Making Beautiful Music Together

Oldest Daughter arrived home last night from a master class in the Czech Republic with just enough energy to give us hugs, eat some lentil-barley stew, pop a melatonin, and head for bed. But today I enjoyed looking at the pictures and hearing the stories with which Oldest Daughter enthusiastically regaled us. This was Oldest Daughter's second time to attend this master class, held in the beautiful Czech town of Litomysl.


All dress rehearsals and three of the public concerts which take place during the master class are held in Litomysl Castle, one of the most revered Renaissance castles in the Czech Republic, and birthplace of the Czech composer Bedrich Smetana.

Litomysl Castle

20 young musicians participating in the master class received private lessons and quartet coachings every day with four internationally renowned faculty (Milan Vitek, Oberlin Conservatory; Peter Slowik, Oberlin Coservatory; Niels Ullner, Carl Nielson Academy of Music, Odense, Denmark; Stephen Clapp, The Julliard School).

Oldest Daughter's Quartet

Smetana Quartet Performed in Smetana's Birthplace

Mr. Milan Vitek, Founder and Artisic Director of the Litomysl Master Class

Oldest daughter counted it a privilege and blessing to spend three weeks interacting with other young musicians, exchanging ideas, and submitting to an intense regime of practicing and rehearsals, resulting in the generation of musical and personal growth and many stimulating performances.

Performance of the Fiser Sonata, Litomysl Castle

Below is a spot on Czech news highlights the opening concert. (Most of it is in Czech, but English snipits of Oldest Daughter, Stephen Clapp, and a Danish cellist are all included.)

Litomysl International Strings Master Class, 2010