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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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!
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