 2025 – 3:00 – 6:00 P.M.
Dalton Center, Kalamazoo, MI

The Stulberg Competition Master Classes have been a core part of the organization ever since its inception. Each year, these master classes are held the day before the Stulberg Competition. These master classes provide an opportunity for local students, musicians, and audiences to observe and learn from the very same artists that serve as judges for the Stulberg Competition.

APPLY HERE – APPLICATIONS OPEN MARCH 1ST

Applications Open: March 1st, 2025
Application Deadline: April 5th, 2025

Eligibility

  • The 2025 Competition Master Classes are open to violin, viola, and cello students.
  • Applicants must be under the age of 20 as of January 1st, 2025.
  • If selected to participate, the applicant must be in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Friday, May 16th. The Stulberg will not make arrangements for travel/lodging for master class participants.

Master Class Details

  • Eligible violin, viola, and cello students are asked to apply and submit an audition video to determine participation in the master classes.
  • Applications will be reviewed internally and 4-6 applicants will be selected for each instrument (violin, viola, cello).
  • Selected applicants will be notified and assigned a 30-minute time slot between 3-6PM on Friday, May 16th, 2025.
  • Selected applicants will participate in the master class at the Dalton Center in Kalamazoo, Michigan, during their assigned time slot on May 16, 2025.
  • Participants may choose to bring their own piano accompanist, otherwise the Stulberg will provide one; however, the Stulberg will NOT arrange time for participants to rehearse with their accompanist. Practice rooms will be available on-site for rehearsals if needed. Time slots are assigned based on accompanist availability.

Application Guidelines

  • Master Class applicants must perform with piano accompaniment, unless it is a solo work without accompaniment such as solo Bach for strings.
  • Those selected to perform in the Master Classes must perform the same work as performed in the audition.
  • Works composed with accompaniment should include accompaniment in the application video.
  • Pieces do not need to be performed from memory.
  • It is recommended that applicants are at a minimum in Suzuki Book 4 (or comparable) or beyond.

Clinicians

Rachel Barton Pine, violin

Heralded as a leading interpreter of the great classical masterworks, violinist Rachel Barton Pine thrills audiences with her dazzling technique, lustrous tone, and emotional honesty. With an infectious joy in music-making and a passion for connecting historical research to performance, Pine transforms audiences’ experiences of classical music.

Pine performs with the world’s leading orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, and the Chicago, Vienna, and Detroit Symphony Orchestras. She has worked with renowned conductors, including Teddy Abrams, Marin Alsop, Daniel Barenboim, Semyon Bychkov, Neeme Järvi, Christoph Eschenbach, Erich Leinsdorf, Nicholas McGegan, Zubin Mehta, Tito Muñoz, and John Nelson, and has performed chamber music with Jonathan Gilad, Clive Greensmith, Paul Neubauer, Jory Vinikour, William Warfield,
Orion Weiss, and the Pacifica and Parker Quartets…

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Caroline Coade, viola

Caroline Coade is a violist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and served as the Acting Assistant Principal Viola for the 2013–2016 seasons. Prior to her appointment in 1996 with the DSO, Coade performed regularly with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and held positions with Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra (Philadelphia) and the opera companies of Philadelphia and Santa Fe.

Equally at home teaching as she is on the concert stage, Coade is a passionate educator who was named Assistant Professor of Viola at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance (SMTD) in 2016. Her students have won top prizes in many competitions including third prize in the 2019 Sphinx Competition, semi-finalist in the 2019 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, first prize of the Society of Musical Arts 2019 Young Artist Competition, and finalist of the 2018 Anton Rubinstein International Viola Competition. Previously, she was a Lecturer in Viola at the SMTD since 2005 and was Adjunct Professor of Viola at Wayne State University from 1998–2015…

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Li-Wei Qin, cello

sponsored by Zhang Financial

An exclusive Universal Music China Artist, Li-Wei Qin has appeared all over the world as a soloist and as a chamber musician.  After achieving great success at the 11th Tchaikovsky International Competition where he was awarded the Silver Medal, Li-Wei has since won the First Prize in the prestigious 2001 Naumburg Competition in New York. “A superbly stylish, raptly intuitive performer” Gramophone Magazine, January 2015) was the description of the cellist’s Elgar and Walton concerti recording with the London Philharmonic.

Highlights in the 2017/18 season includes debut with the London Symphony, Russian Philharmonic, Czech Chamber and Brussels Chamber Orchestras. Return visits to the China Philharmonic, Guangzhou Symphony and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras.

Two times soloist at the BBC Proms in London’s Royal Albert Hall, Li-Wei has enjoyed successful artistic collaborations with many of the world’s great orchestras including all the BBC symphony orchestras, the Los Angeles philharmonic, London Philharmonic, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin

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