25 Tastemakers & Trendsetters
People who are shaping the future of string playing
Marin Alsop, Joseph Curtin, Gustavo Dudamel, Aaron Dworkin, David Finkel
Twenty-five years ago, no one knew that chamber music would experience a veritable explosion of interest. Or that bluegrass fiddling would be taught at the conservatory level. Or that violin makers from around the globe would gather in Ohio’s sticky summer heat to share trade secrets. Or that you could turn on the car radio and listen to a highly gifted teen from the other side of the country playing a Beethoven Cello Sonata on a Saturday afternoon for an NPR audience of hundreds of thousands. Or that the domestic market would be flooded with affordable, high-quality stringed instruments that are putting string music at the fingertips of just about anyone with a few hundred dollars and a passion for bowed string music.
And no one knows exactly what the string world will look like 25 years from now, in 2037. But here are 25 trendsetters and tastemakers who are helping to shape that future.
Marin Alsop
Conductor & festival director
Orchestra builder embraces adult enthusiasts and kids
Those with worries about the future of classical music have only to look to Marin Alsop for a source of optimism. Her innovative programs (and programming), focus on outreach, and her vibrant enthusiasm bring the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra squarely into the 21st century. Under Alsop’s leadership, the BSO reaches out to younger audiences with OrchKids, an El Sistema–modeled program for underprivileged kids; BSO on the Go, which brings musicians to classrooms; Side by Side concerts that see students rehearsing and performing with BSO musicians; and other educational concerts and open rehearsals. But Alsop goes a step further by bringing adults back to the music as well. The innovative “Rusty Musicians” program encourages members of the community to “dust off” their instruments and take to the stage with the BSO. Expanding on that idea, the BSO Academy accepts a number of amateur adult musicians to spend an intensive week with the BSO and Alsop, honing their skills with orchestra rehearsals, master classes, lessons, chamber music, and lectures. And while she’s strengthening the role of the BSO in the greater Baltimore community, Alsop continues her work with the Cabrillo Festival, a Central California event that supports contemporary composers and the growth of orchestral repertoire. The modern orchestra seems safe in this maestra’s hands. —Megan Westberg
Joseph Curtin
Luthier
Innovation that points the way to the future of violin making
Innovation doesn’t come easy to violin makers. It’s not that luthiers lack imagination. It stems more from the specific demands of string players. So when Ann Arbor, Michigan, violin maker Joseph Curtin received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2005 for his efforts innovating the design of this beloved centuries-old instrument, it was not only newsworthy, it lent some credibility to the idea that the violin could continue to evolve. Curtin, an in-demand luthier who has described the demand placed on violin makers to make Strad copies as something akin to being a Civil War reenactor, had experimented with design as well as developing a scientific approach to understanding how the great instruments work the way they do. With other innovators, including Douglas Martin and his balsa wood and graphite fiddles, these radical thinkers are taking the violin into the 21st century and beyond.
Learn more at josephcurtinstudios.com.
—Greg Olwell
Gustavo Dudamel
Violinist, conductor, educator
Reinvigorating string education in the USA
Gustavo Dudamel’s 2009 arrival as the music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic has helped to put the West Coast on the performance map, thanks to his powerhouse persona, but it also ushered in a new era of string education. Now, El Sistema, an acclaimed music program that helped lift Dudamel and other children from the teeming slums of Caracas, Venezuela, is providing a model for under-funded youth orchestras in the United States through its counterpart El Sistema USA. And that movement is spreading to the United Kingdom, France, and beyond. “Kids in Venezuela are learning instrumental music in ways that defy our understanding of what’s possible,” arts advocate Eric Booth, a senior advisor to El Sistema USA, told Strings. “This isn’t just a youth program or a music project. It’s a human program that addresses the question of ‘How do we love the neediest child into wholeness?’ Venezuela has figured this out better than anyone else on this planet, and that’s why we’re learning from them.”
Learn more at elsistemausa.org.
—G.C.
Aaron Dworkin
Violinist, arts advocate
Promoting racial equality in America’s symphony halls
As founder and president of the Detroit-based Sphinx Organization, founded in 1996, which works to increase the participation of African Americans and Latinos in classical music, Aaron Dworkin has helped to open the doors for scores of gifted young string players through such programs as the Sphinx Competition, the all-black and Latino Sphinx Symphony, the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra, and the Sphinx Virtuosi. “We see it all the time with our kids,” Dworkin told Strings when explaining the purpose of the organization. “You have this alienation, but also you have a sense of a high degree of discomfort expressing what otherwise might be your culture.”
More recently, Dworkin has expanded his role as an arts advocate. President Barack Obama—who was chided early in his presidency for his lack of knowledge about classical music—named Dworkin as his first nominee to the National Council on the Arts, which serves as an advisory body for the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. He already had been appointed to the Obama National Arts Policy Committee. Dworkin is the only string player on the federal advisory panel. —G.C.
Rushad Eggleston
Cellist
Riding into the 21st century on a twister
Oftentimes, the new generation of string players is informed by both Papa Joe Haydn and Jimi Hendrix. Case in point: Rushad Eggleston, 31, most recently of the indie-rock band Tornado Rider, is a fearless improvisationalist. He’s the first musician to be accepted to the Berklee School of Music on a four-year scholarship and held his own with the veteran members of Fiddlers 4 (with Darol Anger, Michael Doucet, and Bruce Molsky), as well as Crooked Still, one of the string world’s premier young string bands. Look for him as an instructor at Mark O’Connor’s Fiddle Camp and as an incendiary performer at Burning Man.
Learn more at tornadoriderband.com.
—Greg Cahill
