Assistant Professor of Cello
Phone: (440) 775-8256
Darrett.Adkins@oberlin.edu
Educational Background
•Bachelor of Music, Oberlin College, 1991
•Master of Music, Rice University, 1993
•Doctor of Musical Arts, Juilliard School, 2000
Prizes:
Presser Music Award. Bunkamura Orchard Hall Award.
Solo Performances:
Soloist with Tochio Soloisten, the North Carolina Symphony, the New Hampshire Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Tokyo Philharmonic, and National Symphony of Brazil, among others. With the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra: 1999 American premiere of Franco Donatoni's cello concerto Un Ruisseau sur l'Escalier, 1990 premiere, Birtwistle's Meridian. Professional debut at the Aspen Music Festival: Pierre Boulez' Messagesquisse, James Conlon, conductor (2002). “Cellist of honor" at the 2002 International Cello Encounter in Rio de Janeiro. Collaborations with Ornette Coleman, David Baron '90.
Chamber Music Performances:
Member, the Zephyr Trio, with flutist Jeanne Galway and pianist Jonathan Feldman. Member, Flux String Quartet (1997-2002).
Recordings:
Morton Feldman's six-hour String Quartet No. 2, with the Flux String Quartet, on the Mode label. Recorded for the RCA, Tzadik, Koch, MMC, CRI, and Cold Blue labels as a chamber musician.
Teaching Background:
Faculty, the Juilliard School (1999-200_). Cello faculty, co-director string chamber music program, Aspen Music Festival and School..
Assistant Professor of Cello
Phone: (440) 775-8248
Amir.Eldan@oberlin.edu
Educational Background
•Bachelor of Music, Cleveland Institute Music
•Master of Music, Juilliard School
•Doctor of Music, Juilliard School
Professional Background and Performances:
Associate Principal Cello, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
Soloist with the Juilliard Orchestra at AliceTully Hall
Soloist with the Aspen Music Festival Orchestra
Recitals of Bach’s six suites at Bargemusic, Columbia University, ENCORE School for Strings Blue Ribbon Series, Windham Chamber Music Festival, La Sierra University, Indiana University, and abroad at the Tel-Aviv Art Museum and the Jerusalem University, Israel
MET Chamber Ensemble at Carnegie Hall
Chamber music collaborations with members of the Guarneri and Juilliard string quartets, Richard Goode, Kim Kashkashian, Joseph Silverstein, Midori, and Lynn Harrell
Performances at the festivals of La Jolla, Marlboro, Ravinia, the Piatigorsky Seminar for Cellists, and Kronberg Academy Cello Festival, Germany
International Chamber Music Festival in
Giverny, France
West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Ireland
Open Chamber Music Festival (Prussia Cove, England)
Performances with Pianist Ofra Ytzhaki in the U.S. and in Israel (broadcast live on Israel Public Radio)
Awards and Honors:
Winner of the Juilliard, Aspen Music Festival, and Cleveland Institute of Music concerto competitions
Winner of the Cleveland Institute of Music Cello Award for Excellence and Achievement
Teaching Background:
Juilliard School: Assistant to Joel Krosnick
Heifetz International Music Institute
ENCORE School for Strings
Madeline Island Music Festival
Bowdoin Music Festival
Indiana University String Academy
International Master Classes in Litomysl, Czech Republic
Catharina Meints
Associate Professor of Viola da Gamba and Cello
When studying and teaching a piece, Catharina Meints outfits her students with as much knowledge of the time period as possible. For baroque and renaissance music, "It's completely up to the performer to make the expressive decisions."
E-mail:
Cathy.Meints@oberlin.edu
Office:
Bibbins 106
(440) 775-8268
Educational Background
BM, Performer's Certificate, Eastman School of Music (1996)
Cello study with Ronald Leonard
Viola da gamba study with August Wenzinger (Basel, Switzerland, 1968-71)
During her distinguished career as a performer, Catharina Meints has played and recorded on five instruments, including bass and treble viols, modern and Baroque cello, and pardessus de viole. After completing a cello performance degree at the Eastman School of Music, she became assistant principal with the Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia.
In Philadelphia, she met her future husband and collaborator, oboist and viol enthusiast James Caldwell. It was the beginning of a 40-year partnership during which Meints and Caldwell became leaders in a revival of the viol. They spent their first summers in Europe studying the instrument together with August Wenzinger, the Swiss virtuoso and viola da gamba pioneer.
In 1971, they moved to northern Ohio, where Caldwell was appointed professor of oboe at Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Meints joined the Cleveland Orchestra. That year, they also established the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute to help build a new generation of players. That program still thrives to this day.
Meints’ career on early instruments has included playing bass viol in the Oberlin Baroque Ensemble and with the Cleveland Baroque Soloists. As their collection of antique viols grew, Caldwell and Meints formed and recorded with the Oberlin Consort of Viols, in which Meints plays treble viol exclusively.
Meints retired from a 35-year career with the Cleveland Orchestra in 2006. She continues teaching as associate professor of viola da gamba, Baroque cello, and cello at Oberlin Conservatory, and now plays frequently with Apollo’s Fire as well as in solo and chamber music concerts. In 2012, she authored a book, The Caldwell Collection of Viols: A Life Together in the Pursuit of Beauty, a catalog and memoir of the large and important collection of antique viols that she and Caldwell collected together.
