Meadowmount
Violin Faculty
Aaron Berofsky
Aaron Berofsky has won international critical acclaim as both a soloist and a chamber musician. He has performed throughout North America, Europe, Central America, and the Middle East; according to France's Le Figaro, his is "the kind of music making that gives one true pleasure." He has appeared as soloist with orchestras in the United States, Germany, Italy, Spain and Canada. Mr. Berofsky recently completed his third annual recital at the International Deia Festival in Spain, a series in which he will play the complete sonatas of Mozart, a project to be completed in 2007. He also performs as recitalist in major centers such as New York and Chicago, most recently at the Symphony Center and on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts Series, broadcast live on WFMT radio. He regularly appears at festivals throughout North America and Europe, including the Adriatic Chamber Music Festival in Italy, the Skaneateles Festival in New York, Steamboat Springs in Colorado, Springfest in Ann Arbor, Garth Newel and the Staunton Festival in Virginia, the Speedside and Guelph Spring Festivals in Canada, and the Oregon Symphony's Mozart 'Til Midnight gala.
Mr. Berofsky is the first violinist of the Chester String Quartet. It has been hailed by the Boston Globe as "one of the best and brightest of the country's young string quartets" and by the Los Angeles Times as having "irrepressible energy and unflagging good taste." The quartet has appeared at the 92nd Street "Y" and Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall in New York and the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C. Highlights of recent seasons have included the New York premiere and recording of Aaron Jay Kernis' 100 Greatest Dance Hits, two complete cycles of the Beethoven string quartets and recordings of Haydn's Op.74 Quartets and the complete Mozart Flute Quartets. This season they performed a three concert series of the quartets of Dvorak at the Distinguished Artists Series at Trinity Church, and a four concert series at Bargemusic, both in New York City. Recent tours have taken them to England, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Mexico, and Costa Rica. They have also been involved in numerous commissions and premieres, including works by Zhou Long, Morton Subotnick, Aaron Jay Kernis and Elena Ruehr. They have been featured on NPR's Performance Today and on CBC radio.
While violin professor at Indiana University South Bend, Mr. Berofsky was the conductor of the IUSB Philharmonic, and he has conducted the South Bend Symphony's Academy Orchestra as well. He continues to engage in a variety of diverse musical projects, including: a performance and recording of John Cage's Atlas Eclipticalis with the composer present, a series of concerts with the acclaimed chamber orchestra Tafelmusik, and recordings with them on Sony's Vivarte label, and as soloist/leader, performances of the Brandenburg Concerti with conductor/harpsichordist Anthony Newman. Mr. Berofsky is the concertmaster of the Ann Arbor Symphony as well. Mr. Berofsky received his Masters degree from the Juilliard School as a scholarship student of Dorothy DeLay. Other teachers include Glenn Dicterow, Robert Mann and Elaine Richey.
Aaron Berofsky is professor of violin at the University of Michigan and the Meadowmount School of Music. He has also taught and coached chamber music at the Oberlin Conservatory, the Quartet Program, the Conservatory of Palma de Mallorca, the Adriatic Chamber Music Festival and Interlochen. He can be heard on the Sony, New Albion, Audio Ideas, ECM and Chesky labels.
Email: berofsky@umich.eduWeb: www.music.umich.edu/faculty/berofsky.aaron.lasso