Colburn School appoints new viola teacher

The Colburn School has appointed violist Tatjana Masurenko as its newest faculty member. Masurenko will begin her role next month, teaching viola and chamber music at Colburn’s Conservatory of Music as well as its Music Academy for gifted pre-college musicians.

’To join the Colburn School is to be a part of a passionate and nurturing community,’ said Masurenko. ’I’m so grateful for this opportunity. I cannot wait to work with the school’s exceptional students and collaborate alongside the school’s esteemed faculty.’

’Following an extensive international search, we are delighted to have Tatjana Masurenko, one of the world’s greatest violists, join our artist faculty of virtuoso performers and pedagogues’ said Colburn School president and CEO, Sel Kardan.

Conservatory Dean Lee Cioppa added: ’It is a tremendous pleasure to welcome Tatjana Masurenko to the Colburn School. She models extraordinary artistry as a soloist and chamber musician, as well as a dedication to teaching and fostering future generations of transformative artists. Her presence on the faculty will enrich not just her students, but the entire Colburn School community.

Masurenko has been professor of viola at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater ’Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’ Leipzig since 2002, and in the same position at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne in Sion, Switzerland, since 2019. She gives master classes in Europe and America and is artistic director of the International Viola Camp in Iznik (Turkey).

Born in Tajikistan, Masurenko grew up in a family of Russian academics and jazz musicians in St Petersburg. She continued her musical studies in Germany with Kim Kashkashian and Nobuko Imai. Her search for new forms of expression on the viola and new techniques and tonal concepts were encouraged and influenced by encounters with figures including Boris Pergamenschikow, György Kurtág, Brigitte Fassbaender and Herbert Blomstedt.

A champion of new works for solo viola, she has worked with contemporary composers such as  Gladys Krenek, Moritz von Gagern, Dimitri Terzakis, Wolfgang Rihm, Hans-Christian Bartel, Luca Lombardi and Nejat Başeğmezler. She is also intensively dedicated to historical performance practice and especially to 19th century playing and Romantic repertoire.

She plays a viola by Paolo Antonio Testore, made in Milan in 1756, and a modern 2017 instrument built for her by Jürgen Manthey, made in Leipzig.