Birch Creek’s program is unique in symphony and chamber music education in that it incorporates a student/mentor approach in virtually every aspect of training. Students rehearse and perform alongside their teachers, receiving an abundance of personal attention. In such a nurturing environment, students develop excellent practice habits, rehearsal skills and progress at an amazing rate. Seven public performances of four different orchestral programs are given over the two-week session.
Please note: Birch Creek will be following CDC and local public health guidelines at the time of programming. Programs are subject to change. This website will provide current updates so please check the COVID-19 page for the latest news.
Due to current COVID-19 restrictions, international applicants will not be accepted to the 2021 Summer Music Academy.
June 27-July 10, 2021 | Tuition: $2,100
The Birch Creek Symphony Session curriculum is being revised in accordance with COVID-19 protocols. We expect to confirm a final format by March 1, 2021. Tuition cost for the two-week Symphony Session may be adjusted, based on the final program format.
Due to capacity restrictions at this time, we will not be accepting any piano or harp students for the Symphony Session in the 2021 summer academy. However, if you play piano or harp, you may still apply online and will be placed on a wait list in case we are able to add these instruments back into the session before the summer session begins.
Need-based and merit scholarships are available.
Repertoire
Standard orchestral literature is rehearsed and performed. 2021 repertoire could include Igor Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 in D major “Haffner” and Johann Sebastian Bach’s Passacaglia. Final repertoire will be posted on this page when confirmed.
Orchestra Rehearsals
Depending on performance schedule and repertoire, (2) – (4) hours daily.
Sectionals
In classes of like instruments, students learn from experienced faculty how to prepare difficult orchestral passages in a short time for the next rehearsal or concert. (1) hour daily.
Chamber Ensembles
Students experience another facet of the professional musician’s life with performance opportunities during concert preludes and intermissions. (1) hour daily.
Daily Techniques
Technique and seminars on topics pertinent to the music profession round out the weekly schedule. (2) hours daily.
Nimrod Variation from Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36
Composer: Sir Edward Elgar
Conductor: Brian Groner
Play length: 3:53
At Birch Creek, students combine with the faculty to form the 80 member Birch Creek Symphony Orchestra. They perform 6 concerts (4 entirely different programs) during their 2-week residency, plus have numerous opportunities to perform in their chamber ensembles.
Subject to change
Oak Park, IL
2021 marks Ricardo Castañeda’s 24th year at Birch Creek and his 21st year as Symphony Session Program Director. Castañeda received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music performance from Northwestern University. He is a winner of the Northwestern University Concerto Competition and a recipient of the Wade Fetzer award for excellence in performance. He has appeared as a soloist in Latin America, Europe, the United States and more recently Japan. Castañeda is currently Principal Oboist with The Chicago Sinfonietta, and solo English Horn with The Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also a member of the Chicago Ensemble and Barossa Woodwind Quintet. An active freelance musician, Castañeda enjoys performing all genres of music. He has played with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera Orchestra, Grant Park Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Opera Theater and has been principal oboist for orchestras for The Bolshoi Ballet, American Ballet Theater, and Joffrey Ballet as well as numerous Broadway in Chicago shows. Castañeda is on the faculty at University of Illinois at Chicago and Northeastern Illinois University. Ricardo is integral to the development and oversight of Symphony session programming.
Naples, FL
Jodie DeSalvo is a frequent soloist with the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra. She has toured extensively as a piano soloist appearing with the orchestras of Chicago, Geneva, Lucerne, San Francisco, Hartford and Chautauqua. DeSalvo also has a recital/lecture series at the Artis-Naples and has numerous CDs to her credit. In recent years, she has added the comedy of Victor Borge to her repertoire, with interpretations of his skits, including Phonetic Punctuation and Inflationary Language, as well as writing her own original material. 2021 will mark her 25th year as a Birch Creek faculty member.
Oak Park, IL
Robert Everson is the timpanist with several orchestras in the Chicago area, including the Chicago Philharmonic, the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, the Ravinia Festival Orchestra, the Chicago Sinfonietta, and the Joffrey Ballet Orchestra. He earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Percussion Performance from DePaul University, and is the percussion instructor at Concordia University Chicago in River Forest, Illinois. 2021 is Everson’s 21st year as a Birch Creek faculty member.
www.cuchicago.edu/faculty/college-of-theology-arts–humanities/music/robert-everson/
Kansas City, MO
Shannon Finney is Associate Principal Flute with the Kansas City Symphony. She is also a member of the Kansas City-based chamber music ensemble, Summerfest. Finney has been with Birch Creek for 17 years.
Franklin, WI
An award-winning conductor, Firer is active throughout the Chicago area. He holds conducting positions at Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras and Lewis University. Benjamin received his Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting from Northwestern University and a Master’s Degree from Yale University. As an orchestral musician he has recorded for the Naxos and Albany labels. Firer has made appearances with the symphony orchestras of of Champaign-Urbana, Dubuque, DuPage, Miami, Fargo-Morehead, Orchestra de la Francophonie, Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra, Northwestern University Opera Theatre, Alice Millar Brass Ensemble, and New Music New Haven.
Recognized for his musical entrepreneurship, he was granted the SUNY Thayer Fellowship in the Arts and the Emma Peters Hooper Endowed Award. Firer was selected as an Emerging Conductor with the Peninsula Music Festival and as the conducting fellow for the Atlantic Music Festival. He has garnered awards including The American Prize in Conducting, The Woolsey Concerto Competition, Yale Chamber Music Competition, Ellen Battell Stoeckel Fellowship, and the Long Island University Conductors Award.
Chicago, IL
John Gaudette studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, PA. He played in the Dallas Symphony, CBC Radio Orchestra, and was assistant principal in the Vancouver Symphony. Gaudette freelances in the Chicago area with the Chicago Symphony and Philharmonic, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Music of the Baroque, and Fulcrum Point. He currently teaches at Northern Illinois University and the University of Illinois at Chicago. John has been a Birch Creek faculty member for 15 years.
Chicago, IL
Amanda Grimm enjoys a versatile career as a freelance artist in the greater Chicago area. A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory and Carnegie Mellon University, she has performed as a soloist, recitalist, and concertmaster in both the United States and abroad. Grimm is an active orchestral musician and is Principal Viola of both the Elgin Symphony and Orchestra Iowa and is Assistant Principal of the Illinois Philharmonic. A passionate chamber musician, she is also a member of the KAIA String Quartet, a Chicago-based ensemble that advocates for the music of Latin America.
Providence, RI
Armed with a performance degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a doctorate from SUNY Stony Brook, EmmaLee Holmes-Hicks serves on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and as principal second violinist with the New Bedford Symphony. This is Holmes-Hicks 17th year on the Birch Creek faculty.
Nashville, TN
Katherine Kohler joined the Nashville Symphony Orchestra in the fall of 2018 as Assistant Principal and E-flat Clarinet. From 2016-2018 Katherine was the second clarinetist of the Phoenix Symphony, and previous to that she spent three years with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Florida Orchestra, and since 2011, the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra.
During the summer of 2015, Katherine participated in the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, performing under Alan Gilbert as a clarinetist on Mozart’s Gran Partita and E-flat clarinetist on Messiaen’s Des Canyons Aux Étoiles, the latter of which was released in 2016 on the Koch Label. As a chamber musician, Katherine has also performed with the Gateway Chamber Orchestra, Downtown Chamber Series, Chamber Music Milwaukee, and with the Roma Trio.
She started her orchestral training in the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Encore Chamber Orchestra. At the age of seven, Katherine began her clarinet studies with David Boyd, followed by studies with Todd Levy from 2005-13. She graduated from the Peck School of the Arts, University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee. Katherine is a Selmer Artist, performing on Selmer Signature Clarinets.
Elmhurst, IL
Matt Lee performs with the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chicago Sinfonietta and the Chicago Brass Quintet. Lee also performs with the Millar Brass Ensemble, Tower Brass, and substitutes with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Lyric Opera of Chicago. This is his 27th year at Birch Creek.
Wilmette, IL
Betty Lewis received her B.M. from Chicago Musical College at Roosevelt University as a student of Elaine Skorodin. She is an active violinist and violist in the Chicago area performing with groups as diverse as Broadway in Chicago and as an extra with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Lewis teaches violin, viola and piano and conducts the high school orchestra at Francis W. Parker School in Chicago. She is also the violin teacher at the Chicago School of Violin Making. In the summer, Lewis is a member of the Peninsula Music Festival, also in Door County, Wisconsin. 2021 is Lewis’ 27th year at Birch Creek.
Peoria, IL
Marcia Henry Liebenow is Concertmaster of the Peoria Symphony Orchestra and teaches violin, viola and chamber music at Bradley University. She leads a multi-faceted career as a teacher, recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist across the U.S. and abroad. She is a member of the Concordia String Trio and Peoria Lunaire, a new music ensemble. In the summer, in addition to Birch Creek, Marcia is a faculty artist at the Red Lodge Music Festival in Montana, and has performed and taught at festivals in Italy, Alaska, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, and Vermont. She has three CDs on the Centaur label – the Grieg Violin Sonatas with internationally acclaimed pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi, and two Concordia String Trio CDs — American Vistas and Viennese String Trios. Her work has been recognized with the Outstanding Studio Teacher Award from Illinois ASTA, and she was named a Distinguished Alumni of Ohio University School of Music. Marcia earned degrees in Violin Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music and Ohio University. 2021 marks her 23rd year at Birch Creek.
Website: www.marciahenry.com
Orland Park, IL
Emily Lewis Mantell is a busy freelance cellist in and around Chicago. She is a member of the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chicago Sinfonietta. She teaches adjunctly at local colleges and from her home studio in Orland Park, IL. Mantell has been a Birch Creek faculty member for 26 years, and she is delighted that her daughter Sonia, a Birch Creek alumna and now a cellist in the Minnesota Orchestra, will be soloing at Birch Creek this summer.
Chicago, IL
Dan O’Connell is the horn instructor at North Central College and maintains a private studio. As a performer, he has played with most of the Chicago area’s great orchestras and ensembles. O’Connell received a BM from The New England Conservatory and an MM from DePaul University. 2021 is Dan’s seventh year on the Birch Creek Symphony faculty.
Chicago, IL
Charles Schuchat is a performer with the Elgin Symphony, Chicago Sinfonietta, Tower Brass and Joffrey Ballet. He is a tuba instructor and head of the brass department at the Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University. This will be Schuchat’s ninth year on the faculty at Birch Creek.
Schaumburg, IL
Tom Stark performs with the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra and Northwest Indiana Symphony. Stark is also trombone instructor at Concordia University, Elmhurst University and Harper College. This is his 17th year at Birch Creek.
Buffalo Grove, IL
Alan Steiner is a former member of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, L’Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec and the Canadian Opera Company. He was a soloist in the world premiere of Likht un Shotn with the Park Ridge Civic Orchestra. He maintains a private studio. Steiner has been with Birch Creek for 20 years.
Saint Paul, MN
Violinist Elizabeth York is Associate Concertmaster and Personnel Manager of South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, and performs on baroque violin with Lyra Baroque Orchestra. She teaches at the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University and St. Cloud State University. York holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in violin and viola performance from Stony Brook University in New York. 2021 is her eighth year at Birch Creek.
Beethoven, “Symphony No. 6 in F Major ‘Pastoral'”
Mozart, “Symphony No. 35 in D major, ‘Haffner'”
Bach/Stokowski, “Passacaglia in C minor”
Stravinsky, “Pulcinella Suite”
Rossini, “LaGazza Ladra Overture”
Copland, Variations on a Shaker Theme
Dvorák, “Czech Suite”
Birch Creek is supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
