Educational Outreach
Focus Areas
High Desert Chamber Music’s goal is to allow young children to experience the highest levels of music performance and cultivate an interest that can lead to a lifelong appreciation and enjoyment of the performing arts. All our programs are provided at no cost to students, teachers, or schools in Central Oregon. Our Educational Outreach efforts have three areas of focus:
1) Visits to Local Schools
2) Master Class
3) Spotlight Chamber Players
Visits To Local Schools
We provide students of local schools with direct contact to our guest musicians through performances and Q&A sessions at string orchestra classes. This has been a great and rare opportunity for students to interact with visiting professional musicians in an informal setting. In addition, we provide complimentary tickets to our performances for the string orchestra programs of Summit High School, Mountain View High School, Bend Senior High School, Pacific Crest Middle School, High Desert Middle School, Sky View Middle School, Cascade Middle School, and Pilot Butte Middle School.
Complimentary tickets to performances are arranged through instructors. If you attend a school in Central Oregon, please ask your teacher to request your tickets!
Master Class
Master Class (noun) definition: A class given by an expert, especially a musician, for highly talented students, usually presented in public.
Master Classes are beneficial and exciting for all those involved – they can provide artistic stimulation for the guest artist, the student musician receives valuable insight and customized teaching that they can apply to their studies, and the audience can learn and experience how the master’s advice improved or affected the student’s performance. For students, there is incredible leverage and support created by the situation. Not only are they face to face with a prominent expert, but there’s a whole audience rooting for their success!
Master Class with Mark Kaplan
and David Kaplan
Date: Saturday, December 16, 2023
Time - Violin: 9:30am-11:30am
Time - Piano: 12:00pm-2:00pm
Location: First Presbyterian Church of Bend
230 NE 9th St.
High Desert Chamber Music, Cascade School of Music, and the Oregon branch of the American String Teachers Association are proud to present a Master Class featuring Mark Kaplan and David Kaplan.
Mark is one of the leading violinists of his generation. He has been professor of violin at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music since 2005. Prior to that, he served as professor with distinction at UCLA.
Yamaha Artist David Kaplan has performed internationally to great acclaim is the Assistant Professor of Piano at UCLA, where he has served on the faculty since 2016.
This event is free and open to the public, no tickets required.
High Desert Chamber Music & Cascade School of Music
Master Class with KAPLAN DUO in December 2023
Top: David Kaplan, Anthony Senger, Elizabeth Cape, Zoe Clements, Mark Kaplan
Bottom: Mateo Garza, David Lyons, Ezra Oncken, Aiden Koistinen, Nicolas Oncken
High Desert Chamber Music & Cascade School of Music
Master Class with Ben Hong in May 2023
L-R: Ben Hong, Andy Shin, Pearl Liao, Annie Rhew,
Sophie Phillips-Meadow, Jacob Park, Kaleo Kronberg
Spotlight Chamber Players
Established chamber musicians are leaders, responders, collaborators, and cooperators. This program was developed to provide a high level of chamber music instruction and is offered at no cost to the students selected. This program is devoted exclusively to the study and performance of chamber music skills and techniques. An emphasis is placed on listening to colleagues, and the intricacies of learning how your individual part fits with others. The students accepted into the program are expected to prepare individual parts outside of rehearsals, commit to all scheduled performance opportunities, and attend all High Desert Chamber Music events, which is provided complimentary.
The members receive weekly chamber group instruction, as well as individual and group instruction with select visiting artists from the HDCM Concert Series, in conjunction with their appearance in Central Oregon. In a typical season, the groups perform prior to many events in the HDCM Concert Series, and there are several compensated performance opportunities featuring the students in the community, including our Annual Gala and at locations such as Whispering Winds and the Franklin Crossing First Friday Art Walk.
Auditions are held in the fall and are open to string players in grades 6-12 with at least three years of private instruction and intermediate to advanced levels of playing. A one-season commitment is required, and placement and type of ensemble will be determined after the application/audition process.
Download the application for more information. To schedule an audition, click the link to email HDCM.
2023-2024 SPOTLIGHT CHAMBER PLAYERS
Jonathan Cupit (cello), Ezra Oncken (violin), Aaron Goyal (guitar), Nicolas Oncken (violin), Perrin Standen (viola)