Colorado Academy instrumental music students recently took part in a Chamber Music Master Class in preparation for last month’s Chamber Music Recital.

 

CA students take part in master classes with professionals from around the Denver area to get feedback on their performance and to give them a chance to perform in front of their peers.

 

Says instructor Jennifer Arnold, “Master Classes are a great way to motivate students and to push them out of their comfort zones.”

 

On this day, the instructor was Arlette Aslanian-Townsend, currently Concertmaster of the Musica Sacra Chamber Orchestra. Townsend has performed in Italy, England, Scotland, Austria and Hungary and is a regularly featured soloist. She also is an active freelance violinist and has played with world-famous artists Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys and Canadian singer/songwriter k.d. lang. She has also performed with the Boulder Philharmonic, Boulder Sinfonia, Mercury Ensemble, Fort Collins Symphony, Denver Opera Company, St. Mary’s Chamber Orchestra, Littleton Symphony, Centennial Philharmonic, MahlerFest Orchestra, Longmont Symphony and Lyric Opera of Waco. Mrs. Townsend is currently the first violinist of the Quartetto Centrale.

 

Working with CA students, she taught them about matching articulation between musicians, how to “welcome” another musician as they join in during a performance, and much more. Other master teachers included Javan Carson and Kimberly Patterson.