Young Artist Seminar
We are planning for a reduced enrollment seminar capped at 30 students at any given time and will be postponing large ensembles (including choir and orchestra) until 2022 in order to safely provide summer residential music programs. We will continue to follow the most current CDC, State, and County guidelines and recommendations for camp opening and safety. Please note that we are only accepting applications for violin, viola, cello, flute, oboe/english horn, clarinet, bassoon, piano, and collaborative piano at this time. Please see the tab below for policies concerning refunds and other COVID-19 related issues.
During two or four weeks of intensive study, students receive a musical education that is unmatched anywhere in the country in breadth, depth, and value. In addition to two weekly private lessons, Students delve deeply into advanced chamber music with coaching by world-class musicians including an opportunity to be coached by a founding member of the Takács Quartet, take twice-weekly private lessons, perform for their peers, and live stream to the public. Students may choose to compete in the Chamber Music Competition, attend interactive panel discussions with music industry leaders, take part in mock auditions to receive feedback from seasoned orchestral musicians, and participate in a mentorship program with professionals from other fields for whom music is an integral part of their lives.
*New This Year*
Students may choose to attend a Half Session of the Young Artist Seminar. Please indicate your choice of session on your application form.
Half Session 1: 6/1 – 6/13 || Half Session 2: 6/14 to 6/27 || Full Session: 6/1 to 6/27
MORE INFORMATION
Fees, Faculty and Schedules
TUITION:
- Full Session: $4,250 (includes lodging and meals)
- Half Session: $2,125 (includes lodging and meals)
APPLICATION FEE:
- $85
UPGRADES & ADD ONS:
- Piano usage fee for piano majors is $150
- Secondary instrument lessons fee is $300
- Bedding (optional) is $75
All students who complete an application will be considered for merit scholarships. If you would like more information about our scholarships, please visit our Scholarships page. Rocky Ridge offers need-based financial aid in the form of student employment.

Claudia Anderson
YAS Faculty
Instruments: Flute Education: D.M.A., University of Iowa; M.M., University of MassachusettsClaudia Anderson is known for her originality and brilliance as a solo and chamber music performer across the U.S. She is a founding member of the innovative flute duo ZAWA! and of New Prairie Camerata, a chamber initiative that showcases a community’s historical and architectural gems through performance and stimulates community participation. A Fulbright scholar to Italy, Ms. Anderson was subsequently principal flute of the Orchestra del Teatro Massimo in Palermo. She is presently principal flute with the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Symphony in Iowa, a guest artist and clinician at many colleges and music series around the country, and on the faculty of Grinnell College. She serves also as flute faculty and program director during the summers at Rocky Ridge Music Center (www.rockyridge.org). Equally at home in both the standard and contemporary repertoire, Dr. Anderson has commissioned and arranged works for solo and duo format and has moved into composition more recently. Writing about artistry in flute playing and chamber music as community is a current passion, as well as riding her Triumph Bonneville motorcycle. Other faculty positions have included the Universities of Iowa and Northern Iowa, Ithaca College, and the University of California at Santa Barbara. National Flute Association positions have included Coordinator for the Chamber Music Competition and adjudicator for HS Soloist, Young Artist, and Convention Performers Competitions. Claudia’s artistic and pedagogical inspiration came from the following great artists who were her teachers: Severino Gazzelloni, Thomas Nyfenger, Geoffrey Gilbert, William Bennett, and Peter Lloyd. Her recorded solo and duo performances can be found on the Centaur, Neuma and CRI labels. Her solo CD, American Flute (Centaur, 1994), was awarded five stars from Classical Pulse. Duo CDs include ZAWA! (Neuma, 2001), ZAWA2 (ZawaMusic, 2006) and Duos for Flute and Oboe (Centaur, 2005).

Peter Cooper
YAS Faculty
Instruments: Oboe Education: B.M., Northwestern UniversityPrincipal Oboist of the Colorado Symphony since 1993 and Senior Instructor of Oboe at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Mr. Cooper has also held positions as Associate Principal Oboist of the San Francisco Symphony and Principal Oboist of the Hong Kong Philharmonic. He has performed and taught master classes throughout the United States as well as in Asia and Europe.
Peter Cooper strongly believes in expanding the solo repertoire for the oboe. He has commissioned and premiered five oboe concertos. In 2019 he will play a new concerto by Kevin Puts which was co-commissioned by the Colorado and Baltimore Symphonies. In 2000 he premiered the David Mullikin Oboe Concerto with the Colorado Symphony and recorded it in 2001 with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in London for Summit Records. The disc also includes the Richard Strauss Oboe Concerto. The BBC Classical Music Magazine in its review of this CD praised Mr. Cooper as, “a first-rate soloist”. He previously recorded Swiss composer Heinrich Schweizer’s Oboe Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also premiered concertos by Bill Douglas and Gregory Walker with the Colorado Symphony and Chen Gang with the Hong Kong Philharmonic.
In 2000, Summit Records released Mr. Cooper’s Whispers of the Past, a collaboration with harpist Marcia LaBella that garnered critical acclaim. Classical London Magazine lauded the CD as “A well recorded disc with stylish and charming performances.” The American Record Guide wrote, “Mr. Cooper has my favorite type of oboe sound: sweet, not too harsh, no sharp edges, just a melting soft pastoral tone.” Excerpts from this CD are frequently heard on National Public Radio.
Mr. Cooper has been invited to perform as Guest Principal Oboist with many noted ensembles. He has played many times with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and has recorded and toured with them. Others include the Boston, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, Milwaukee and San Diego Symphonies, and the Israel Chamber Orchestra.
A prizewinner in the Tokyo International Oboe Competition, he has been soloist with orchestras in Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and England, as well as with the San Francisco Symphony.
He frequently performs and teaches master classes at International Double Reed Society conventions. He has been a Principal Oboist of the Grand Teton Music Festival and has performed as Principal Oboist in the Oregon Bach Festival, St Barth Music Festival, El Paso Chamber Music Festival, and Strings in the Mountains.
Peter Cooper plays on Marigaux oboes; Marigaux, Paris, has sponsored him in a series of master classes and recitals throughout the United States and in Asia.
A 1981 graduate of Northwestern University, Mr. Cooper studied with Ray Still and Gladys Elliot.

Jason Lichtenwalter
JAS & YAS Faculty
Instruments: Oboe, English Horn Education: M.M., Eastman School of Music; B.M., Oberlin ConservatoryJason Lichtenwalter holds the Oboe/English Horn position with the Colorado Symphony in Denver and the Britt Festival Orchestra in Jacksonville, Oregon. Previous positions include Principal Oboe with the Dallas Opera Orchestra and East Texas Symphony as well as Associate Principal/2nd Oboe and Acting English Horn with the Honolulu Symphony. He has also performed with the Dallas Symphony (Dallas and Vail), Fort Worth Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, and Colorado Bach Ensemble, among many others. As a featured soloist, he has appeared on oboe, oboe d’amore, and English horn. He served as adjunct faculty at the University of Colorado-Boulder and the University of Denver. Jason earned oboe performance degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Eastman School of Music. His primary teachers were James Caldwell and Richard Killmer, and he pursued post-graduate studies with Elaine Douvas, Robert Walters, Mark Ackerman, and David Matthews. In October 2020, he founded Peak Reeds, an online reed and cane shop catering to oboists and English hornists at altitude.

David Shea
JAS & YAS Faculty
Instruments: Clarinet Education: D.M.A., Indiana University – Bloomington; M.M., University of IllinoisDavid Shea currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Clarinet at Texas Tech University, and is also principal clarinet in the Abilene Philharmonic and Lubbock Symphony Orchestras. He has earned degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory (BM), the University of Illinois (MM) and Indiana University (DM). His teachers have been Howard Klug, Lawrence McDonald, Eli Eban, James Campbell and Ronald Phillips. Shea has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Brazil and Chile. As a member of Trio Montecino, he recently toured in Belgium, Germany, and the United States to promote the release of their second CD, Nuevo Sonido: Latin- American Trios, which is available on the Eroica Classical Recordings label. Shea has performed at the International Clarinet Association Clarinetfests in Chicago, Columbus, Salt Lake City, Atlanta and Kansas City, as well as the OU Clarinet Symposium, University of Montevallo Clarinet Symposium and most recently, at Klarinetstage, Belgium.
Shea was a finalist in the Boosey and Hawkes North American Clarinet Competition and was a concerto competition winner at the Oberlin Conservatory and the Colorado Springs Summer Music Festival. In addition to his solo and chamber music performances, Shea has performed as an orchestral musician with the Indianapolis Symphony, Fort Wayne Symphony, Columbus Philharmonic, Champaign-Urbana Symphony and the Sinfonia de Camera. He has also been involved in numerous CD recording projects for Crystal, Naxos, Delos, Opus One, Indiana University Recordings and Hal Leonard Productions where he worked with such artists as Eugene Rousseau and the Indiana Clarinet Trio. As a teacher, Shea has given master classes throughout the US and South America. He has been invited twice to teach as a sabbatical replacement at the prestigious Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. He has also participated in a Big 12 Fellowship grant with Dan Silver at CU-Boulder, where innovative teaching pedagogies were discussed and demonstrated during week-long residencies at both campuses. In 2005, Shea was awarded the Texas Tech University President’s Excellence in Teaching Award, and most recently, was inducted into the Texas Tech University Teaching Academy. David Shea is a Buffet-Crampon USA Performing Artist and is the Texas State Chair for the International Clarinet Association.

Rémy Taghavi
YAS Faculty
Instruments: Bassoon Education: D.M.A. (in progress), Stony Brook University; M.M. Juilliard School; B.M., University of Southern CaliforniaNoted for his “bubbling, charming” playing, Rémy Taghavi is a highly sought-after bassoonist and educator based in the Northeast, and has performed, toured and recorded with numerous groups across North America, South America, and Asia. Rémy has held the position of principal bassoon with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra since 2018 and has been a guest artist with the American Youth, Cape, and Princeton Symphonies. He has previously been an associate member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and a substitute with Symphony in C, and has played under conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Alan Gilbert, and James Conlon. Mr. Taghavi has performed as a soloist with the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra and the New York Symphonic Ensemble at Fukuoka Symphony Hall and the United Nations.
As a chamber musician, Rémy has given performances at the Banff Centre, Domaine Forget, Bravo! Vail, the Atlantic Music Festival, FIMAC, Montréal/New Musics Festival, and the Annapolis Chamber Music Festival, of which he is co-director and founder. Mr. Taghavi is the bassoonist in Frisson, the New York-based nonet whose performances have been called “musical perfection” (Royal Gazette, Bermuda). He is also a member of SoundMind, a modern wind quintet which performs music by living composers alongside re-imagined works from across an expanse of style, genre, and instrumentation. Rémy is an alumnus of Ensemble Connect, a chamber music and career-development fellowship of Carnegie Hall and the Juilliard School.
Mr. Taghavi is currently Lecturer of Bassoon at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and faculty at the Rocky Ridge Music Center’s Young Artist Seminar (Colorado). From 2014 to 2019 he was an instructor of music technology in the Evening Division at the Juilliard School. He has been a guest lecturer at Skidmore College and the University of Cuenca (Ecuador). Rémy graduated magna cum laude from the University of Southern California, received a Master’s degree from the Juilliard School, and recently completed his doctorate at Stony Brook University. His primary teachers include Frank Morelli, Judith Farmer, and Norbert Nielubowski.

Dawn Wohn
YAS Faculty
Instruments: Violin Education: B.M. JuilliardM.M. Yale University
D.M.A. Stony Brook University
Highly sought after as musician with a wide range of styles and interests, violinist Dawn Dongeun Wohn has performed throughout North and South America, Asia and Europe. She has appeared as a soloist with orchestras such as the Korean Broadcasting Symphony and the Aspen Conducting Orchestra, performed recitals across the world including Carnegie Weill Hall, Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, and Jordan Hall. Her diverse interests have also led her to performances at Electronic Music Midwest, Radio City Hall and international tours with DJ Kid Koala.
Dawn began her musical studiies at The Juilliard School’s Pre-College Division as a full scholarship student of the renowned pedagogue Dorothy DeLay and continued her undergraduate studies at Juilliard with Hyo Kang. She pursued a Master of Music and an Artist Diploma at Yale University and completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Stony Brook University under the direction of Philip Setzer of the Emerson Quartet.
As an active chamber musician, Dawn has performed at International Musician’s Seminar Prussia Cove in England, Great Mountains Music Festival in South Korea, The Banff Centre, and has held fellowships at Music@Menlo, Aspen Music Festival and School, Norfolk Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, as well as the Juilliard School’s Chamberfest and the New York String Seminar. Notable collaborations include members of the Emerson Quartet, Miami String Quartet, Afiara String Quartet, Colin Carr, Roberto Plano and Christina Dahl.
Currently, Dawn holds the position of String Division Chair, Assistant Professor of Violin at Ohio University’s School of Music. As a guest clinician she has presented at schools such as Ithaca College, CUNY, Bowling Green State University, Kansas University, East Tennessee State University, and has been on faculty of festivals such as the Académie Anglicorde in France, International Music Festival of the Adriatic in Italy, and Festival de Febrero in Mexico. Her debut album featuring works diverse works by female composers will be released in early 2019 by Delos Records.

Károly Schranz
YAS Faculty, Violin
Instruments: Violin Education: Artist Diploma, Franz Liszt Academy - Budapest
Claude Sim
YAS Faculty
Instruments: Violin Education: BM - Oberlin ConservatoryClaude Sim enjoys a varied career as a chamber musician, orchestral leader, soloist, and multi-genre performing artist. He studied violin performance at the Oberlin Conservatory (BM ’99) with Greg Fulkerson, Almita Vamos, and viola with Roland Vamos. At age 21, he was appointed Associate Concertmaster of the Colorado Symphony under music director Marin Alsop. As frequent soloist with the orchestra, he has earned praise for his ‘lustrous tone and poise’ by the Rocky Mountain News, and dubbed ‘Denver’s Musical Adventurer’ by the Denver Post. He was formerly Associate Principal Second of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and has served as guest Concertmaster of the Kansas City Symphony, Principal Second of the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Ottawa, and first violin with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Equally at home performing on violin and viola, Sim has been a grand prizewinner at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. He has served as guest first violin and viola on concert tours with the critically acclaimed Miró and Pacifica Quartets, and has collaborated in performance with acclaimed pianists Christopher O’Riley, Jeffrey Kahane, and members of the Vermeer and Tokyo String Quartets.
Sim is the solo violinist of Extasis, the noted tango group with a studio album to their credit. The ensemble’s arrangements of Golden Age tango by D’Arienzo, Troilo and Pugliese through the nuevo tango of Rovira and Piazzolla serve as foundations of their wide ranging repertoire. Extasis performance tours and community engagements have reached audiences across the United States and Europe.
Known for his multi-genre interests, Sim’s jazz album Time With You presents a collection of standards from the American Songbook. Trumpeter Greg Gisbert (Wynton Marsalis, Clark Terry sideman) is a featured artist on the record. Sim has performed with Hamilton star Leslie Odom Jr. and Odom’s jazz quintet as guest soloist, and has shared the stage with Irish American fiddler Eileen Ivers, Warren Haynes (Allman Brothers Band, Gov’t Mule), rock band Guster, and with iconic Denver rock band Devotchka, both live and on the album 100 Lovers. He performed as a duo with GRAMMY award-winning artist and banjo master Béla Fleck on a 2014 Colorado tour, culminating at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.
Sim is a member of the Aaron Walker Quartet, specializing in exploring original modern and standard Gypsy jazz. The ensemble collaborates with today’s elite string jazz artists including guitarists Joscho Stephan, Gonzalo Bergara, and jazz violinists Tim Kliphuis and Jason Anick.
Claude Sim’s performing career and concurrent teaching philosophy are driven by striving to be a complete artist and citizen. His teaching mission focuses on developing true versatility while building connections across musical genres, communities and cultures. His previous teaching appointments include University of Colorado Denver and Colorado State University. In 2019, he joined the University of Colorado Boulder College of Music as Assistant Professor of Violin.

David Rose
YAS Faculty
Instruments: Viola Education: M.M., Indiana University – Bloomington; B.M., University of British ColumbiaDavid Rose was born in Regina, Saskatchewan and there began his early musical education and violin study. At the suggestion of his first teacher, Ernest Kassian, David switched to the viola at age 12 and immediately enjoyed the deep, warm sound of this new instrument. A few years later, he became a member of the Regina Symphony Orchestra. David’s principal teachers have been Gerald Stanick at the University of British Columbia, and Atar Arad at Indiana University, both of whom guided him to a greater love for music and the viola. His interest in orchestral and chamber music led to association with the Vancouver Symphony, the CBC Vancouver Orchestra, and many chamber music series from coast to coast in Canada, including the Vetta Chamber Ensemble in Vancouver, the Ottawa Chamber music Festival and the summer festival of New Brunswick. Upon graduation, David was awarded the position of associate principal viola of the Vancouver Symphony. He served for eight seasons as principal viola of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and violist with the Canadian Chamber Ensemble, as well as teaching at the University of Waterloo. Also greatly interested in performance on period instruments, David studied baroque viola with John Sawyer and Stanley Ritchie. He was a member of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra and performs and tours frequently with Toronto’s Tafelmusik. Most recently, David served as the acting assistant principal viola of the San Francisco Symphony, enjoying involvement in a European tour and the Grammy-winning Mahler symphony recording cycle.

Si-Yan Darren Li
YAS Faculty
Instruments: Cello Education: Artist Diploma, M.M., Peabody Conservatory; B.M., JuilliardCellist Si-Yan Darren Li made his professional debut at the age of 9 and has since gone on to an international career as a recitalist, chamber musician and teacher. He has appeared in solo and chamber music performances at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, 92nd Street Y, Kennedy Center, Victoria Concert Hall in Singapore, Izumi Hall in Osaka, Suntory Hall in Tokyo and National Concert Hall in Taipei. Li has also performed in many renowned music festivals, including the Ravinia Festival, Kronberg Academy Cello Festival and Verbier Festival. An active chamber musician, he has collaborated with such esteemed artists as Emanuel Ax, Miriam Fried, Ilya Kaler, Lang Lang, Cho-Liang Lin, Thomas Quasthoff, Alexander Toradze and members of the Juilliard, Takács, Cleveland, Casals and Ébène quartets. His recording of the Bartók string quartets with the Euclid Quartet was highly praised by Gramophone magazine and American Recording Guide.
Having previously taught at Indiana University and University of Central Florida, Li joined the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2017. As a dedicated pedagogue, his student ensembles have won top prizes in major international and national competitions, including the Banff International String Quartet Competition, Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition, Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and Coltman Chamber Music Competition.
Li holds a Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School and a Master of Music and Artist Diploma from the Peabody Institute. In addition to Orlando Cole, his principal teachers include Fred Sherry, Harvey Shapiro, Alan Stepansky and David Hardy. Li is a prizewinner in numerous prestigious competitions, including the Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow and Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York. He is also a recipient of the American Masterpieces grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Li plays a 1773 cello by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, generously on loan from the private collection of Mr. and Mrs. Rin Kei-Mei.

Gerardo Teissonnière
YAS Faculty
Instruments: Piano Education: Graduate, Cleveland Institute of Music; Post-graduate Diploma studies in Europe with Dmitri Bashkirov and Joaquín AchúcarroRegarded by international critics and audiences as an artist of extraordinary musicianship and rare sensibility since his acclaimed solo recital debut at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., American pianist Gerardo Teissonnière brings to the concert stage an exciting amalgam of the diverse and important musical traditions he represents. From appearances at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, Lincoln Center in New York to concert halls throughout Asia, Europe, North and Latin America, Mr. Teissonnière appears in solo recital, as soloist with orchestra, in duo-piano and chamber music performances in major concert series as well as in radio and television broadcasts throughout the world.
Highlights of recent concert seasons include solo recital debuts in Munich, Italy and Vienna, as well as
solo and chamber music performances with members of The Cleveland Orchestra, and critically acclaimed performances at the Sulzbach-Rosenberg International Music Festival in Germany. Recent concert season events include appearances at the Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica, Lincoln Center in NewYork City, a performance for an audience of twenty thousand and a solo recital at the Diayucheng International Music Festival in Chongqing, China, his solo recital debut in Beijing, all-Chopin concerts in Poland, chamber music concerts in Latin America featuring première performances of the Sonata for Violin and Piano by Pablo Casals, and a return engagement with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra as soloist in Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto. The 2018 season marked his debut as soloist with orchestra in Beijing, appearances in concert and master classes in New York City, Beijing’s Central Conservatory, as Artist-in-Residence at the Rocky Ridge Music Center in Colorado and a solo recital tour of Shaanxi, Henan, Hunan, and Szechuan Provinces in China. In the 2018-19 season, Mr. Teissonnière began two projects: performing all of Beethoven’s works for piano and orchestra, and a series of recitals featuring works by and inspired toward the composer’s 250th anniversary, and Schubert 2020, his much anticipated traversal of the piano music of Franz Schubert.
During the worldwide Schubert Bicentennial celebrations, Mr. Teissonnière presented a series of critically
acclaimed solo recitals dedicated to the works of the Viennese composer. Highly regarded since for his
interpretations of the Classical repertoire, he has presented local, regional, American and world premièreperformances of music by 20th century and contemporary composers such as Pablo Casals, AaronCopland, Claude Debussy, Evan Fein, Alberto Ginastera, Osvaldo Golijov, Lowell Liebermann, Darius Milhaud, Arvo Pärt, Jake Runestad and Robert Schumann.
Gerardo Teissonnière combines an active performance schedule with faculty appointments at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Case Western Reserve University, and served as Artistic Director of the Piano Department and Artist-in-Residence at the Amati Music Festival in New York. He is the recipient of the Alumni Achievement Award from the Cleveland Institute of Music in recognition of his outstanding accomplishment in the field of piano performance and pedagogy, the Judson Smart Living Award in Education, and received multiple nominations for the Ohio Arts Council’s Governor’s Award for the Arts.
Mr. Teissonnière began his musical training at an early age in Puerto Rico with Cecilia Talavera and LuzHutchinson. He continued Conservatory studies with Jesús Maria Sanromá and Vitya Vronsky, both
pupils of Artur Schnabel and Alfred Cortot, at the Aspen Music Festival with Jeaneane Dowis, in Europe with Dmitri Bashkirov and Joaquín Achúcarro, and made his debut as soloist with the Puerto Rico Symphony as a laureate in the first Jesús Maria Sanromá Piano Competition. An exclusive Steinway Artist, Mr. Teissonnière is on the Artist Roster of the Si-Yo Music Society Foundation in New York.
Gerardo Teissonnière is in great demand for his mentoring of young musicians, and conducts master
classes and piano pedagogy seminars throughout the world. His students have performed as soloists
with some of the world’s most important orchestras such as The Cleveland Orchestra, and in solo recital at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, among other venues. A member of the Artist Faculties at the Rocky Ridge Music Center in Colorado, the Sulzbach-Rosenberg International Music Festival in Germany and Music Fest Perugia in Italy, Gerardo Teissonnière is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, and Who’s Who in the World. In 2019 Mr. Teissonnière celebrates his 30th anniversary as member of the Piano Faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Steinway Immortal Vitya Vronsky Babin

Spencer Myer
YAS Faculty
Instruments: PianoLauded for “superb playing” and “poised, alert musicianship” by the Boston Globe, and labeled “definitely a man to watch” by London’s The Independent, American pianist Spencer Myer is one of the most respected and sought-after artists on today’s concert stage.
Adding to his North American credentials, Spencer Myer includes in his current season returns to the Boise and Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonics and the Traverse Symphony Orchestra. His solo recitals and chamber music collaborations take him throughout the United States, including an appearance with Jamie Bernstein at Washington, D.C.’s National Museum of Women in the Arts for a special performance of Leonard Bernstein’s complete “Anniversaries”.
Spencer Myer’s orchestral, recital and chamber music performances have been heard throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Africa and Asia. He has been soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra, the Boise, Dayton, Rhode Island, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestras, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, the Baton Rouge, Indianapolis, Knoxville, New Haven, Omaha, Phoenix, Santa Fe and Tucson Symphony Orchestras, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Mexico’s Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco and Beijing’s China National Symphony Orchestra, collaborating with, among others, conductors Michael Christie, Leslie B. Dunner, Robert Franz, Bernhard Gueller, Jacques Lacombe, Jahja Ling, Timothy Muffitt, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Kevin Rhodes, Lucas Richman, Steven Smith, Thomas Wilkins and Victor Yampolsky. His 2005 recital/orchestral tour of South Africa included a performance of the five piano concerti of Beethoven with the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa, followed by return orchestra and recital tours in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2018.
Spencer Myer’s recital appearances have been presented in New York City’s Weill Recital Hall, 92nd Street Y and Steinway Hall, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center and London’s Wigmore Hall, while many of his performances have been broadcast on WQXR (New York City), WHYY (Philadelphia), WCLV (Cleveland) and WFMT (Chicago). An in-demand chamber musician, he has appeared for five summers at the Lev Aronson Legacy Festival in Dallas with cellists Lynn Harrell, Ralph Kirshbaum, Amit Peled and Brian Thornton, and has enjoyed a recurring partnership with the Miami String Quartet at the Kent/Blossom Music Festival. Other artistic partners include clarinetist David Shifrin, sopranos Nicole Cabell, Martha Guth and Erin Wall, the Jupiter and Pacifica string quartets and the Dorian Wind Quintet.
Spencer Myer’s career was launched with three important prizes: First Prize in the 2004 UNISA International Piano Competition in South Africa, the 2006 Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship from the American Pianists Association and the Gold Medal from the 2008 New Orleans International Piano Competition. He is also a laureate of the 2007 William Kapell, 2005 Cleveland and 2005 Busoni International Piano Competitions. He enjoys an esteemed reputation as a vocal collaborator since winning the 2000 Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition. Mr. Myer was a member of Astral Artists’ performance roster from 2003-2010.
An enthusiastic supporter of the education of young musicians, Spencer Myer has served as a guest faculty at the Oberlin and Baldwin-Wallace Conservatories of Music, and in the fall of 2015, he was appointed Artist-Teacher of Piano and Collaborative Piano at Boston’s Longy School of Music of Bard College.
Spencer Myer’s debut CD for harmonia mundi usa – solo music of Busoni, Copland, Debussy and Kohs – was released in the fall of 2007 to critical acclaim by Fanfare and Gramophone magazines. Mr. Myer has released four CDs on the Steinway & Sons label since 2017: Piano Rags of William Bolcom, and three discs with cellist Brian Thornton encompassing cello/piano repertoire of Brahms, Debussy and Schumann.
Spencer Myer is a Steinway Artist.

Julie Holly
Yoga for Musicians Instructor
Instruments: Education: Howard UniversityYoga Instructor since 2010
Personal Trainer since 2014
Cancer Exercise Specialist since 2015
Trauma Informed Instructor since 2015
Certified in Children's Yoga since 2019
Julie Holly is dedicated to helping her students find their dharma and then put it into action to become a positive force in the world. Julie came to Yoga after a near death experience, caused by unmanaged stress, and has been certified as a Yoga Instructor since 2010. To deepen her understanding of how the body moves and anatomy, she became certified as a Personal Trainer in 2014 and certified as a Cancer Exercise Specialist in 2015. Her continuous yearning for knowledge and her dedication to service also lead her to become certified as a Trauma Informed instructor in 2015 and Certified in Children’s Yoga in 2019.
Julie is a student of the dynamic Yoga Teacher Amy Ippoliti and the legendary Dr. Douglas Brooks. She is also a graduate of the historic Howard University in Washington DC where she currently resides.
In addition to teaching Yoga full-time, Julie is the mom of a rescue dog named Malcolm Huey.
As part of our 2021 Young Artist Seminar, you can expect:
- Twice-weekly 60-minute private lessons
- Studio classes
- Masterclasses featuring internationally renowned artists
- Score study: in-depth work on chamber and orchestral scores to prepare the student for auditions and performances
- Mock Auditions
- Lectures and workshops by faculty and guests
- Professional development seminars
- Special topics seminars
- Ample performance opportunities for peers and virtual audience
- Music technology instruction aimed at expanding understanding of both audio and visual hardware and software that can enhance the musician’s readiness for new learning and performance parameters
- Optional wellness activities including yoga, hiking, Alexander Technique, and meditation
- Optional secondary instrument lessons
- Participation in a professional mentorship program that extends beyond this summer program
- If you applied and were accepted to a program last year, you do not need to reapply for that same program. Please let us know as soon as possible about your desire to attend the 2021 program in question.
- In order to secure your placement in the program, a 50% deposit of your tuition is due within 7 days of receiving your acceptance letter. Your final deposit is due a month before the beginning of your program.
- Any tuition paid is nonrefundable.
- If the camps are mandated to close by the CDC, state, or local authorities, you will receive a full tuition refund if the program has not yet started. If the camp is mandated to close during a program, your tuition refund will be prorated.*
- As a safeguard during this uncertain time, you are required to purchase a third party tuition and travel insurance plan which will protect your investment should a student choose to cancel ahead of time or is unable to complete the camp. We have partnered with Travel Insured International, which comes highly recommended by AM Skier, Rocky Ridge’s insurance provider. Regardless of which insurance company you choose, please provide proof of insurance prior to making your final tuition payment to Rocky Ridge.
- We will be updating this policy list regularly. Please continue to visit this list for the most recent policy updates and COVID-19 safety protocols that will be required prior to and during the camps.
*Except for the $85 application fee, which is nonrefundable.
Merit Scholarship
All students who complete an application will be considered for merit scholarships. If you would like more information about our scholarships, please visit our Scholarships page.
Need-based Financial Aid
Rocky Ridge offers need-based financial aid in the form of student employment (counselors and work-study) to students accepted into the Young Artist Seminar. To apply for need-based financial aid, complete the Financial Aid form on Young Artist Seminar application, upload an audition recording, and submit the appropriate tax documentation.
Students listed as dependents must submit their parent(s)/guardian’s most recent income tax return. Financial aid applications will not be considered without this information and priority is given to complete applications (including attachment and audition) submitted by March 15, 2021.
Counselors
Counselors are Young Artist Seminar (YAS) students who supervise, reside with, and mentor up to eight students under age 18 during the programs preceding or following the Young Artist Seminar. Counselors are not on duty during the four weeks of the Young Artist Seminar, June 16 to July 12. Students may be eligible for both a counselor position and a work-study position in 2020. You may also apply for more than one counselor position. Applicants must be age 20 or older on the first day of their counselor duty.
Counselor Positions
Co-head Counselor
Junior Artist Seminar Counselor
Junior Music Program
Jazz Program Counselor
Work-study
Work-study recipients are Young Artist students who are given additional job responsibilities that may include janitorial, kitchen crew, stage set-up, or grounds upkeep. Work-study positions are paid hourly; students can expect to work approximately 2 hours per day during the Young Artist Seminar and more during the other programs. You can apply for one or more positions. Applicants must be age 18 or older on the first day of their work-study duty.
Work-study Positions:
Junior Artist Seminar Work-Study
Young Artist Seminar Work-Study
Junior Music Program Work-Study
Jazz Program Work-Study
Important Note
Shortly after notification of financial aid award, counselors and work-study students will receive a detailed agreement specifying arrival and departure times for their choice of work schedule. We highly recommend you do not make travel arrangements without consulting the financial aid award agreement and/or consulting with our office at 303-449-1106. All amounts listed represent total gross income before any applicable taxes.
Guidelines for Financial Independence Based on IRS Information
- Student is not listed as a dependent by parent(s)/guardian on their federal income tax return.
- Student attends school less than full-time or non-student is 19 or older by December 31, 2020.
- Student receives less than half of total support per year from parent(s)/guardian. This includes tuition, clothing, medical care, insurance, etc. If you meet all the guidelines for financial independence based on the guidelines above, please submit a copy of your most recent federal income tax return.
If you do not meet all the guidelines for financial independence based on the guidelines above, please submit a copy of your parent/guardian’s most recent federal income tax return with your application.
*Subject to change*
7:30am: Breakfast
8:30am: Lessons/Practice
10:30am: Chamber Rehearsals/Coaching
12:00pm: Lunch
2:30pm: Masterclass/Special Topics Seminar
3:30pm: Lessons/Practice
6:00pm: Dinner
7:00pm: Performance Class/Studio Class
Applications for Summer 2021 will be available on January 15, 2021.
Young Artist Program applicants must submit a recorded audition to complete their application for admission and be considered for merit scholarship or other financial aid.
Audition should consist of two contrasting pieces or movements that best represent the applicant’s level and accomplishment. Please submit video recording, audio-only recordings will not be accepted. Supported video file types are avi, m4v, mov, mp4, mpeg, mpg, vob, wmv, mkv.
- February 15, 2021 – Early Bird Discount of $100 applied towards tuition
- March 15, 2021- Deadline to be considered for scholarships and need-based work study programs
- After March 15, 2021 – Application accepted on space available basis