Member Spotlight: HEATHER BLACKBURNHEATHER BLACKBURN
Member Spotlight
{An informal letter addressed to ICS director and a professional biography}
Hi John, Greetings from a bit east of your neck of the woods!!! First
of all, congratulations on your great feat of cello information! What a
convenient way to have a lot of great information at your fingertips!
Well, I am sending a bio-probably the most succinct way of passing along
info in lieu of an actual article. Not listed on the bio-I just played
Haydn D Major concerto with the orchestra here at school April 13,and gave
a recital April 28 consisting of Bach Fifth Suite, Beethoven A Major and
Suite Italienne (remind me NEVER to program all of those at once ever
again...YIIIIKES!).
Also-I will be soon starting work on my thesis (as soon as I narrow down
the subject material...) on the topic of Materials Used to Aid the Cellist
in His/Her Intepretation and Study of the Six Solo Cello Suites of Bach
(such as-knowledge of the dance movements and their evolution and
incorporation into the Baroque suite; use of harmonic/Schenkerian analysis
as an aid in determining phrasing-thus bowings, etc...; performance
practices; etc...). SO-if anyone out there in ICS would have any
suggestions on materials related to this endeavor-it would be MOST
helpful!!!
Anyway, thanks for the note, and since I am relatively close, keep me
posted on any concerts out Ellensburg way-maybe we can meet in person
sometime!!!
Take care-Heather Blackburn
BIOGRAPHY
Heather Blackburn holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Peabody
Institute of Music of the Johns Hopkins University where she studied cello
with Stephen Kates. She has also studied chamber music at Peabody with
Samuel Sanders, Earl Carlyss, and the American String Quartet, and has
worked intensively with the Mendelsohnn and Lydian String Quartets. Ms.
Blackburn has attended the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, CA,
where she served as principal cellist of the Academy orchestra as well as
performing in chamber music masterclasses for James Buswell and Donald
McInnes. Other festivals she has participated in include Musicorda, The
Winter Institute for String Quartet at the Universtiy of Delaware, and the
Brandeis Chamber Music Festival at Brandeis University in Boston.
In the spring of 1992, Ms Blackburn was the 2nd prizewinner at the National
Society of Arts and Letters Cello competition in Richmond, VA, and was one
of ten cellists selected nationwide by Aldo Parisot to attend the
Parisot-Friedman Competition. She was a member of the Maryland Symphony
Orchestra, under the direction of Barry Tuckwell, and has served as adjunct
cello faculty at Salisbury State University in Salisbury, MD. Currently,
Ms. Blackburn holds a teaching assistantship at Washington State University
where she studies with Christopher von Baeyer.