Third Annual Summer Music Institute-Festival Returning In August

WATERBURY — The third annual Summer Music Institute-Festival offered by Greater Waterbury Classic Concerts, Inc. will be held from Monday to Sunday, August 14-20, on the campus of Teikyo Post University, 800 Country Club Road. The full-time program is $350, or a the part-time (four hours per day) program is available for $250.

Checks should be payable to Greater Waterbury Classic Concerts, Inc. and mailed to Summer Music Institute-Festival c/o Greater Waterbury Classic Concerts, Inc, 410 Country Club Road, Waterbury, CT 06708 by July 31. Call Zoya Kalmanovsky, director, at 203/754-5590 for a registration form or further information.

The program consists of small group and individual instruction in piano, violin, viola, cello, flute, clarinet, saxophone, oboe, classical guitar or voice. Vocal and instrumental ensembles, chamber orchestra and chamber choir will be formed with students of all levels who will perform with their instructors.

A special program is available for students seeking their first experience in music. They will study rhythm, theory and ear training, be exposed to all instruments taught at the institute, and have some instruction in the instrument(s) of their choice. Festival concerts are open to the public and are planned for the evenings of Tuesday, August 15; Thursday, August 17; Saturday, August 19; and the afternoon of Sunday, August 20. Qualified students will be given the opportunity to perform solo with the Festival Orchestra.

The Saturday concert will feature the Washington Balalaika Society Orchestra as well as the Connecticut Dance Theater of Watertown performing with the students of the Summer Music Institute-Festival, who will sing in a choir or dance.

This year’s institute for classical music will feature five new teachers and four returning faculty members. Louis Ramao, a faculty member at Naugatuck Valley Community-Technical College as well as Teikyo Post University, will offer classical guitar for the first time at the week-long program.

Allan Martin, a clarinetist and saxophonist with more than 30 years of music teaching experience, will instruct in those instruments. George Kroqi, who has performed for Greater Waterbury Classic Concerts’ Chamber Concert Series, will teach cello, and Richard DeRosa, known for his work with Seven Angels Theater  will instruct classes in voice.

Osvaldo Cinacio, who lives in Switzerland where he is a member of the Bern Symphony Orchestra, will teach violin and viola.

Returning faculty include pianist Oleg Polianski, who will come to the area from his current home in Germany, Michael Ferrari, chair of the performing arts at St Margaret’s-McTernan School in Waterbury, will instruct in music theory, composition and chamber choir.

Thirzah Bendokas,who teaches private students at both Taft and St Margaret’s-McTernan School, and is principal cellist with Waterbury Symphony Orchestra, will return to teach cello. Alma Kroqi, who teaches and performs in the greater Waterbury area, will instruct flute students.

“Even our weekday noontime lectures are open to the public and offer an opportunity to hear musicians speak about musicians and music – for free,” she continued.