Violinist and teacher Sylvia Rosenberg, a leading light of the Aspen Festival & School and longtime faculty member at the Juilliard School, shares a moment of musical revelation that came when she was teaching Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto to a student at Aspen. 

Rosenberg studied with Galamian and also took lessons with Samuel Dushkin, who collaborated closely with Stravinsky and who impressed upon Rosenberg the importance of cultural context. ‘I ask my students, who was painting at the same time the composer wrote this? What books were being written?’ she says. ‘If a student doesn’t want to look up an interpretative marking the composer wrote on a score, they will miss out on an adventure.’

This episode features excerpts from Dvořák’s Four Romantic Pieces op.75 performed by Rosenberg and pianist Anton Nel.

In association with The Strad magazine, Aspen Music Festival & School presents a six-part podcast series featuring interviews with leading string players talking about a moment of revelation from Aspen that changed their way of making music.

The six episodes will appear on The Strad’s YouTube channel (search for Stradmagazine) and will be linked to through www.thestrad.com) weekly, every Thursday from January 16, and comprise the following episodes:

Stefan Jackiw, ‘Write It Down!’

Sarah Chang, ‘Bit Part, Big Night’

Simone Porter, ‘Party!’

Lynn Harrell, ‘My Father’s Son’

● Sylvia Rosenberg, ‘Piacevole’

● Gil Shaham, ‘Known Unknowns’

Visit www.aspenmusicfestival.com, www.thestrad.com and The Strad YouTube channel ‘Stradmagazine’.

Presented by James Inverne. Podcast editing by Timothy Burton. The podcasts feature short musical excerpts recorded at the festival, or by kind arrangement with Warner Classics, Canary Classics and others.

Next episode: Gil Shaham, ‘Known Unknowns’ showing Thursday 27 February 2020.