Students at the UWM String Academy learn to use their minds, ears, and bodies to express themselves through music. Through this journey, each child learns valuable lessons in problem solving, concentration, consistency and discipline, developing self-confidence, perseverance through challenges, an appreciation for beauty and artistry, and the joy of making music as part of a larger community.
Location: UW-Milwaukee Music Building
Questions: uwm-stringacademy@uwm.edu
Programs
The UWM String Academy offers students between the ages of 4 and 18 a comprehensive musical education with a focus on the violin and viola. Highly qualified artist faculty provide musical instruction based on the methods and philosophies of Mimi Zweig, Shinichi Suzuki, and Paul Rolland. The special training, experience, and expertise of the String Academy faculty in the musical training of young people results in students playing with technical ease and musical sensitivity.
Under the careful guidance from faculty and parents, students engage in a challenging course of study that includes private and group instruction, daily home practice, frequent solo and ensemble performances, master classes, and music theory and ear training study. String Academy alumni who have taken the path of becoming musicians are now performing and teaching throughout the world. While some may choose music as a career, all String Academy students can develop a lifelong appreciation for the joy and beauty of music.
Beginner Violin Program (June 20–July 29)
Get your budding violinist off to a great start with instruction designed for youngsters who have never played a string instrument. Price for this six-week program is $310 per student.
| Date | Time | Details |
|---|---|---|
| June 20–24 | 4:30–5:30 p.m. | Daily group lessons with Jamie Hofman and Heather Barker |
| June 27–July 29 | 30 minute sessions | Weekly private lessons scheduled independently with Heather Barker |
| June 30–July 28 | 4:30–5:30 p.m. | Thursday group lessons with Heather Barker |
Private Lessons (June 20–August 12)
In-person instruction (unless otherwise requested) taught by Jamie Hofman or Heather Barker.
| Three Lessons | Six Lessons |
|---|---|
| 30-min: $125 | 30-min: $250 |
| 45-min: $170 | 45-min: $340 |
| 60-min: $215 | 60-min: $430 |
The academic year program includes individual lessons which vary in length, and weekly group lessons ranging from 1 to 3 hours (scheduled between 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday). For advanced students, a music theory class is offered. Group concerts, solo recitals, and other performance opportunities take place throughout the year.
Fall Semester Dates
- 17 weeks of instruction: August 29 – January 22
- No instruction: November 21–27 and December 19–January 8
- Performance: October 29
Spring Semester Dates
- 17 weeks of instruction: January 23 – May 28
- No instruction: March 20–26
- Performance: March 18
| Program | Cost (per semester)* |
|---|---|
| Beginner Program | $820 |
| 30-min (Lessons + Group) | $920 |
| 45-min (Lessons + Group) | $1,235 |
| 60-min (Lessons + Group) | $1,495 |
| 90-min (Lessons + Group) | $1,725 |
*Financial aid is available for a reduced registration fee – please complete the appropriate section of the registration form for consideration. There are also discounts available for multiple students and/or UWM employees.
The Urban Students in Arts Outreach Program (USAO), which provides violin instruction, was developed to help meet the needs of musically talented low-income and minority students who are deserving of professional instruction. The program creates a positive educational experience for disadvantaged students, and helps develop discipline, self-confidence, self-esteem, aesthetic awareness and cultural appreciation in students whose lives can be altered with serious music study.
The USAO trains 10-20 students per year via outreach at Escuela Vieau K-8 elementary school in Walker’s Point. Students are taught by UWM String Academy staff as well as by Master of Music in String Pedagogy students from UW-Milwaukee. USAO families pay a nominal fee for weekly private lessons and participate in all group and performance activities of the String Academy.
If you are interested in bringing UWMSA instruction to your school, please contact us!
Teachers
Heather Barker
Education
MM, Music & Pedagogy, UW-Milwaukee
Biography
A constant performer, whether on or off stage, Heather has extensive experience as a concert violist, playing in orchestras since high school in Saint Louis, Chattanooga, and Milwaukee areas. Believing that performance is an essential part good teaching, Heather is a member of of Tuppence Duo, and an early music group "Gaudete Omnes" and regular featured soloist with the Bach Chamber Choir, and enjoys sharing her experience and opportunities to perform with her students. Heather has taught individual and group lessons, orchestra sectionals, music theory, and masterclasses for over 7 years, and graduated in 2020 with a Masters in String Pedagogy from UWM.
Recent Work
Lecturer, Violin and Viola
Heidi Barker
Education
MM, Chamber Music Performance: Violin, UW-Milwaukee
MM, String Pedagogy, UW-Milwaukee
BA, Music: Concentration in Violin, Covenant College
Biography
Violinist, pedagogue, and passionate sharer of beauty, Heidi Barker earned her bachelors and masters degrees in music, focusing on the areas of chamber music and string pedagogy. Since completing her studies, she has taught extensively with orchestras, music programs, and conservatories in Haiti, Tasmania, and throughout the U.S. She has presented pedagogy seminars and courses for East Lake Expression Engine and for BLUME Haiti, both el sistema inspired non profits. Performance experiences include the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra, the Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra, the Manitowoc Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Opera Theatre, the Tuppence Duo, and the St Elmo Piano Trio. When not teaching, she enjoys reading, cooking, singing, writing, and extensive walking.
Recent Work
Lecturer, Violin and Viola
Jamie Hofman
Education
BM, Viola and Violin Performance, Indiana University
Performer's Certificate, Viola, Indiana University
Biography
String Academy faculty since 2007, Jamie Hofman, earned B.M. degrees in viola and violin performance, in addition to a Performer's Certificate in viola at Indiana University. His major teachers there included Atar Arad, Jerry Horner and Mimi Zweig. Mr. Hofman has been a member of the Louisville Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Louisville String Quartet, and is principal violist of the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra. Mr. Hofman also teaches at Falls Baptist College and has taught at the University of Louisville and Campbellsville University. He has performed throughout the U.S., Europe, and Japan, and is on faculty at the Eastern Music Festival during the summers.
Teaching Faculty III, Violin and Viola
Stefan Kartman
Education
DMA The Mason Gross School of the Arts - Rutgers
MM and Artist Diploma The Juilliard School of Music
BM Northwestern University School of Music
Biography
Stefan Kartman currently serves as Professor of Cello and Chamber Music at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee where he teaches cello and chairs the string area. Dr. Kartman also serves on the faculty of The String Academy of Wisconsin, the state’s premier pre-college string training program.
As a recording artist, he has recorded the Complete Works of Beethoven for Cello and Piano, publishing an edition of the Beethoven complete works as well. As a pedaogue, he is currently publishing a teaching method entitled An Artist’s Guide to Cello Technique.
In addition to solo performance, Dr. Kartman has performed to critical acclaim as cellist of Trio Antigo, the Kneisel Trio and the Florestan Duo, giving performances and masterclasses in conservatories of music and institutions of higher education worldwide including the Cleveland Institute of Music, the China Conservatory of Music and the Xiamen Conservatory of Music, and the D’Albaco Conservatory of Music, among many others.
An avid chamber music enthusiast, Dr. Kartman has served on the faculties of the Vianden Chamber Music Festival in Luxembourgh, the Madeline Island Chamber Music Camp, the Garth Newel Chamber Music Festival, the Alfred University Summer Chamber Music Institute, the MidAmerica Chamber Music Festival, the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, and was artistic director of the Milwaukee Chamber Music Festival. During his formal training as a chamber musician, he studied with members of the Guarneri and Juilliard String Quartets and the Beaux Arts Trio.
Dr. Kartman has been teaching assistant to Harvey Shapiro and Zara Nelsova of the Juilliard School and proudly acknowledges the pedagogical heritage of his teachers Shapiro, Nelsova, Bernard Greenhouse.
Recent Work
Professor, Cello & String Pedagogy
Chamber Music Coordinator
Bernard Zinck
Education
Premier Prix Violon and Musique de Chambre, Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris
PhD, Musical Arts, Temple University
MM & BM, Music Violin Performance, The Juilliard School
Biography
Bernard Zinck, concert violinist and recording artist, is currently Associate Professor of violin and chamber music and Director of the Sorkin Chamber Music Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In 2011, he created the Lakeside Chamber Music Workshop held each summer in the Chicago area. He is in demand as a coach and teacher, having served on the faculty of the Köhln Summer Institute in Montepulciano, the International Lyric Academy of Rome and the Tuscia Operafestival (Italy), the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival, and Holly Trinity Summer Music camp in Haiti. He is regularly invited to conduct master classes and residencies in universities and conservatories throughout the world.
Zinck began violin studies at the age of six at the National Regional Conservatory in his hometown of Tours, France. At the age of fifteen, he entered the Paris Conservatory and was awarded three years later first prizes in violin and chamber music; his mentors were Gérard Poulet, Geneviève Joy-Dutilleux, Tibor Varga, and Maya Glezarova. Admitted to the Juilliard School of Music as a Fulbright scholar in 1987, he finished his BM and MM degrees with Joseph Fuchs after only four years of study. In 2006, he earned a DMA from Temple University in Philadelphia with a thesis on the eighteenth-century French violinist Chevalier de Saint-George, a remarkable figure of the French Enlightenment whose compositions he has researched, lectured on and performed. He was invited to participate in Montreal's Black History Month in 2010, where he performed works by Saint-George.
Bernard Zinck's concert career began when he won the 1992 Yehudi Menuhin Trust Award in Paris. His scintillating recordings of Szymanowski's Complete Works for Violin and Piano, Live From France and Uncommon Voices have won him a reputation as an expert interpreter of impressionist and contemporary music. He has a close affinity with the works of the European nationalist composers of the early twentieth century, but is equally committed to a repertoire ranging from Corelli to Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson. His talent and interpretive insight have made him a sought-after soloist and he has performed extensively in concerts and recitals in Europe, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, South Korea and Japan. Recent venues include the Théâtre du Châtelet and Athénée Théâtre Louis Jouvet in Paris, the Théâtre Impérial in Compiègne, Les Flâneries de Reims, Radio-France Montpellier and Rencontres Musicales de Calenzana (France); Brighton Arts (U.K.); Salzburg Mozarteum (Austria); Liszt Academy in Budapest (Hungary); Szymanowski Festival in Zakopane (Poland); Basilica San Clemente in Rome and Orsanmichele Church in Florence (Italy); Oscar Peterson Hall at Montreal Concordia University (Canada), the National Gallery and the Phillips Collection in Washington DC; the Bowdoin International Music Festival; and the Santa Fe Concert Association. He has appeared as guest soloist with many orchestras, including the New Mexico Symphony, the Princeton Chamber Players, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Chihuahua, the Porto Alegre, Unisinos, Caxias and Camargo Guarnieri Symphony Orchestras in Brazil, the Hungarian National Philharmonic, the Bohemia Symphony, the Radio-Television Orchestra of Romania, the New Opera Di Roma Orchestra and the Orchestre National de la Garde Républicaine in Paris. Bernard Zinck has appeared in numerous concert series in Chicago: Dame Myra Hess at the Cultural Center, Rush Hour at St. James Cathedral, St. James Cathedral Concerts, Cube, The Alliance Française, and was featured with members of the Chicago Chamber Musicians on WFMT “Live from Studio One”. In 2008, his performance at the Rush Hour concerts was featured on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.
Bernard Zinck's artistry has been praised in terms such as "impeccable accuracy of pitch" and "formidable technique". The Strad Magazine noted his "round and opulent tone” and his "vibrato bringing moments of sheer ecstasy”, while Fanfare Magazine was impressed by the "singing, sensuous, sumptuous, shimmering” quality of his playing, which the French Figaro summed up in the expression "violon solaire”.
Since 2002, Bernard Zinck plays a Giovanni Battista Rogeri violin, dated 1690 – a purchase made possible with the support of the Bass family.
Recent Work
Associate Professor, Violin
Area Head, Strings and String Pedagogy
Chamber Music Coach
Registration
UWM String Academy Staff will review all submissions and contact you to make arrangements and/or answer any questions. Once finalized, the Peck School of the Arts Box Office will contact parent/guardian(s) for payment information.
Payment Information and Due Dates
Fees may be paid in full or with three installments. There is an additional $10 charge for any late payments.
| Fall 2022 (Full) | Sept. 7 |
| Fall 2022 (3 Installments) | Sept. 7, Oct. 10, Nov. 14 |
| Spring 2023 (Full) | Jan. 21 |
| Spring 2023 (3 Installments) | Jan. 21, Feb. 25, Apr. 1 |