Juilliard artists meet with area teens

When Aiken High School junior Christina Levy heard the professional classical musicians from New York perform Thursday morning, "It was like somebody playing a tape, just phenomenal," said the AHS strings orchestra cellist.

The next morning was even better because Levy and other student musicians participated in master classes with their guests and then play with them in chamber orchestra style.

Juilliard in Aiken's outreach efforts are expanding in collaboration with the Juilliard School, said the Aiken organization's president, Dr. Sandra Field. Five musicians spent several days last week in the community for a string quintet residency.

In addition to its work at Aiken High, the group gave performances at Schofield and LBC middle schools, both of which have string programs. They also hosted a camp for middle-school string players at the Aiken Center for the Arts. The primary focus for nearly two years has been a week-long festival in March. This year Juilliard in Aiken also sponsored a vocal artist residency in August and hopes to bring in another group of musicians next May or June.

"We're thrilled to have this new initiative of artist residencies," Field said. "It's important to have a continuing presence of Juilliard artists to give our outreach a more consistent program. That means we can see improvement over the long-term."

Cellist Claire Bryant, a Camden native, said she and the other four musicians - Owen Dalby, Julia MacLaine, Anna Elashvili and Margaret Dyer - are graduates of The Academy, a two-year fellowship program of the Juilliard School, Carnegie Hall and the Weill Music Institute. Bryant's appearance was her third in Aiken, including a residency at Schofield in 2009.

"It's a nice place for Chamber musicians to come down and connect with the community," she said Friday. "I recognized so many faces, and I like coming in and seeing them do so well. The orchestra is doing a fantastic job."

Aiken High sophomore and violinist Daniel Fetterolf participated in the Schofield residency as an eighth-grader.

"They definitely helped me a lot with technique," he said. "I really liked the experience of actually getting to play with people who do this stuff all the time."

Bryant is one of Juilliard's teaching artists, and the Academy training also provides an outreach component.

"What I like about it is that these guys are not only great professionals but are incredible teachers," said Aiken High band director Ryan Westberry. "They came in with lesson plans addressing issues I asked them about and then came up with more. I appreciate their compliments. It makes me feel better, not being a strings teacher, addressing it from a band director's perspective."

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.