Advanced String Quartet Workshop
June 23-26, 2025
Ages 12-19
Join us to improve your musicianship and ensemble skills as you rehearse and are coached as a member of two string quartets.
The workshop begins with a sight-reading party and ends with a performance by all the quartets. The week's activities take place in the Music Building and include seminars on music theory, history and rehearsal techniques.
The 2025 special guest clinician is acclaimed violinist Rachel Barton Pine.
To reserve an audition time, submit an audition form.
Auditions will be scheduled individually. Be prepared to play two contrasting pieces and a three to four-octave scale. You will also be asked to sight-read.
Due to the collaborative nature of preparing chamber music for performance, we require you to attend all rehearsals and the recital. Please check your schedule before auditioning.
The workshop is limited to 16 players. Criteria for acceptance include:
- Performance level
- Space in the workshop
- Availability of compatible group members on complementary instruments
You'll be notified within a week of the audition if you're accepted.
Accepted applicants will be emailed a registration link. The total registration cost is $240.
You're expected to pay the balance at that time.
| Date | Time | Location | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 16 | 7-9 p.m. | Music Building, room 171 | Sight-reading party |
| June 23-26 | 1-5 p.m. | Music Building, various rooms | Rehearsals and workshop activities (including masterclass, listed below) |
| June 25 | 3-5 p.m. | Music Building, Concert Hall | Masterclass with special guest clinician Rachel Barton Pine |
| June 26 | 5 p.m. | Music Building, Concert Hall Lobby | Pizza dinner (cost shared by group) |
| 6 p.m. | Music Building, Recital Hall | Concert |
- Director and coach: Laurie Rodriguez
- Coach: Nissa Sampson
- Coach: Benjamin Rodriguez
No refunds are available for this event.
This is a bespoke event where each group of musicians will be placed together and have music selected specifically for them. As such, cancelations are very disruptive to the event running properly.
Due to this, we are unable to offer refunds before or during the workshop after a student has committed and registered.
Please ensure that you can meet all the time and preparation requirements for the event prior to registration.
Guest Clinician for 2025: Rachel Barton Pine
Striking and charismatic… she demonstrated a bravura technique and soulful musicianship.”– The New York Times
“Pine displays a power and confidence that puts her in the top echelon.”– The Washington Post
The acclaimed American concert violinist Rachel Barton Pine thrills international 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. She is a leading interpreter of the great classical masterworks as well as groundbreaking contemporary music.
Pine performs with the world’s foremost orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, and the Chicago, Vienna, and Detroit symphony orchestras. She has worked with renowned conductors that include Teddy Abrams, Marin Alsop, Daniel Barenboim, Semyon Bychkov, Neeme Järvi, Christoph Eschenbach, Erich Leinsdorf, Nicholas McGegan, Zubin Mehta, Tito Muñoz, and John Nelson. As a chamber musician, Pine has performed with Jonathan Gilad, Clive Greensmith, Paul Neubauer, Jory Vinikour, William Warfield, Orion Weiss, and the Pacifica and Parker quartets.
Highlights of Pine’s 2024–25 season include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra premiere of José White’s Violin Concerto in F-sharp Minor; a tour of Israel with the Tel Aviv Soloists Ensemble; Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra; the world premiere of Haralabos [Harry] Stafylakis’ Violin Concerto with the Winnipeg Symphony; Billy Childs’ Violin Concerto No. 2 with the Rhode Island Philharmonic; and the French premiere of Earl Maneein’s violin concerto Dependent Arising with the Orchestre National de Bretagne. Over the season, Pine will also perform concertos by Brahms and Sibelius, in addition to other notable works by Wynton Marsalis, Jessie Montgomery, and Mark O’Connor, among other living composers.
She performs on the “ex-Bazzini, ex-Soldat” Joseph Guarnerius “del Gesù” (Cremona 1742), on lifetime loan from her anonymous patron.
Learn more about Rachel Barton Pine.
Contact Us
College of Visual and Performing ArtsOffice of External Programs
Music Building 132
Kristin Sherman
815-753-1450
ksherman2@niu.edu
Online Office Hours
Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.(lunch from noon – 1 p.m.)
