Strings
Longy cultivates string players who are collaborative and entrepreneurial.
- Learn from faculty who are active performers and leaders of innovative organizations.
- Perfect your craft with abundant chamber music opportunities.
- Collaborate with Longy composers.
Faculty
Cello
Double Bass
Guitar
Strings Spotlight
KARLA DONEHEW PÉREZ, Strings Faculty
“There is always a way to put your ideas into action, no matter how big or bold they may be—even if the path forward takes you in new and surprising directions.
At Longy, I have witnessed some truly incredible humans transform and stretch to their potential.“
NINA KASPER (MM 2024), Vocal Studies | Minor-Cello
“Longy has been an incredibly nurturing environment for me to develop as a musician and explore new avenues of creativity.“
Course Highlights
String Quartet Seminar
Dive deep into string quartet repertoire in this hands-on performance lab. Survey the classics, work alongside Longy composers on custom pieces, and explore works by historically underrepresented composers and luminaries in the field.
Baroque String Playing for Modern Instrumentalists
Imagine yourself in 17th-Century Europe looking forward, rather than looking backwards. Through hands-on interaction with early instruments, study of treatises and source materials, and engagement with a significant selection of repertoire, broaden your knowledge and skillset with early music.
Customize Your Curriculum
Create your own opportunities, find new audiences, and make a living in unexpected ways by customizing your curriculum from a catalog of project-based courses you can’t find anywhere else. Our faculty mentors and experienced career coaches will be there to guide you.
More Highlights
Studio Lessons:
Collaboration with a faculty mentor is the cornerstone of conservatory education at Longy. Together you will explore your unique artistic and professional goals while expanding technical and musical insight.
Orchestra IS:
Longy’s Orchestra IS brings together our complete student body of winds, strings, and brass players to perform diverse repertoire adapted to the ensemble’s makeup. With Longy faculty sitting side-by-side with the students, and led by guest conductors, the aptly named Orchestra IS is both the name of our symphony orchestra and an invitation to fill in the blank. What IS an orchestra? What CAN an orchestra be?
Ensemble Uncaged:
Ensemble Uncaged is Longy’s premier contemporary music ensemble dedicated to the performance of works by living and recently deceased composers. We honor the familiar, invite the unknown, and challenge the conceptual limits of concert music in the 21st century.
Chamber Music:
Georges Longy’s belief in the power of collaboration inspires the central role of chamber music in our conservatory. Students will work closely with faculty coaches every semester and explore ensemble playing through coursework, informal readings, and community collaborations.
Masterclasses and Seminars:
Through workshops, masterclasses, discussions, and presentations, frequent opportunities with faculty and guest artists offer insight regarding interpretation, repertoire, analysis, and performance practice. Through a special partnership with Celebrity Series of Boston, emerging artists in its Debut Series present exclusive workshops and master classes with Longy students throughout the year.
Pedagogy:
We believe that teaching should be a form of heightened, enlivened communication. Rather than focusing solely on acquiring technical skills, we seek to draw out your latent expertise and help you communicate authentically.