Master class coaching by guest artists has been part of Hoff-Barthelson’s curriculum since the School’s founding in 1944. This distinguished tradition continues this season with a roster of world-class musicians and educators.

Master classes are an enlightening experience for students and audiences alike. After months of careful preparation, students perform for, and then receive feedback and guidance from a master teacher who challenges the student to think in new and critical ways about the piece they’ve prepared. The results are inspiring and serve as a catalyst for students to reach new heights in their own musical explorations. Yet the learning isn’t limited just to the students who perform. In point of fact, any student—regardless of their level of development or whether or not they even play the same instrument—can learn a great deal.

Master Classes are open to the public to observe free of charge, but reservations are required.

RSVP here.

View flyer here.

Ann Schein, piano

Ann Schein’s remarkable career has earned her highest praise in major American cities and in more than 50 countries around the world. She has performed with great conductors including George Szell, Seiji Ozawa, James dePreist, David Zinman, Stanislaw Skrowacewski, and with major orchestras including the New York, Los Angeles, and London Philharmonics, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, the Washington National Symphony, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. She has appeared in 6 Promenade concerts in London’s Royal Albert Hall including 2 “Last Night of the Proms” with Sir Malcolm Sargent and Sir Colin Davis conducting.

During the Kennedy administration she performed at the White House. From 1982-1987 she performed with the American Chamber Players, and made several tours throughout the U.S. and Brazil with the great soprano Jessye Norman. They recorded Berg and Schoenberg songs for Sony Classical.

Her solo recordings include an album of all-Schumann for Ivory Classics and an all-Chopin recording of the Opus 28 Preludes and the b minor Sonata, Opus 58 for MSR Classics. An American album, also for MSR Classics, includes the 1945-46 Elliott Carter Piano Sonata and the Piano Variations of Aaron Copland. An upcoming MSR release will include works of Chopin, Debussy, and Ravel.

“Five Lives in Music: Women Performers, Composers and Impresarios from the Baroque to the Present,” a book written by music critic for the Washington Post, author and musicologist Cecelia Hopkins Porter features Ann Schein as the 20th Century artist.

Her legacy of extraordinary teachers, Mieczyslaw Munz, Arthur Rubinstein, and Dame Myra Hess has continued through her own teaching career. From 1980 to 2002 she was a member of the piano faculty of the Peabody Conservatory, and from 1984 to the present she has been an Artist-Faculty member of the Aspen Music Festival and School. She was invited to be a Visiting Professor at Indiana University throughout the 2008-09 season. She is in constant demand for master classes and lectures, and she serves on many juries of piano competitions in both the United States and abroad.