The Heifetz International Music Institute in partnership with Mary Baldwin College announced a joint initiative to create an innovative three-week intensive summer program, HeifetzPEG, for gifted young string musicians (violin, viola, and cello) between the ages of eight and thirteen.
The pilot program is a natural alliance between the Mary Baldwin College’s Program for the Exceptionally Gifted and the Heifetz Institute, both of which have won broad recognition as “category leaders” in their respective fields. The new summer intensive, for male and female students, is an extension of the Heifetz Institute’s six-week program and follows the same model but is tailored for this special age cohort in a fully supervised, nurturing environment designed to support the unique intellectual and emotional needs of these brilliant young talents.
“Throughout his teaching career Founder and Artistic Director Daniel Heifetz has had a special gift for identifying and teaching promising young string players at a very early age,” notes Executive Director Benjamin K. Roe. “Over the years we’ve had students as young as 11 and 12 attend the summer Institute. But a six-week program is often too intensive for students at this age. We think this newly designed three-week program will be the ideal introduction to the unique Heifetz experience at Mary Baldwin College.”
Adds Mary Baldwin President Pamela Fox, “We are thrilled to partner with the Heifetz Institute to offer this exciting new program. It builds on the expertise of both organizations in cultivating the development of exceptional young talent. I look forward to having them on our campus this summer and hope that some will choose to return as full-time PEG students.”
Students enrolled in the inaugural program will attend the same number of private lessons and classes but will have its own dedicated faculty featuring world-renowned teaching artists from such institutions as The Juilliard School, New England Conservatory, and the Manhattan School of Music and who have special expertise in teaching exceptional young musicians. In addition, students will participate in the Institute’s trademark Heifetz Performance & Communication Training ©, customized specifically for young musicians of this age. HeifetzPEG students also will attend master classes, seminars, concerts, symposia, and all other public functions presented by the Institute. Additional benefits include a final public concert for HeifetzPEG students and preferred enrollment in the Mary Baldwin College full-year PEG program, with continued study opportunities with Heifetz Institute faculty for those enrolled.
The pilot HeifetzPEG program will take place between July 15 and August 6, 2016, running parallel to the full Heifetz Institute summer program. A minimum of 15 and a maximum of 24 students will be enrolled, through an online application process (including video-recorded audition performances) through the Institute’s online portal atwww.getacceptd.com/heifetzpeg
For additional information and application information, please visit www.heifetzinstitute.org/peg.
About Mary Baldwin College and the Program for the Exceptionally Gifted
The Program for the Exceptionally Gifted, established in 1985, offers an opportunity for bright and accomplished young women between the ages of 13 and 15 to bypass all or some of their high school grades to pursue an undergraduate degree. PEG students live in a fully supervised, state-of-the-art residence hall with their true peers on Mary Baldwin’s beautiful main campus.
Mary Baldwin is a distinctive small university offering bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs that develop individual strengths and foster lifelong success. Students study on two campuses, through regional centers throughout Virginia, online, and as residential and commuter students. The majority of students enroll through coeducational programs; the residential college for women, located on the main campus, is sustained within the university as a powerful opportunity for young women to become inventive, resilient leaders who make a difference in the world. In August, Mary Baldwin will launch its yearlong celebration of its 175th anniversary as it officially becomes Mary Baldwin University.
For more information:
Mary Baldwin College Office of Communication, Marketing, and Public Affairs
[email protected] • 540-887-7009 • www.mbc.edu
About The Heifetz International Music Institute
Founded in 1996, The Heifetz International Music Institute is held on the campus of Mary Baldwin College located inStaunton, Va., for six weeks each summer. The Institute is highly selective, as hundreds of the most brilliant and deserving young string players (violin, viola, and cello) from all over the globe apply to the Institute for only 80 openings. The Heifetz Institute is unique in the music world, with a stated mission to develop the expressive potential of every performer. Through the innovative and cross-disciplinary Heifetz Performance & Communication Training ©, the Institute teaches musicians to communicate the emotion of music, beyond mere technical agility and beautiful playing to explore their creative potential, and to redefine the concert experience. During its six-week summer program, Heifetz students receive both intensive musical training – ranging from private lessons to public performances, and pursue Communication Training – a series of daily modules in Public Speaking, Voice, Drama, Movement, Health & Wellness, and Freedom of Expression.
As an experiential program, students then put their training in both areas on display via the Institute’s 40-plus “Festival of Concerts,” average one public concert per day from the end of June to the middle of August each summer, including such popular programs as its “Celebrity Series,” “Stars of Tomorrow” and multi-genre “Heifetz Hootenannies.” The Heifetz Institute National Program of Outreach and Career Development, Heifetz on Tour, consists of year-round concerts and residencies throughout the country, forming partnerships with cultural institutions in both major cites and rural areas, such as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Jamestown, RI Arts Center. For more information visit www.heifetzinstitute.org.
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