‘Exciting success’ with first Honors Spring Strings

calendar icon23 Feb 2015    

The first Honors Spring Strings Festival took place at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for high school freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors this past weekend in the Lied Commons.

Dr. Hans Sturm, the Honors Spring Strings Director, described the weekend as “A very exciting success. Forty advanced string students, from five states, who had never met one another, came together to perform Bartok and Grieg with as much rehearsal time as a professional orchestra.  Their performance was exceptional and demonstrated the abundant talent of Midwest string playing and teaching."

Students worked directly with UNL’s award winning string faculty including members of the Chiara String Quartet, Albany Records violin soloist David Neely, Lincoln Symphony Principal Violist Clark Potter, Trio Nuovo and Concordia String Trio cellist Dr. Karen Becker, and EMI and Innova recording artist double bassist Dr. Hans Sturm.

Students attending the festival also had the opportunity to perform in a string orchestra, conducted by special guest and Virginia Symphony Director, Mr. Benjamin Rous and perform in solo masterclasses with the UNL string faculty.

Next year’s honors spring strings will be in February of 2016. All interested high school musicians are encouraged to apply. Musicians should look for application materials online in the Festivals and Camps drop down menu at music.unl.edu.

This year, a Summer Strings Festival will take place June 14-17 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For more information, contact Dr. Sturm at hsturm2@unl.edu.