Winter Solstice Music Seminar

Given the concern over a surge of infections over the holidays Musikiwest has decided to postpone our music seminar until conditions prove safe for everyone.

As an alternative we will present an open rehearsal on Saturday evening, December 18th at 7:00 PM where the faculty members will share the nature and process of their collaboration.

On Sunday December 19th we invite you to SandBox to hear our faculty in performance at 4:00 PM! The program entitled “Bohemian Knights” will feature works by H.I.F Biber, Zoltan Kodaly and Antonin Dvorak.

For more information visit sandboxsandcity.com

Musikiwest invites fully vaccinated students and adults ages 16+ to join our core faculty string quartet as we explore Corelli’s Christmas Concerto, Vaughan Williams Greensleeves and a compilation of holiday themed music for string chamber orchestra. The ensemble will be conductorless allowing us to explore music making through positive group dynamics and communication all the while developing skills and technique. There will be a total of 12 spots available: 6 violin, 3 viola, 3 cello. All activities will take place at SandBox at 440 Ortiz Avenue, Unit A, Sand City, CA 93955.

Our first violinist will be Cindy Wu, praised by the Seattle Times as “Simply marvelous,” violinist/violist Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu enjoys a versatile career as a soloist, chamber musician, and educator.  She has taught at the University of Southern California, and curated programs for the Da Camera Society in Los Angeles as the Artistic Partner. She is currently the Music Director of New Asia Chamber Music Society and founded Sunkiss’d Mozart.

Leading the second violins will be Liana Bérubé. Having found her true passion in chamber music, Liana was a founding member of the Cecilia String Quartet until 2006, and is the violinist of the San Francisco-based Delphi Trio. A recipient of both the University of Toronto’s Felix Galimir Award for Chamber Music Excellence and the SF Conservatory’s Departmental Award for Chamber Music Excellence, she has participated in multiple chamber music seminars, including the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival Meisterkurse with the Tokyo String Quartet, the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, and the St Lawrence String Quartet Seminar at Stanford. Liana has collaborated with many of the world’s leading chamber musicians.

Violist David Samuel joins us from the Alexander String Quartet. A dedicated teacher, Mr. Samuel enjoys a passion and commitment to education. In addition to giving hundreds of educational concerts and workshops internationally, he has been a faculty member at the University of Stavanger, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Preparatory Division and has held residencies at San Francisco State University, The Juilliard School, The Glenn Gould School, and the University of Alberta. During his eight-year tenure with the Afiara Quartet, Mr. Samuel performed more than 100 works for string quartet in over 400 concerts worldwide. In addition to being the first ensemble ever to receive the Young Canadian Musicians Award, the Afiara Quartet was a top prizewinner at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Concert Artists Guild Competition.

Grammy nominated cellist Michelle Djokic is the founder and director of Musikiwest. Michelle recently relocated to Sand City from the Bay Area and launched the newest performing arts venue on the Monterey Peninsula: SandBox. Michelle is passionate about creating communities around chamber music projects. In addition to SandBox and Musikiwest, Michelle is founder and director of Concordia Chamber Players based in New Hope, PA since 1997. She is a member of the New Century Chamber Orchestra in San Francisco,  a conductorless chamber orchestra! Michelle received her Bachelor and Masters Degree from the Juilliard School of Music as a student of Leonard Rose and Channing Robbins.