As a teacher, my goals for my students are: to love, appreciate, and understand music of all kinds; to relish and be ready to enjoy life’s adventures; to learn skills through music that will help them in all walks of life; and to develop the technical means to play music at the highest possible levels. Each student is free to prioritize those goals, but being unprepared for a lesson is not an option I offer. I believe strongly in high expectations and high standards, but at the same time I abhor browbeating. Many of my students have gone on to careers in music, but even those who haven’t have made music a central part of their lives.

I’ve had the privilege of teaching privately since my college days, and institutionally since 1975. While in the Boston Symphony I was a regular faculty member of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and took part in several educational programs administered by the Boston Symphony (Days In The Arts, STEP program for minority students, Tanglewood Walks and Talks). Since arriving in Utah I have been an Adjunct Professor of Violin at the University of Utah School of Music.

Along the way I’ve been a visiting professor at the Musashino Music Academy in Tokyo; the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand; and the National Conservatory of Peru in Lima, for which, in 2008, I received a Fulbright grant. I have also given master classes, lectures, workshops, and short term residencies at Middlebury College in Vermont, the University of Oregon, Brigham Young University in Utah, Rexburg College in Idaho, and music schools in Peru, Australia, and New Zealand.

In 2005 I was named Studio Teacher of the Year by the Utah Chapter of the American String Teachers’ Association, and in 2007 I was honored to receive a fellowship from the Surdna Foundation to attend the Heifetz International Music Institute in New Hampshire.

Just as in life we owe a great debt to our parents (especially if they knew what the hell they were doing when they raised us), as musicians we are forever grateful to the teachers who trained us. My first violin teacher, Amadeo Liva, will always hold a place close to my heart for his passion, scholarly ability, and humanity, and for giving me that all-important jump out of the box. Right next to him in my pantheon is Gerald Gelbloom, former violinist with the Boston Symphony, who was as much a friend, mentor, and co-conspirator, as he was my teacher. For unsurpassed technical and musical training I thank Joseph Silverstein, whose artistry and professionalism I’ve always tried to emulate, and the incomparable Ivan Galamian.

My Novels

I am particularly excited about my novels, Devil's Trill and Danse Macabre, excursions into the dark side of the classical music world, published by St. Martin's Press.