Yellow Barn Program

June 30 – August 4, 2024

Seth Knopp, Artistic Director

Yellow Barn's core program is a five-week intensive summer chamber music program for outstanding students and young professionals. Participants explore chamber music repertoire with an internationally renowned faculty, rehearsing and performing together in 20 concerts at the Big Barn, Yellow Barn's intimate concert hall in Putney, Vermont. Repertoire ranges from the Baroque period to the present day, and often affords participants the opportunity of working with visiting composers. Participants are housed, share their meals, and have access to rehearsal and practice studios on Yellow Barn's summer campus at The Greenwood School.

Activities for pre-formed ensembles will be tailored to the needs of each group invited to participate. Performance opportunities for the ensemble, and the involvement of its individual members in projects outside the ensemble, will be determined accordingly. Ensembles should be full-time groups who have been playing together for a minimum of one year, and who have the shared desire to establish themselves as a lasting entity. All instrumental combinations are considered.

Yellow Barn alumni have founded and joined major chamber ensembles, are members of the world's finest orchestras, and are respected educators in the music world. Yellow Barn alumni ensembles include eighth blackbird, So Percussion, Due East, and the Ariel, Chiara, Jupiter, and Parker Quartets.

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At this time, Yellow Barn is planning for live auditions in Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada. If Covid-19 safety guidelines make it impossible for us to conduct live auditions, all applicants will be required to submit video auditions.  Please note that for live auditions, we will be requiring proof of Covid-19 vaccination (including the booster) for all applicants and accompanists. If you have any questions, please email melody@yellowbarn.org.

2024 Application Deadlines TBD

All participants receive a full scholarship to cover tuition, room, and board.

Auditions

 
Individuals (strings, piano, woodwinds, harp, voice, and percussion) and pre-formed ensembles are invited to apply. (If you are applying as an ensemble, please use our Application for Summer Ensemble Residency.) 

Audition Requirements

Applicants should prepare two works, or substantial movements from two works, that make different technical and interpretive demands on you as a player.

Strings and Winds: Audition selections can include duo sonatas or concertos, but must be presented with piano parts or orchestral reductions. Applicants must perform with their own pianists.

Vocalists: Applicants should prepare a program of at least 15 minutes in length, and must perform with their own pianists.

Live auditions are typically 15 minutes in length but may vary from audition to audition.

Video Auditions

Live auditions are strongly encouraged. However, if you are unable to travel to a live audition location, video applications are acceptable. Applicants should submit a video recording of three works, or substantial movements from three works.

Two of the three videos must be made after October 1, 2023. One video may be a recording from anytime after November 1, 2022.

For more information about Yellow Barn's unique program, please read our educational philosophy.

Please note: If you are 20 years old or younger, please visit the page for our Young Artists Program.

Audition schedule for 2024 TBD:

Yellow Barn Faculty

Violin
Curtis Macomber
Anthony Marwood
Donald Weilerstein
Maria Włoszczowska
Ying Xue

Viola
Guy Ben Ziony
Kim Kashkashian*
Lilli Maijala
Nicholas Mann
 
Cello
Natasha Brofsky
Jean-Michel Fonteneau
Michael Kannen
Laurence Lesser*
John Myerscough
 
Piano
Alasdair Beatson
Gilbert Kalish
Seth Knopp
Vivian Hornik Weilerstein
 
Winds
Daniel Bates, oboe
Alan Kay, clarinet
Stephen Stirling, French horn
 
Percussion
Eduardo Leandro
 
Voice
William Sharp, baritone
Lucy Shelton, soprano
 
Composition
Stephen Coxe
Hilda Paredes, composer in residence
 
Body Awareness
Aliza Stewart, Feldenkrais
Sarah West, bodywork therapist
 
*Guest Faculty

Yellow Barn does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, or veteran status in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, employment policies, scholarship and loan programs, or other Yellow Barn-sponsored activities.