Dawn Madole, ViolinScholarship Recipient 1994, 1995, and 1996
Our spotlight for February 2023 is on Dawn Madole. Dawn was a Marin Music Chest scholarship recipient in 1994, 1995, and 1996. After college, she continued to pursue her passion for music, often wearing many musical hats as a performer, teacher, and administrator.
As a music teacher, she is instrumental in helping her students grow in their musicality, and prepare for auditions and competitions (including the Marin Music Chest competitions!). Dawn was recognized by the Marin Symphony in 2019 as a “Teacher of the Year,” an award given to teachers who demonstrate excellence in teaching and exceptional commitment to their students. Read on to learn more about Dawn Madole. Q: When did you start playing violin, and what made you choose it?
A: I started lessons at age 3 on a 1/16 size violin (which I still have!). I have a cousin, 3 years older than me, who was already playing violin. Whenever our families got together, he would always play for us. I wanted to be just like him, and so I asked to play violin as well. I blame him! (He is also a professional violinist now). Q: Did you ever consider any other instruments? A: My parents tried out piano for me even before I started playing the violin. But it wasn’t for me. I just kept asking to play violin! In college, I really fell in love with the Elgar Cello Concerto and asked a cellist friend of mine to help me learn the opening chords. My violin technique didn’t translate easily to cello, and it was a solid fail. But, I absolutely have a soft spot for cello too. Maybe in another life! Q: You’re a Marin County native, and a former Marin Music Chest winner. Tell us about your musical experiences growing up in the Bay Area. A: I grew up in Novato and studied the Suzuki method from age 3 to 9. Then in 4th grade, I began studying with Serban Rusu, and he was my long-time teacher and mentor through college. I joined the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra in 8th grade. Alasdair Neale (current Music Director of the Marin Symphony) was the conductor of the SFSYO when I was a member, and I played in the orchestra from 8th grade until I aged out my sophomore year in college (I was still in the area at UC Berkeley). Some of my fondest and most influential life experiences happened during my time in that orchestra. I made life-long friends, learned an immense amount of repertoire, and played music at an exceptionally high level because of Alasdair Neale and the musicians of the orchestra. Q: What else do you do besides teach violin? A: I wear many hats and I have my feet in a few lanes. Besides playing violin in a few Bay Area orchestras, I have a private teaching studio of 20+ students, and I am a classroom music teacher for pre-K to 8th graders at GATE Academy. I also work in arts administration for the Sun Valley Music Festival in Idaho, and I’ve been a long-time personal assistant for a Bay Area conductor. Q: What do you like about teaching? A: I love the individualism of every student. No two students are alike, and therefore no single lesson is ever the same. The beauty of private lessons is that the approach to teaching a technique or a piece can be different for each person, depending on their learning styles. I learn a lot from my students as well. Understanding what inspires them and what clicks for them helps me to bring out their own best work. My most favorite part of teaching children is seeing them grow and mature year after year. I’m lucky to work with students who start young and play into their teenage years and beyond. It’s a joy to get to know them and a privilege to be a part of their lives. Q: If there was one piece of music you could listen to on repeat, what would it be and why? A: The first movement of the Brahms Piano Trio No. 1 in B Major. This piece is a great, big, warm embrace. When I want to be swept away, this is the piece for me. The melodies are glorious, sometimes haunting, but always achingly beautiful. And the partnership of the violin and cello is especially satisfying and rhapsodic. Q: Who is your favorite violinist? A: I’ve never been good at “favorite” questions because it’s too hard for me to choose just one. My teacher introduced me to Heifetz, Milstein, and Menuhin, and I definitely grew up listening to their recordings. I’ve always been a huge fan of Maxim Vengerov. And today, I’d happily go to any performance of James Ehnes or Augustin Hadelich! Q: Tell us something about yourself that would surprise most people. A: I’m getting married in April! Q:What are you really bad at? A: Deleting emails from my inbox. I won’t tell you how many are in there! The funny thing is that I’m a very organized person. But there’s something so disconcerting to me about the finality of pressing delete. Q: Seems like you spent your childhood and college years right here in the Bay Area, and you currently live here now. Have you ever lived anywhere else? A: I moved to Vienna, Austria the year after I graduated college. I had earned a scholarship to study privately abroad, and I was accepted as a student of Daniel Froschauer, one of the concertmasters of the Vienna Philharmonic. My year consisted of practicing Mozart Concertos and Fritz Kreisler pieces (how Viennese!), and I went to see as many concerts and operas as I could attend for a year. Standing tickets were 2.50 Euro, and I was seeing 2-4 performances a week. It was an amazing year. Q: What do you hope your students learn from you? A: To breathe before playing; to practice first slowly and always with integrity; and to not forget that music is an emotional experience (not just a technical one), whether as a performer or as a listener. |
JOE ANGIULO – September 22, 2022
Joe Angiulo joined the Marin Music Chest Board of Directors in 2002, and for two decades has been instrumental in supporting and promoting its programs, organizing outreach concerts, developing a healthy donor base, and advising and steering the organization. Continuously serving as a valued judge for the audition process, he has served many roles, including President. Joe, along with Bob Greenwood and Chuck Lavaroni, jointly established the Young Artists concerts. Joe continues to administer this program which features the top five winners of the Music Chest Scholarship Awards as an annual part of the Chamber Music Marin concert series each May. We applaud and celebrate his service to Marin Music Chest and thank him for his determination to keep classical music alive in our ears and hearts. |
Interview with Michael Mello - January 21, 2022
Michael Mello is one of Marin’s hidden treasures, quiet and unassuming but stalwart, committed, and known to many for his tremendous keyboard skills, musicianship, and solid, reliable presence in the performance hall. He is an extraordinary accompanist, but is also a music coach and teacher, gently encouraging students to express themselves with musicality, no matter the instrument or the level. Having lived all his life in Marin County, he is an important part of our musical landscape, and one of our true musical heroes. Michael won Music Chest scholarships three times as a youth and has recently retired from teaching and joined the Music Chest Board of Directors.
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Interview with Steve Bergman 4-17-21
Intro: Steve Bergman, born in SF, raised in Marin, was a three-time Marin Music Chest Scholarship winner in the 1970’s who has gone on to have an illustrious career as a performer and most notably as a teacher. Many years, many times his students have been top scholarship winners. Steve credits the Music Chest with giving him the start he needed, in days when lessons were a luxury not all families could afford and when the Music Chest paid the teachers directly for the students’ lessons. We recently interviewed Steve, who is joining the Artistic Council for this May’s auditions. |
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