Violinist Sandy Yamamoto takes up artistic director role in Texas

Read more news stories here

The Austin Chamber Music Center (ACMC) in Austin, TX, has announced the appointment of violinist Sandy Yamamoto as its new artistic director from September 2024. The organisation has also announced the appointment of Frank Jenkins as its new managing director.

’It is a privilege and an honour to become the new artistic director of the Austin Chamber Music Center,’ said Yamamoto in a statement. ’Chamber music, education, and performing are all very important in my life, and I am excited to be able to combine my passions to serve the community of Austin.

’I look forward to collaborating with my new team, meeting more people, sharing inspirational music from artists from around the world, and making Austin Chamber Music Center an even bigger hub for chamber music in Austin.’

ACMC’s current artistic director, Dr. Michelle Schumann, said: ’I couldn’t be more pleased to welcome Sandy Yamamoto and Frank Jenkins to the leadership of the Austin Chamber Music Center. Our strong history in creativity and engagement is going to forge confidently into the future with Sandy and Frank at the helm.  They are both incredibly skilled and dedicated and I can’t wait to see what’s in store!’

Yamamoto has enjoyed a international career over the past three decades as a soloist and with the Miró Quartet, which she left in 2011. As a member of the quartet, she was a recipient of the Naumburg Chamber Music and Cleveland Quartet Awards, won first prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition, and was one of the first chamber musicians to be awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant.

She is currently associate professor of practice in violin performance at the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin and was the recipient of the 2016 Butler School of Music Teaching Excellence Award.

Playing

In The Best of Technique you’ll discover the top playing tips of the world’s leading string players and teachers. It’s packed full of exercises for students, plus examples from the standard repertoire to show you how to integrate the technique into your playing.

Teaching

The Strad’s Masterclass series brings together the finest string players with some of the greatest string works ever written. Always one of our most popular sections, Masterclass has been an invaluable aid to aspiring soloists, chamber musicians and string teachers since the 1990s.

Calendars

American collector David L. Fulton amassed one of the 20th century’s finest collections of stringed instruments. This year’s calendar pays tribute to some of these priceless treasures, including Yehudi Menuhin’s celebrated ‘Lord Wilton’ Guarneri, the Carlo Bergonzi once played by Fritz Kreisler, and four instruments by Antonio Stradivari.