Workshops and Classes

Friday Masterclasses

An afternoon dedicated to master classes with our innovative guest clinicians. These small-group lessons give students the unique opportunity to not only be coached by our distinguished guest clinicians, but also to be inspired by their peers.

All master classes are for HCD students only (note guitar exception) and are one-hour in duration.

Intermediate master classes (Violin mid-book 1- book 4, Viola/Cello/Guitar mid-book 1- book 3) will have 3 students per hour, and advanced master classes (Violin book 5 and up, Viola/Cello/Guitar book 4 and up) will have 2 students per hour. Students can expect to receive one-on-one coaching with a guest clinician as well as the opportunity to observe the clinician work with other students during this hour. Families will be notified in advance regarding their assigned time and should plan to attend the full hour.

Note: Friday Masterclasses are open to ALL Guitar students currently studying with a Suzuki trained teacher.

All master classes will take place at the University of Hartford's The Hartt School, 200 Bloomfield Ave., West Hartford, CT.

Saturday Workshop

The Saturday violin, viola, cello, and guitar workshop is open to all students currently studying with a Suzuki trained teacher. Students should be at least 4 years of age and able to play the fourth piece in Book 1 to participate in the weekend workshop.

Saturday’s schedule consists of repertoire, technique, and enrichment classes of varying sizes and levels. Students are scheduled for three to four hours of classes (depending upon level/instrument), held from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. with a break for lunch*. A special HCD Spirit Week Play-in is also included in the day.

Schedules will not be available before the workshop. Please fill out your online registration carefully with complete information. Confirmation of receipt of registration will be sent by email.

Check-in and classes will take place at The Hartt School in the Fuller Music Center on the University of Hartford campus. Upon entering the Bloomfield Avenue campus of the University, continue until you reach Parking Lot D. Park in a non-designated spot in Lot D and enter The Hartt School, which is directly across the street. Signs will be posted to help you find the registration station.

Please arrive 30 minutes prior to your first class. Exact start time (9:00 or 10:00) will be listed in your informational email to be sent one week prior to the event.

Note: All classes finish by 3:30 p.m.

Free Time

Students may not be scheduled every hour.  It is suggested that during the student’s free time observation of more advanced students occurs. Feel free to observe any class as room allows. A craft room will be set up by the HCD teen volunteers,Y2C (Youth to Community). They will assist students with their crafting.

*There are no lunch facilities available on the University campus on the workshop weekend. Please bring a bag lunch and visit with friends. A space will be provided where lunch can be eaten.

The Saturday Workshop will take place at the University of Hartford's The Hartt School, 200 Bloomfield Ave., West Hartford, CT.

Since winning his first competition at the age of thirteen, Pakistani-born guitar virtuoso and composer Mir Ali has been described by Acoustic Guitar Magazine as “an exceptional nylon string guitarist,” as “mesmerizing and hypnotic” by National Public Radio, and as “innovative and eclectic” by Soundboard magazine.

Ali has written music for movies, theater, radio, television commercials, and most recently for the documentary “Roots and Branches,” which won the “Award of Excellence” from the prestigious Film advisory Board in Hollywood. His recent tours include performances and master classes in India, Bangladesh, Romania, Spain, Italy, and Canada. Mir is active as an adjudicator and clinician at prestigious guitar competitions and festivals in the United States and abroad. His compositions/publications are available through Mel Bay and Clear Note Publications.

Mir Ali’s most recent compact disc, “AMISTAD”, with members of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, has been receiving critical acclaim around the globe: “The repertoire is seductive, alluring and masterfully delivered by a group of world-class musicians”.

Mir currently resides in Buffalo, New York and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is the Director of the Amherst School of Guitar and President of the Buffalo Guitar Society as well as the Artistic Director of the Rantucci International Guitar Festival and Competition. Mir is represented by Performing Arts Management by special arrangement with Leona Zachary.

 

  

Award-winning violinist Gary Capozziello enjoys a varied musical life as both highly versatile performer and educator. Applauded for his “inspired ferocity” (Millbrook Independent), Gary has been recognized in the media by WTNH, The Hartford Courant, Broadwayworld.com and the American League of Orchestras (symphony.org). His recent concerto appearances have included concerts with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, the New Haven Civic, American Chamber Orchestra, Manchester Symphony, Connecticut Valley Chamber Orchestra and the Torrington Symphony. Capozziello’s online recital series "Help Me Create a Covid Relief Fund" raised grant funds for struggling musicians during the height of the pandemic, receiving a Musician Service Award granted by the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. Gary has also received the Jerry Malafronte Award for Musical Excellence, the Peter/Wright Music Memorial and top prize at the Paranov Concerto Competition. He was featured in Hartford Magazine’s 2018 issue “Inspired: A Renaissance of Young Artists,” and he currently holds a sponsored chair in the Hartford Symphony.

 

Sarah Cummings began studying the violin at the age of 4 in Durham NH with Louise Wear, who was among the first generation of teachers to implement the Suzuki method in the United States.  Sarah discovered her passion for teaching as a teenager when she had the unexpected opportunity to take on some private students.  She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in violin performance from Ithaca College and a Master’s degree in musicology from Northwestern University.  Her other major teachers include Marylou Speaker Churchill, Linda Case, and Blair Milton, and she did her Suzuki Teacher Training with Carrie Reuning Hummel, Sandy Reuning and Thomas Wermuth. 

Sarah has been a devoted member of the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra for nearly 20 years; she served as the librarian for 15 years and is now on the Board of Directors and is the coordinator for the orchestra’s Youth Outreach program.  Also active in the upstate New York area as a freelance musician, she has performed regularly with local organizations such as Music’s Recreation and Women’s Works and is featured on the album Fiddlespel: Dance Music of Scandinavia.  “I consider myself to be one of the luckiest people alive to get to teach music to children for a living!  I never, ever get tired of Twinkle because each child brings something unique, every day.”

 

Linda Fiore began violin lessons at age 5 with her mother Louise Wear, a Suzuki violin teacher. She earned a Bachelor of Music in violin performance at the Hartt College of Music in Hartford, CT and studied with violinist Raphael Bronstein in New York City. later, she studied with Dr. Suzuki at the Talent Education Institute in Matsumoto, Japan for 18 months. She performed her graduation recital and earned her Japanese teaching certificate.

Upon returning to the United States, she became the first teacher to teach Suzuki Violin Method for brain-injured and well children at the Institute for the Achievement of Human Potential in Philadelphia.

In 1983, she and her husband Domenick founded DaCore Talent Education in Glenmore, PA where, for 14 years, she taught violin and directed her own workshops. She has presented student performing groups in Bermuda, Puerto Rico, Europe, and throughout the United States. In 1997 she accepted a teaching position at the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford. She was a Suzuki Teacher trainer in the graduate degree program there and also taught college students as well as young students in the school’s Community Division.

Having returned to PA, Linda and Domenick are currently continuing the development of DaCore Talent Education Academy and Fiore Performing strings in the Lehigh Valley area. They continue to co-direct the Ogontz Suzuki Institute, a four-session Summer Institute in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Linda has done extensive orchestra, chamber orchestra, and chamber music performing over the course of her career with groups such as the Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra and the Northeastern PA Philharmonic and the Pennsylvania Sinfonia. She traines teachers and students nationally and internationally and is the mother of two sons, Michael and Christopher.

 

Nancy Hair enjoys a teaching and performing career on cello which has taken her to Europe, Asia, South America and across the United States. She is currently on the faculty of the New England Conservatory Preparatory School as well as Northeastern University and maintains an active home studio. Nancy is known for her work with the youngest beginners teaching through to the graduate level which she did for the past four years teaching pedagogy at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, Connecticut. As a performer Nancy has played with many of Boston’s leading orchestras and chamber ensembles including Boston Ballet and Boston Lyric Opera and as an advocate for music education, performs with Young Audiences of Massachusetts.

Nancy’s most influential teachers include Janos Starker, Raya Garbousova, David Wells, Yehuda Hanani, and Timothy Eddy. She attended Indiana University and the Hartt College of Music as well as graduate studies in Suzuki Method at Ithaca Talent Education.

Michael Joviala is a pianist, clarinetist, composer and teacher in New York City. Training: Diplôme Supérieur, Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva, Switzerland; D.M.A, Stony Brook University, NY; M.A., Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City, NY; B.A. University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. Faculty: Columbia University, Lucy Moses School at Kaufman Music Center, The Diller-Quaile School, American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City. Dalcroze Certificate: Juilliard School of Music. Dalcroze License: Longy School of Music. Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Dalcroze Society of America. He currently leads the group Loco Motors, an ensemble specializing in techniques derived from the practice of both Dalcroze and free improvisation.

 

Gabriel Remillard Appearing throughout much of the northeast and Italy, Gabriel Remillard started on the violin at age 9. After picking up the viola for the first time in middle school Gabriel immediately fell in love with the dark rich sound of the viola. Attending the Hartt School in Connecticut for his undergraduate and graduate degrees studying with Steve Larson and Rita Porfiris. Gabriel has performed with some of New England and Italy’s best ensembles such as the Hartford Symphony. Gabriel has also appeared on NPR and PBS with the likes of Matthew Morrison from “Glee” and Idina Menzel from “Wicked”.  Gabriel is an avid chamber musician and soloist obtaining numerous awards and honors for his work on and off the stage. Gabriel is a full time teacher of traditional and Suzuki lessons. Obtaining his long term training from renowned Suzuki Trainer Teri Einfeldt. Living in Maine, Gabriel enjoys adventuring as much as possible.

Violin-Viola (information to be provided in February 2024)

Student Registration Deadline: February 23, 2024

Early Bird Discount: Register by January 31st, 2024 and receive $20.00 off tuition.

VIOLIN, VIOLA, CELLO, and guitar MASTER CLASSES

Advanced Master Class Tuition all instruments: $100

*Please note that intermediate master classes are only available in the bundle

VIOLIn, VIOLA, cello, and guitar WORKSHOP

SATURDAY WORKSHOP ONLY

Tuition (all levels): $140

BUNDLE: FRIDAY MASTER CLASS + SATURDAY WORKSHOP

Intermediate Bundle Tuition:  $185

Advanced Bundle Tuition:  $200

Hartt Teacher Development Workshop: An Afternoon of Favorites

Come explore an afternoon of musical favorites shared by SAA Violin Teacher Trainer Linda Fiore! This three-hour pedagogy session will cover a variety of topics, including tracing skills backwards in the repertoire, developing the ear, creating a musical pulse, and many more universal truths of Suzuki! Bring your violins and join the afternoon of inspiration!

Linda Fiore began violin lessons at age 5 with her mother Louise Wear, a Suzuki violin teacher. She earned a Bachelor of Music in violin performance at the Hartt College of Music in Hartford, CT and studied with violinist Raphael Bronstein in New York City. later, she studied with Dr. Suzuki at the Talent Education Institute in Matsumoto, Japan for 18 months. She performed her graduation recital and earned her Japanese teaching certificate.

Upon returning to the United States, she became the first teacher to teach Suzuki Violin Method for brain-injured and well children at the Institute for the Achievement of Human Potential in Philadelphia.

In 1983, she and her husband Domenick founded DaCore Talent Education in Glenmore, PA where, for 14 years, she taught violin and directed her own workshops. She has presented student performing groups in Bermuda, Puerto Rico, Europe, and throughout the United States. In 1997 she accepted a teaching position at the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford. She was a Suzuki Teacher trainer in the graduate degree program there and also taught college students as well as young students in the school’s Community Division.

Having returned to PA, Linda and Domenick are currently continuing the development of DaCore Talent Education Academy and Fiore Performing strings in the Lehigh Valley area. They continue to co-direct the Ogontz Suzuki Institute, a four-session Summer Institute in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Linda has done extensive orchestra, chamber orchestra, and chamber music performing over the course of her career with groups such as the Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra and the Northeastern PA Philharmonic and the Pennsylvania Sinfonia. She traines teachers and students nationally and internationally and is the mother of two sons, Michael and Christopher.

Tuition: $50

 

Were you in marching band in school or do you play a brass or woodwind instrument? Get together with a group of friends and strangers to play the music of The March King, John Philip Sousa! You won’t want to miss being a part of the band or seeing the performance! All are welcome to join. Please register below.

Bring your own music stand (a limited number will be available). Some chairs will be provided. Audience members are welcome to just enjoy the music!

This event is coordinated by the Greater Hartford Arts Council.

• Nobles of the Mystic Shrine
• King Cotton
• Manhattan Beach
• Irish Tune from County Derry
• El Capitan
• The Liberty Bell
• Fairest of the Fair
• The Stars and Stripes
• The Thunderer

Flute/Piccolo | Oboe | Bassoon | Clarinet | Bass Clarinet | Alto Saxophone | Tenor Saxophone | Baritone Saxophone | Trumpet/Cornet | French Horn | Trombone | Euphonium BC | Tuba | Percussion