Graduate Fellowship Ensembles
Abeo Quartet: Felix Mendelssohn | String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13: youtube.com/watch?v=ZxJfZQW0Jb8
Graduate Fellowship Ensembles
School of Music graduate fellowship ensembles offer a focused, collaborative chamber music experience. Fellows receive competitive funding including a generous stipend. Each fellowship ensemble is mentored throughout their studies at University of Delaware.
Fellowship ensembles combine individual musical virtuosity with the shared spirit of ensemble playing, building flexibility, teamwork, leadership, communication, and entrepreneurial skills for students. Additionally, students engage in a wide variety of professional development and community engagement initiatives, including outreach tours throughout the Mid-Atlantic, recording projects, and commissioning projects.
University of Delaware School of Music is proud to share the following successful outcomes of our four fellowship ensembles since the program’s initiation in Fall 2019.
2024 – Percussive Arts Society International Convention, Chamber Music Competition – Third Place
2024 – St. Paul International String Quartet Competition – Finalist
2024 – Encore Chamber Music Festival - Cleveland, OH – Invited
2024 – Mid-Atlantic Flute Convention – Invited Performers
2024 – MTNA Chamber Music Competition – Finalist
2023 – Concert Artists Guild – 1st prize
2023 – Bad Tölz International String Quartet Competition (Germany) – 3rd prize
2023 – Mid-Atlantic Flute Convention – Invited Performers
2023 – Young Concert Artists Auditions – Finalist
2022 – New Jersey Music Educators Association State Conference – Invited Performers
2022 – Chesapeake International Chamber Music Competition – 2nd prize
2022 – Young Concert Artists Auditions – Finalist
2021 – Percussive Arts Society International Convention, Chamber Music Competition – First Place
Formed in the fall of 2023 at the University of Delaware, the Trellis String Quartet is composed of violinists Dallas Noble and Leo Matsuoka, violist Zach Levin, and cellist Priscilla Kim. Recruited for the University’s Graduate String Quartet Fellowship, the four members of Trellis are currently pursuing their Master’s in Performance under the mentorship of the Calidore String Quartet.
Recent accomplishments include participating as a finalist at the 2024 Saint Paul String Quartet Competition and being selected to compete at the 2024 Coltman Chamber Music Competition. Trellis has presented interactive performances at Brandywine Baroque Society and Newark Charter School and performed at several events hosted by the University, including their State of the College of Arts and Sciences presentation. They have been honored to collaborate with and receive instruction from many illustrious artists such as Elicia Silverstein, Elias Goldstein, and Lawrence Stomberg, and members of the Emerson, New Orford, and Dali String Quartets. At ENCORE Chamber Music Institute 2024, led by esteemed violinist Jinjoo Cho, Trellis had the privilege to be coached by members of Quatuor Ebène, Cleveland, Pacifica, Michelangelo, Cavani, and Ariel String Quartets; additionally, they collaborated with the Verona Quartet to perform Danish composer Niels Gade’s String Octet in one of the festival’s mainstage concerts.
The group takes their name from the architectural structure – trellis – which is a framework of interwoven materials upon which plants grow. Like a trellis, the quartet hopes that their group will provide a foundation on which to help each other grow, and that collectively, their work and music will help the community around them to grow too.
The Graduate Brass Quintet is the premier brass quintet at The University of Delaware. Made up of all performance graduate students, the group seeks to perform a diverse range of music from classical Renaissance music to modern popular music. The Brass Quintet also prides itself on its ability to adapt while maintaining the highest level of performance.
The award winning Graduate Percussion Group is a fully funded fellowship program. Each member is awarded a fellowship for their studies at UD by co-directing and performing in this ensemble. Coached and mentored by the faculty ensemble in residence (Quey Percussion Duo), the Graduate Percussion Group is actively engaged in artistic creativity on a daily basis through rehearsing, performing, and administration of a self-sustaining ensemble that straddles the line between collegiate and professional performing experiences.
The Graduate Percussion Group presents regular programs throughout the year in addition to numerous projects related to audio recording, video production, outreach, recruiting, competitions, and composer-performer experiences. Graduate Percussion Group members also often perform side-by-side with guest and faculty artists.In addition to performances, as a self-sustaining ensemble, each student will assume administrative roles to guarantee the success of the ensemble such as scheduling, programming, recruiting, outreach, marketing and promotion, and social media management to name a few.
The Easterlies are the graduate woodwind quintet in residence at the University of Delaware School of Music. Their name is inspired by easterly winds in weather and climate—winds that originate in the east and blow elsewhere. They drew this unique parallel from their unification and inevitable growth in a commonly ‘east’ location to their members. Relating their wind quintet name to a literal category of wind felt fitting.
The Easterlies have been accepted as one of 7 chamber music groups across the country to compete at the 2024 Music Teachers National Association Chamber Music Wind Competition in Atlanta, GA, and were also selected to perform in the 2024 Mid Atlantic Flute Convention in Herndon, VA. Additionally, as a part of their educational outreach initiative, they partner up with local high schools in the area to teach young musicians about chamber music.
