During the month of October, violinist and conductor Pinchas Zukerman has been in China performing and leading a series of master classes at the Beijing and Shanghai conservatories. During the initiative, part of the Rolex Institute Educational Programme, Zukerman leads 30 hours of master classes over seven days; Zukerman’s master classes in Beijing took place from October 12 to 15; those in Shanghai, from October 20 to 23, are currently underway. For the master classes, Zukerman is joined by Patinka Kopec, a teaching associate and program coordinator of the Pinchas Zukerman Performance Program at the Manhattan School of Music. During the trip, Zukerman also performed with the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra and with the China Philharmonic as part of the Beijing Music Festival. At the October 13 concert with the China Philharmonic, the Beijing Conservatory awarded Zukerman an Honorary Professorate for his commitment to the next generation of classical artists. Zukerman was also a mentor for the 2006-07 cycle of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, an international philanthropic arts program pairing master artists with young musicians for a year of one-to-one collaboration.
Posted October 22, 2009