David Matthews, Visiting Composer-in-Residence. David Matthews is one of the preeminent composers of our time. His catalogue of works includes nine symphonies, thirteen string quartets and dozens of other works. He is also an avid arranger and transcriber of the works of other composers. His writings on the music of Gustav Mahler are widely published and admired and, together with his brother Colin and Berthold Goldschmidt, he helped prepare the final, definitive version (“Cooke 3”) of Deryck Cooke’s Performing Version of Mahler’s 10th Symphony.

Parry Karp, Cello- Artist-in Residence and Professor of Chamber Music and Cello, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is director of the string chamber music program. He has been cellist of the Pro Arte Quartet for the past 38 years, the longest tenure of any member in the quartet’s 100 year history. Parry Karp’s chamber music discography outside of the Pro Arte Quartet includes the three piano trios of Joel Hoffman, as well as works of Britten, Fauré, Martinu, Mozart and Pierné. Mr. Karp had a visiting professorship at the University of British Columbia, and has been a visiting fellow at Princeton University. Former students of Mr. Karp’s are members of professional string quartets, major orchestras, and teachers in the United  States.   In 2012 he was a recipient of the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

David Yang, viola– Violist of the string trio Ensemble Epomeo, David Yang is Director of Chamber Music at the University of Pennsylvania and Swarthmore College.  Admired for his intensity, honesty of musical expression, and passionate communication, violist David Yang has been heard throughout North America and Europe in collaboration with members of the Avalon, Borromeo, Brentano, Miro, Tokyo and Vermeer String Quartets and Eroica Trio, Trio Cavatina, and Eliot Fisk, Andriusz Zlabys, and Wendy Warner, amongst others. He is Founder and Artistic Director of the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival near Boston, MA and also Music Director of Poor Richard’s Chamber Music Society at historic Christ Church in Philadelphia.

Kenneth Woods, Artistic Director- Colorado MahlerFest, Principal Conductor- English Symphony Orchestra, co-Founder and Cellist of the string trio Ensemble Epomeo. A veteran chamber musician whose recordings as cellist have received numerous awards and accolades, he has played with members of the Borodin, Vermeer, Tokyo, La Salle and Pro Arte string quartets. He is a past recipient of the NEA Rural Residency Grant as cellist of the Taliesin Trio and a regular at festivals including Lucerne, Scotia, Round Top, Two Rivers and Aspen.

Quartet fellows will have most of each morning and afternoon for rehearsal and practice, with approximately one coaching each day with the members of the faculty. Fellows will play in the MahlerFest orchestra, which rehearses once per day (mostly in the evenings) but not on Wednesday. The fellowship program is intended offer a serious quartet a chance to immerse themselves in serious and intensive rehearsal, to work with inspiring coaches, to perform a showcase concert and develop their professional profile.

Gustav Mahler- Symphony no. 10 (Performing version by Deryck Cooke pub. Faber)

Edward Elgar arr. David Matthews- String Quartet (arr. for String Orchestra)

Please apply via email to mahlerfellowship@mahlerfest.org

Include a CV and bio for the quartet, a link to a video or audio recording of a recent performance and a proposal for the program you would like to perform at Colorado MahlerFest. Your program should include one work for string quartet composed or arranged by visiting composer David Matthews and a brief explanation of how the program will compliment MF XXX’s focus on late, final, uncomplete, lost or unheard works.

Participation in the Mahler Fellowship Program is generously supported by Colorado MahlerFest and our educational concerts. All students accepted will receive a full scholarship worth $1,925.

Where possible, the Festival will arrange for Fellows to homestay with friends of the festival. Fellows are responsible for their own travel to and from Boulder, Colorado and their own daily expenses while at the Festival. Fellows are expected to provide their own scores using the editions specified above.