Chamber Festival Intensive

For the 2022 Summer Program Season we will be asking all applicants to submit an audition. This includes returning students from 2021 who attended Jazz in the Pines Student Clinic, Chamber Music Festival, and Songwriting. The audition helps our faculty and staff plan and prepare for chamber group assignments, class schedules, private lesson schedules and much more for the program. Information on how to submit audition materials will be posted in November.

A recorded audition is required for acceptance. After being successfully accepted into the program, students will then submit a recorded video audition for chair or ensemble placement at a later date closer to the start of the festival.

Priority Audition Deadline: February 15, 2022

Secondary Audition Deadline: May 15, 2022

Chamber Festival is aimed at ambitious and aspirational musicians who are considering careers in music, and as such, admission is selective. The priority audition deadline is February 15th, but applicants are encouraged to register and audition as early as possible. Please submit your application and audition as soon as possible to secure your seat.

Audition Details

Strings: 

• One 3 octave scale (2 octaves for basses)
• One arpeggio (your choice of key)
• One or more pieces demonstrating technical accomplishment (something fast) and interpretive ability (something slow and legato)

Winds And Brass: 

• Two 2 octave scales with corresponding arpeggios (one prestissimo staccatissimo and the other largo legatissimo)
• One or more pieces demonstrating technical level (something fast) and interpretive ability (something slow)

Piano:

• Two pieces of contrasting styles, either solo or as part of an ensemble performance

Percussion:

Snare Drum:

• One etude from Advanced Snare Drum Studies by Mitchell Peters or comparable concert etude. Suggested: Etude #1

Keyboard:

• 3 Major scales of your choice, 2 octaves
• Chromatic scale, 2 octaves beginning on C
• One two-mallet solo/etude from Modern School of Xylophone by Morris Goldenberg, Fundamental Method for Mallets by Mitchell Peters, or comparable etude. Suggested: Goldenberg Etude #5
• Optional: One intermediate to advanced level four-mallet solo/etude

Timpani:

One etude from Fundamental Method for Timpani by Mitchell Peters or comparable etude. Suggested: Etude #51

Audition Instructions: 

1. Complete an online Camper application. Make sure to submit the application.  
2. Once you have completed the Camper Application, your application will be reviewed within 5 days by a member of the Enrollment team. At this time, you will be charged the $50 application fee and receive an email with a link to the Submittable audition application for you to submit your audition. 
3. Complete the Submittable application and provide an email address for your teacher recommendation form within Submittable. 

New this year, we are using the platform Submittable to receive all auditions for the 2022 Summer Program (a universal  platform utilized for exhibitions, contests and even university and job applications).  It is very easy to use. You will be prompted to setup a free Submittable account with your email.  This account can be used for any future open calls you apply to at Idyllwild Arts and beyond!

Acceptance for most auditioned intensives will be made on a rolling basis, so it’s a good idea to get auditions in early. 

Honor Music Group Verification Instructions:

1. Log on to your CampInTouch account (parent’s account*).
2. Click on the yellow pencil icon to go to the Forms & Documents page. 
3. You will then need to complete the following forms:

• Honor Music Group Verification Form** (if applicable):
  Upload a document in PDF format verifying your membership in an All-State or Honor ensemble using the Upload Honor Music Group Verification by clicking in the arrow on the right-hand side of the form.

See Audition Requirements above for intensive-specific audition video/audio requirements and details.

*Forms & Documents are only available on the parent’s CampInTouch account, not the camper’s account.

** Detailed instructions for uploading PDF documents are available on your CampInTouch account.

If you have any questions, we would be happy to help! Contact the Summer Registration Office by email at summer@idyllwildarts.org or by phone at (951) 468-7265.

• Metronome
• Instrument for selected program
• Blank music staff paper
• Pencil
• (Hardcopies of music will be provided when you arrive)

Concert dress code is a white top and black bottom with black shoes/socks. Students can mix and match from this list as desired:

• White button-down shirt, white blouse, or all white formal shirt (no sleeveless tops)
• Black pants, or black skirt (below the knees)
• Black dress shoes and socks
• No ties, bowties, or suit jackets

Find the full schedule and materials list here.

 

2022 repertoire* includes:

• Richard Strauss: Fanfare for the Vienna Philharmonic
• Aaron Copland: El Salon Mexico
• Cécile Chaminade Prelude and Pas des Echarpes from Callirhoe Suite Op. 37
• Hector Berlioz: A Ball, March to the Scaffold, and Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath from Symphonie Fantastique Op. 14 

*repertoire subject to changes

Gregory Robbins

American conductor Gregory Robbins enjoys a diverse career as a performer, educator, bassist, and arts advocate. He has held positions as Associate Conductor of the Greater Bridgeport Symphony (2014-16), Music Director of the Delphi Chamber Orchestra (2011-2018), and Director of the Young Artists Philharmonic (2013-2019), a regional Youth Orchestra based in Greenwich, CT. A strong advocate for music education, Robbins has extensive experience working with a variety of Youth, Secondary, and Collegiate ensembles. He has made conducting debuts at Yale School of Music, NYU, and lectured at Mannes College: The New School for Music. 

Robbins is active in the worlds of Jazz and Popular Music, recently conducting the debut album of the Assembly of Shadows Jazz Orchestra, and premiering Miho Hazama’s “Jazz Mass” at St. Peter’s church in New York City. In 2018, he led a performance at Brooklyn Academy of Music featuring John Cale (formerly of Velvet Underground) and the Wordless Music Orchestra which gained wide acclaim from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and The New Yorker. In 2018 he also led the Video Game Orchestra in a sold out concert at Anime Boston. In the world of film and tv, he was the “conducting coach” for Gael Garcia Bernal, star of Amazon’s hit Mozart in the Jungle series.

As a chamber musician, Robbins has performed with such luminaries as David Frankl, Clive Greensmith, and Ani Kavafian, among others. He has also collaborated with members of the Tokyo, Attacca, and Linden string quartets for concerts at Carnegie Hall and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. He received his formal training at Yale School of Music and Manhattan School of Music, and currently resides in Palm Springs, California.

Dr. Todor Pelev

Dr. Todor Pelev’s public performances started at early age in his native Bulgaria after capturing the gold medal of the most prestigious national competition. Dr. Pelev attracted international attention when he was awarded the silver medal in the Wieniawski International Violin Competition, second only to the famed Russian virtuoso Viktoria Mullova. Subsequently, he was invited to present concerts in Poland, Hungary, Italy, Russia, and soloed with major European orchestras. After personal invitation to study with Dorothy DeLay at Juilliard, Todor relocated to the United States and won the American Contemporary Record Society Competition, followed by repeated solo appearances with the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center, also with the Aspen Concert Orchestra, where he played the Brahms Violin Concerto on three days notice as a substitute for Midori, and with other major orchestras. He has appeared also with the Baltimore Symphony at the Carnegie Hall.

Todor has soloed several times at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at “The Green Umbrella” concert series and was featured as a soloist at the 70th anniversary celebration of the distinguished composer John Cage. He has presented numerous recitals and participated in radio and television broadcasts in Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Taiwan, Japan, Italy, Russia, Canada and in the United States, where his life performances of music by Mario Davidovsky were broadcasted nation-wide on public television. He has performed at the Aspen (Colorado), the Tidewater (Maryland), the Mackinaw Island (Michigan) and the Rome (Italy) music festivals, and has participated in chamber music concerts with members of the Cleveland, Takash, Vermeer, Sequoia String Quartets, An die Musik, and principals of the Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, among others.

Dr. Pelev has collaborated with many noted contemporary composers, giving first performances of some of their music, such as Mario Davidovski, Mel Powell, Morton Subotnick, John Cage, performing as a soloist, or as a member of the avant-garde contemporary music ensemble the Twentieth Century Players (now New Millennium) as a faculty member at Cal Arts. Recently, Todor premiered the Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra by Libby Larsen at the California Theater. He has always had interest in all music genre and has played in concert with Kenny G, Wynton Marsalis, George Benson and Ray Charles, also on his last two CD recordings.

Todor’s violin studies began at age of 5 while studying with Tatiana Krusteva and later at the Bulgarian National Conservatory with Boyan Lechev – a protégé of David Oistrakh, After graduate studies with Dorothy DeLay at Juilliard, Dr. Pelev was invited for his doctoral studies with Donald Weilerstein at the Eastman School of Music, while serving as his teaching assistant, where he won the Eastman Concerto Competition and was granted the Performer’s Certificate.

Todor Pelev has been a concertmaster of the Baltimore Opera, Riverside, South Bay and Redlands Symphony Orchestras and is presently serving as a concertmaster of the San Bernardino Symphony and the Redlands Bowl Orchestra. He has been a faculty member of the California Institute for the Arts, the University of Redlands, the Pomona College and the Claremont Graduate University. His former students include winners of national and international competitions, concertmasters of important orchestras such as the London, New Haven, Hong Kong, Cleveland Circle Opera, Boston Civic Symphony, and college/conservatory professors. He has been a jury member of national and international competitions, and has presented numerous masterclasses, most recently at the Eastman School of Music, UCLA and the San Francisco Conservatory.

Todor has been performing on several important violins such as the “Ex-Willmotte” Stradivarius, the “Ex-Paganini” Landolfi and the “Ex-Constable” Bergonzi, featured on the recording “The Glory of Cremona”.

John Walz

John Walz is a celebrated soloist and chamber music artist, known for his dazzling virtuosity and elegant musicianship. A student of the legendary French cellist, Pierre Fournier, he has appeared as soloist with more than 150 symphony orchestras on 4 continents. His performances of 25 different concertos include both standard showcases and rarities like Martinu’s Concerto #1 and William Schuman’s Song of Orfeus.

In 1979, Mr. Walz, along with pianist Edith Orloff, founded the Pacific Trio. Now performing with violinist Roger Wilkie, this renowned ensemble has played more than 900 concerts throughout North America and Europe.

In addition to his solo and chamber music duties, he is currently the principal cellist with the Los Angeles Opera, a position he previously held for 20 years with the Long Beach Symphony.

His ever expanding discography includes recordings of the concertos by Dvorak, Haydn, Shostakovich, Bloch, Martinu, Vivaldi, and trios by Brahms, Dvorak, Smetana, and the newly released Pacific Trio CD featuring Beethoven’s Triple Concerto and Archduke Trio.

He is on the faculty of the Idyllwild Arts summer program and Academy.

Claire Brazeau

American oboist Claire Brazeau is recognized as one of the leading soloists of her generation. She holds the principal chair of the world-renowned Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Claire regularly tours internationally, most recently performing concertos by Mozart, Martinu and Strauss. An active studio musician, Claire has recorded for several film and TV soundtracks, such as The Mandalorian, Tenet, and Call of the Wild. She is the founder and Artistic Director of the Virtual Oboe Competition, which launched in 2020 as a response to the Covid-19 crisis. Interested in exploring the range and pushing the limits of oboe performance, Claire plays with period instrument ensemble Musica Angelica, and is a member of the new music group, WildUp. Claire is an awarded finalist in the International Gillet-Fox Oboe Competition and has appeared as guest principal with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Lucerne Festival Alumni Orchestra, and the Phoenix Symphony.

Recently Claire joined the faculty at Idyllwild Arts Academy, and since 2016 she has maintained an active oboe studio at the Bob Cole Conservatory of California State University in Long Beach. Deeply committed to music education, Claire frequently serves as guest clinician at numerous academic institutions. Every summer she enjoys serving as faculty at the YOLA National Festival, a full-scholarship summer youth orchestra intensive spearheaded by the LA Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel. Claire’s other festival engagements include the Lucerne Festival Academy, Yale School of Music Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, the New York String Orchestra Seminar, Pierre Monteux School, Bravo! Vail, and the Ojai Music Festival. During the 2011-2012 season she served as a Visiting Artist in residence at the American Academy in Rome, Italy.

Under the tutelage of the LA Chamber Orchestra’s former principal oboist Allan Vogel, Claire received an Artist Diploma from The Colburn School. At Bard College and Conservatory she earned a triple major with a Bachelor of Arts in East Asian studies and piano performance, and a Bachelor of Music in oboe performance. Her principal teachers at Bard were Laura Ahlbeck and Elaine Douvas; she studied piano with Blair McMillen.

Affectionately known as @oboejones, Claire enjoys connecting with thousands of oboe fans via her Instagram page, where she shares concert clips, oboe advice, and upcoming performance information.

Claire plays on Marigaux 901 series oboes.

Martin Kuuskmann

Estonian-born bassoonist Martin Kuuskmann belongs among the leading voices on his instrument, performing repertoire landmarks from across the entire scope of classical music and avant-garde as well as indulging the occasional foray into modern improvisation with some of the world’s most celebrated orchestras and conductors. As a soloist, Kuuskmann possesses an unmatched ability to draw rare expressiveness and brilliant timbre out of his reed, awarding him several bassoon concertos, written explicitly for Kuuskmann by A-list contemporary composers such as Erkki Sven Tüür, Christopher Theofanidis, Tõnu Kõrvits and David Chesky, among others. Regarding the quality of his artisanship on stage, The New York Times has gone as far as using the words “amazing” and “stunning” to describe his craft, confirming that Kuuskmann is one of the great bassoon virtuosos of our time.

Kuuskmann picked up the bassoon at the age of 15, leaving behind his earlier preoccupations on piano and clarinet for the versatile lower range aerophone, which he would subsequently study at the Tallinn Music High School before pursuing more elaborate music education under full scholarship at Manhattan School of Music and Yale School of Music stateside. From there, the reed-player built a career as a freelance musician, performing regularly with leading New York-based orchestras like the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra or the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he has occupied the bassoon solo position of the Kristjan Järvi-fronted Absolute Ensemble from 1995 onward. Since his move to the West Coast in 2003, Kuuskmann has kept busy as a performer, recording artist and avid educator, frequently giving masterclasses at international universities and festivals, while having worked closely with the Berlin-based Baltic Sea Philharmonic as woodwind coach. Currently Kuuskmann resides in Denver Colorado, where he holds a chair as Professor of Bassoon and Chamber Music at the University of Denver.

From purely soloist undertakings over intimate chamber music affairs to full-blown symphonic work of Romantic orchestral proportion, the list of Kuuskmann’s collaborations goes on and the breadth of his repertoire proves utterly wide and profound. Between his beginnings as an instrumentalist and today, Kuuskmann has performed with countless renowned ensembles – among them the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the American Composers Orchestra – and he has worked under the direction of world-famous conductors such as Neeme, Paavo and Kristjan Järvi on the one hand and Mihhail Gerts, Robert Spano, Dennis Russel Davies, Jose Luis Gomez and Risto Joost on the other. His reputation as a chamber musician precedes him, gaining him frequent invitations to play with formations of the stature of the Berlin Philharmonic’s Ensembles and producing partnerships with celebrated individuals such as Leif Ove Andsnes, Kirill Gerstein, Katherine Stott or Christoph Hartmann, among many others.

However, where other bassoonists might stress qualities that are unique to their instrument of choice, Kuuskmann’s approach can be considered more holistic, as he channels the human, almost vocal nature of musical expression by emphasizing its emotional substance through his versatile yet deeply resonating bassoon tone. Thus, Kuuskmann is capable of transcending the boundaries, heedlessly imposed on the bassoon by  the conventions of classical tradition over time, and enjoys demonstrating his unique diction and fluent articulation in the world’s most revered concert halls, from the Sala Sao Paolo all the way to Carnegie Hall or the Lincoln and Kennedy Centers.

An extensive and steadily growing recording catalogue documents Kuuskmann’s activity, the Grammy-nominated Bassoon Concertos (2017, ERP records), which the composer Christopher Theofanidis wrote with Kuuskmann in mind, included. David Chesky’s Bassoon Concertos (Chesky Records, 2006), too had been written explicitly for the bassoonist by the American composer and the recording was also nominated for a Grammy. But besides the great majority of entries into his discography consisting of acclaimed classical recordings – not forgetting Miguel Kertsman’s Bassoon Concerto (Naxos, 2018) featuring the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Dennis Russel Davies – Kuuskmann occasionally demonstrates flashes of his eclectic musical tendencies, too, as captured on outings like Archipelago (CCn’C, 2001) – a duo project with accordionist William Schimme – or The Path Of Mantra (Erdenklang 2002), in collaboration with Peeter Vähi and Drikung Kagyu Monks. Past associations with jazz luminaries Joe Zawinul, Gerry Mulligan and John Patitucci further confirm the suspicion, that Kuuskmann is not just any bassoonist, but an exceptionally creative instrumentalist with an open mind and a unique voice.

Along with a variety of other prominent projects, Kuuskmann’s concerto repertoire for the 21/22 season includes the Bassoon Concertos by Christopher Theofanidis, Erkki-Sven Tüür, Eino Tamberg and Tõnu Kõrvits as well as a world premiere of Páll Ragnar Palsson’s Bassoon Concerto alongside the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. Besides receiving the honor of becoming the first artist in residence in the history of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, the reed virtuoso will also hold a residency with the Tartu Vanemuine Symphony Orchestra, performing and recording the bassoon concertos by Ülo Krigul, Daniel Schnyder, Andre Jolivet and Carl Maria von Weber.

Yuri Inoo

A native of Kanagawa, Japan, Dr. Yuri Inoo is musician and educator in the Los Angeles area. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from San Francisco State University, graduating summa cum laude, and receiving the Most Outstanding Senior Award. Yuri received her Master of Music and Doctorate in Musical Arts degree in Percussion Performance at the University of Southern California.

Yuri has performed and collaborated with artist such as Yo Yo Ma, John Williams, Steve Reich, Andrea Bocelli, and members of NEXUS.

Yuri is currently the Principal Percussionist with the Redlands Symphony in Redlands, California, and remains as an active freelance musician in Southern California. She also is a founding member of percussion ensemble bloom in Tokyo, Japan, and the Varied Trio in Los Angeles. She is the percussion instructor at Occidental College, University of Redlands, Mount Saint Mary’s University, and Idyllwild Arts Academy, while keeping a private studio.

Doug Ashcraft

Pianist Douglas Ashcraft has performed to acclaim in recitals and concerts throughout the United States and in Europe. A winner of prizes in many competitions, he began his formal training as a student of AldoMancinelli. Masters and doctoral degrees followed at the University of Southern California where he worked with pianist John Perry. During those summers he participated in classes at the Aspen Music Festival and the Holland Music Sessions in Alkmaar, Netherlands as a student of pianists John O’Conor, Marie Francoise Bucquet, and Gyorgy Sandor. As a result of his participation in the Holland Music Sessions he was invited to perform in a recital at Amsterdam’s famed Concertgebouw.

In addition to his solo work Douglas Ashcraft is an active chamber musician and has performed in recitals at Carnegie Recital Hall, AliceTully Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, and Jacqueline Du Pre Hall at Oxford University in England.

Dr. Ashcraft’s performing career has included radio broadcasts on NewYork’s WQXR and live chamber music recitals on KKGO, KMZT and KUSC inLos Angeles, and BBC Radio 3 in London.

There is an Honor Music discount for students who participate in regional, state and national honor groups. Music students who participate in regional, state and national honor groups qualify for an automatic discount of $1,200 through May 15.

No Honor Awards are available after May 15. Additional financial aid based on financial need is available.

Steps to Enrollment Process for Honor Discount:

• Fill out the online application using the Register Now button on our website. 
• In the application, we ask if your child is in an honor group or band. 
  • Please fill in the Honor band questions when prompted in the application. 
• You will not see the deduction for the Honor Music discount when you get to the payment page  – as this is a discount, it must be manually applied by a member of the registration team. 
  • If you intend to pay in full, please select the pay in full button when you complete the application. 
• When you submit your application, your card will not be charged immediately, as music students’ applications need to be reviewed for:
  • Instrument availability
  • Audition requirements (if applicable for the program)
  • Honor Music Group verification – we ask that you provide verification that your child is part of the Honor group you listed in the application. 
• Once we receive the application, we will review it within a week and:
  • Send you email instructions for verifying Honor group participation
  • Send you email instructions for completing the audition (If applicable)
• We will then enroll your child and apply the Honor discount at this time.

Instrument	Target #	Availability
Bass	4	Open
Bassoon	3	Open
Cello	8	Open
Clarinet	3	Open
Flute	3	Open
Horn	5	Open
Oboe	3	Open
Percussion	4	Open
Piano	2	Open
Harp	2	Open
Trombone	4	Open
Trumpet	4	Open
Tuba	2	Open
Viola	8	Open
Violin	18	Open

The instrument breakdown listed above is a projection of the intended enrollment for the program – actual final enrollment may vary slightly from this at the conductor’s discretion.