2012 Judges & Clinicians for Master Classes

American violinist RACHEL BARTON PINE has appeared as soloist with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, including the Chicago, Atlanta, St. Louis, Dallas, Baltimore, Montreal, Vienna, New Zealand and Iceland Symphonies, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Israel and Scottish Chamber Orchestras, working with conductors including Charles Dutoit, Zubin Mehta, Erich Leinsdorf, Marin Alsop, Neeme Järvi, and Placido Domingo. Acclaimed collaborations include Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, William Warfield, Christopher O’Riley and Mark O’Connor. Her festival appearances include Ravinia, Marlboro, and Salzburg. She has been featured on St. Paul Sunday, Performance Today, From the Top, CBS Sunday Morning, and NBC’s Today.

Her 16 critically acclaimed albums for the Cedille, Dorian, and Cacophony labels include "Brahms and Joachim Violin Concertos" with Carlos Kalmar and the Chicago Symphony, "Scottish Fantasies" with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and "Beethoven and Clement Violin Concertos" with José Serebrier and the Royal Philharmonic. She holds top prizes from the J.S. Bach (gold medal), Queen Elisabeth, Paganini, Kreisler, Szigeti, and Montreal international competitions, and has twice been honored as a Chicagoan of the Year.

A tireless ambassador for classical music, Ms. Pine is dedicated to community engagement and music education. She frequently participates in pre-concert conversations, gives master classes, and presents programs in public schools. Her creative efforts to reach new audiences include appearances on rock radio stations and solo concerts in alternative venues.

Ms. Pine’s charitable activities include serving as a trustee of the Music Institute of Chicago and president of the Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation. She plays the Joseph Guarnerius del Gesu (Cremona 1742), known as the “ex-Soldat,” on generous loan from her patron.

Nationally recognized for his excellence in teaching, ROLAND VAMOS has received numerous awards including the Distinguished Teacher in the Arts Award and Distinguished Service Award granted by the American String Teachers Association; several Presidential Excellence in Teaching Awards; Distinguished Teacher by the National Endowment for the Arts. His students have won gold and silver medals in numerous National and International Competitions such as Tchaikowsky, Carl Flesch, Menuhin, Bach, Tibor Varga and many others. He has served on the faculties of Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Minnesota and currently Professor of Viola at Northwestern University and has been teaching at the Music Institute of Chicago for the past thirty years.

Roland Vamos is a graduate of The Juilliard School where he earned his Bachelor, Master's and Doctorate degrees as well as a Master's Degree at Columbia University. He studied violin with Oscar Shumsky and viola with William Lincer and has enjoyed a long performing career. Dr. Vamos is a former member of the Houston and Dallas Symphony Orchestras, Radio City Music Hall Orchestra, and Contemporary String Quartet with recordings on the Rizzoli and Atlantic labels. He and his wife commissioned and recently recorded three violin and viola duos by living Chicago composers,
and Dr. Vamos’s method book is being published by Carl Fischer and Sons.

MATT HAIMOVITZ made his debut in 1984, at the age of 13, as soloist with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic. At 17 he made his first recording with James Levine and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, for Deutsche Grammophon. Haimovitz has since gone on to perform on the world's most esteemed stages, with such orchestras and conductors as the Berlin Philharmonic with Levine, the New York Philharmonic with Mehta, the English Chamber Orchestra with Daniel Barenboim, the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Leonard Slatkin and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra with Kent Nagano. Haimovitz made his Carnegie Hall debut when he substituted for his teacher, the legendary Leonard Rose, in Schubert's String Quintet in C, alongside Isaac Stern, Shlomo Mintz, Pinchas Zukerman and Mstislav Rostropovich.

In 2006, Haimovitz received the Concert Music Award from ASCAP for his advocacy of living composers and pioneering spirit, and in 2004, the American Music Center awarded Haimovitz the Trailblazer Award, for his far-reaching contributions to American music. Born in Israel, Haimovitz has also been honored with the Avery Fisher Career Grant (1986), the Grand Prix du Disque (1991), the Diapason d'Or (1991) and he is the first cellist ever to receive the prestigious Premio Internazionale "Accademia Musicale Chigiana" (1999). Haimovitz studied at the Collegiate School in New York and at the Juilliard School,
in the final class of Leonard Rose, after which he continued his cello studies with Ronald Leonard and Yo-Yo Ma. In 1996, he received a B.A. magna cum laude with highest honors from Harvard University. Matt Haimovitz plays a Venetian cello, made in 1710 by Matteo Gofriller.

Renowned as a musical pioneer, cellist Matt Haimovitz has inspired classical music lovers and countless new listeners
by bringing his artistry to concert halls and clubs, outdoor festivals and intimate coffee houses, any place where passionate music can be heard. Through his visionary approach – bringing a fresh ear to familiar repertoire, championing new music and initiating groundbreaking collaborations, innovative recording projects for Oxingale Records, a tireless touring schedule as well as mentoring an award-winning studio of young cellists at McGill University's Schulich School of Music in Montreal – Haimovitz is re-defining what it means to be an artist for the 21st century.