The Starling Project Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization which supports classical music study for highly talented youth. Our mission is to pass on the rich tradition of classical music to the next generation of performers and audiences by training young string players with exceptional talent. We provide performing and recording opportunities so our students can gain the confidence, discipline, and love of music necessary for successful careers in the field. The students receive musical training and mentorship in a challenging but nurturing environment and are exposed to music of the past and present so that they will appreciate musical trends of the future. We support this mission through the following programs: Violinmasterclass.com, Great Wall International Music Academy, Starling Chamber Orchestra, Starling Preparatory String Project, and Starling Kids.

The Starling Project Foundation and Director Kurt Sassmannshaus recently produced and launched a groundbreaking new educational website, Violinmasterclass.com, to teach violin online. Through the free site, students around the world can benefit from the Starling training method. Gil Shaham called the site “A fantastic idea, realized with gorgeous video and sound. Violinists all over the world will be inspired by the excellent information and the truly fabulous playing of young students on this site. A brilliant use of the Internet for classical music." Praised by the Wall Street Journal and press worldwide, the website features demonstrations and performances by the young musicians in the Starling Chamber Orchestra. In its first year online the site has received over 22 million hits from twenty-five countries. The site is available in English and Chinese and is currently undergoing translation into German. Translations into seven additional languages are planned.

The Great Wall International Music Academy is a program of classical music study for highly talented young string players. The Academy brings together current and future leaders of the music profession, promotes cultural exchange, and provides the highest quality training using the performance-based Sassmannshaus model. The academy provides weekly private lessons, masterclasses, and chamber music coachings with internationally renowned faculty from the world's top conservatories. Young artists perform in solo recitals at the academy site and in Beijing concert halls. Faculty and guest artists from 2005 included The American String Quartet, Yao Ji Lin, Kurt Sassmannshaus, Yang Liu, Chyuan Yun Li, The Baur Quartet, The Polygon Trio, Takako Nishizaki, Michael Ma, James Dunham, Troels Svane and Vivian Fung. Plans for 2006 include a concert broadcast by China Television to an audience of over 120 million viewers featuring guest artists and students.

The musicians of the Starling Chamber Orchestra (SCO) range in age from 8–18 and are selected by audition from throughout the world. Founded by Kurt Sassmannshaus in 1987, the SCO offers unprecedented opportunities for young artists to perform as soloists, tour internationally and record. They have attracted wide-spread attention, including feature articles in The Washington Post and The New York Times. In addition to performances in Cincinnati, the SCO maintains a busy international touring and recording schedule. Since 1992, the orchestra has performed in the US, Europe, Korea and China. SCO’s discography has been highly praised by American Record Guide. The orchestra has been twice featured on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today,” on New Yorker Robert Sherman’s “Young Artists Showcase” and on Public Radio International’s “From the Top.” SCO won the Greater Cincinnati International Hall of Fame Award for international impact in the field of Education, 2004.

The Starling Preparatory String Project (SPSP) was founded by Kurt Sassmannshaus in 1987 to provide musical training and performance opportunities to talented string players. Student participation in SPSP is open to the public but highly competitive. The SPSP curriculum includes private lessons, orchestra rehearsals, chamber music, and courses in theory, ear training, and composition. In addition, students have the opportunity to participate in master classes conducted by internationally renowned musicians. The SPSP is essentially a performance-centered method of training, and provides numerous solo, ensemble, and orchestral performance opportunities to all of its students. Our graduates have won prizes in major national and international competitions, earned admission to top conservatories, and now hold professional positions of distinction.

Founded by Kurt Sassmannshaus, Starling Kids is an innovative program that makes the proven and successful methods of the Starling program available to a large number of young children in the Greater Cincinnati area.

The Starling Project Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to providing pre-professional music education and performances to talented string players and to enriching Cincinnati audiences through classical music performances and recordings of a high caliber. Our mission is to pass on the rich tradition of classical music to the next generation of performers and audiences by training young string players with exceptional talent. We are devoted primarily to supporting the Starling Preparatory String Project and Starling Chamber Orchestra. The students in the SPSP and SCO receive musical training and mentorship in a challenging but nurturing environment.

The Starling Preparatory String Project and Starling Chamber Orchestra are jointly supported by the Starling Project Foundation, Inc. and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). Services provided by the Starling Project Foundation include all aspects of: concert production, management, publicity, outreach, fundraising, artist management, commission of new works, recording and video production, tour arrangements, website design and maintenance, and financial oversight. Services provided by CCM include donation of classroom space, rehearsal rooms and concert halls, and administrative management of student enrollment, tuition payments, and teacher salaries.

The Starling Project Foundation currently organizes and funds the Starling Chamber Orchestra’s core programming of a concert subscription series at Robert J. Werner Recital Hall at CCM. Performances are open to the public. "Starling Showcase" concerto concerts at CCM are also part of our core programming. Showcase concerts are free and open to the public. Our venues are ADA compliant. For more information about our upcoming concerts, please see our Calendar .

In addition to supporting the orchestra’s core programming, the Starling Project Foundation has also initiated “Fairytale Project,” a program to commission new works for string orchestra, solo violin, and narrator, based on fairytales from around the world. The goal is to offer modern works in a format appropriate for young audiences in order to give them an appreciation for the living art of music. We use this as an opportunity for our young musicians and audiences to interact directly with the composers. By combining music with folk narrative, we hope to emphasize the connectedness of musical and literary arts while adding a distinct multicultural element to the production. The first work in this project, Chinese composer Ping Gao’s “The Emperor and the Nightingale” was given its world premiere at the Aspen Music Festival in 2002 with soloist Charles Yang, and Douglas Lowry’s “The Meadow Ground: An Iroquois Legend” received its world premiere by the SCO in 2003 with soloist Jonathan Miron. The third fairytale, “The People Could Fly” by Dr. Trevor Weston, received its world premiere on October 10, 2004 at CCM’s Corbett Auditorium. Based on a Gullah legend, the concert was be part of the Festival of Freedom to celebrate the opening of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and included repeat performances of “The Emperor and the Nightingale” and “The Meadow Ground: An Iroquois Legend.”

The Starling Project Foundation strives to enrich the cultural life of our community by sharing our young talent through concerts, recordings, videos, and the commission of new works. We are determined to bring positive national and international attention to Cincinnati by highlighting the strength of our program and acting as artistic and cultural diplomats on performance tours. The Starling Project Foundation, Inc. also works to connect the Starling Chamber Orchestra with the community through outreach programs. The Starling Project Foundation has organized appearances for and made donations to local charities including the Ronald McDonald House, Learning Through Art, Inc., the Sharonville Fine Arts Council, and the Peterloon Foundation. The Starling Project Foundation has also worked to involve our musicians in collaborative concerts, including participate in “Lollipop” concerts with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, a 2003 Cincinnati May Festival performance of Benjamin Britten’s Noah’s Flood, a local production of the radio show “From the Top,” and concerts with the Otto M. Budig Academy of Cincinnati Ballet, the Vocal Arts Ensemble, and the School for Creative and Performing Arts Chorale. The Starling Project Foundation also provides the funding and management of performance tours in the US and abroad. Currently we are working with the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center to design an educational program based on the Fairytale Project.

The Starling Project Foundation office is located at
105 East Fourth Street Suite 725
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
(513) 421-4404
Fax (513) 421-4007
email Starling@fuse.net

Starling Project Foundation, Inc. Staff and Board of Directors:
Kurt Sassmannshaus (President)
Elizabeth J. Knuppel (Executive Director)
Orla Keyes (Tour and Operations Manager)
William Tyndall (Chair)
Elizabeth Na (Treasurer)
Brittany MacWilliams (Secretary)
Terrance Ashanta-Barker
Tina Narayan
Nancy Sevieux
Dr. Nina Perlove

FUNDING AND PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS

Starling Chamber Orchestra group and individual photographs by Gary Kessler, Cincinnati, Ohio, Mark and Cathy Lyons, Cincinnati, Ohio, Alex Irvin, Aspen, Colorado, and Paul Blasing, Newport, Kentucky.

The Starling Project Foundation receives generous support from the Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation, the Ladislas & Vilma Segoe Family Foundation, The City of Cincinnati, the Fine Arts Fund Grants Program and from many generous private donors. Thank you one and all!