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 Ben Hong
Saturday, May 6, 2023
Time: 10:00am
Location: First Presbyterian Church
230 NE 9th St. Bend, OR
High Desert Chamber Music and the Cascade School of Music are proud to present a Master Class featuring Los Angeles Philharmonic Associate Principal Cellist Ben Hong. He is on the faculty of the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music and frequently presents clinics and masterclasses in the U.S. and abroad. This class is presented in partnership with the Oregon chapter of the American String Teachers Association.
This event is free and open to the public, no tickets required.
Congratulations to the students selected to perform!
Top: Kaleo Kronberg, Pearl Liao, Jacob Park
Bottom: Sophie Phillips-Meadow, Annie Rhew, Andy Shin
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.
2022-2023 SPOTLIGHT CHAMBER PLAYERS
Ezra Oncken (violin), Nicolas Oncken (violin), Aaron Goyal (guitar)