Bridge to Music Spotlight: Violist Matthew Chicurel
B2M: Hi Matthew. Thanks for sitting with us and talking a bit about some of the top music schools. Tell us a little about yourself.
Matthew: I attend Mannes College of Music, which is a part of the New School, and I'm getting my Masters of Music in viola performance. Mannes is in Manhattan on West 85th street between Amsterdam and Broadway.
B2M: When did you enroll at Mannes?
Matthew: I enrolled in the 2006-2007 year, which was my first year in the masters program. It is a two-year program and this year in spring of 2008, I will be completing my masters.
B2M: Can you tell us a little about your journey to find a top music school?
Matthew: Absolutely. Well it was actually a really difficult process. There are just so many great music colleges out there. I did my undergraduate work in North Carolina --- The North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem I was there from sophomore to senior year of high school. I was in an orchestra and in a band and did get to visit different places. I was very much in the performing mindset, but at that time, I really didn't know much about the top music schools that are out there. The only place I knew of in New York was Juilliard. The only way I found about some of the other top music schools was through a recommendation of a teacher of mine.
It was at The North Carolina School of the Arts that I learned about all the different options that a musician has for further study, but even still, there wasn't really a great way to find out about these things. I just had to spend a lot of time on the computer. I have to confess that I'm not very search savvy and I wound up finding a lot of pointless sites and it wasn't until right before my applications were due in my junior year of college that I was really able to put together a comprehensive list of music schools that I might like to audition to.
I discovered that each web site had a different application and you had to sign in and have so many different passwords… It took me hours to complete the applications and figure out just what I needed to have for the audition because every place is slightly different and you have to visit each web site in order to discover the information you need. I narrowed it down to six or seven top music schools. It was a tough couple of months researching this, putting it all together, and preparing for my auditions.
Some of my auditions went well and some didn't, and I ultimately made my choice for Mannes based on the scholarship that I was offered and the teacher Daniel Panner who is the principal violist in New York City Opera and is also the violist in the Mendelssohn String Quartet.
B2M: What would say were the most important factors for you in choosing a school?
Matthew: When I was beginning my search, the most important thing was the name of the school because that was the only thing I had to go on. I hadn't really done a lot of exploring or meeting people from different schools. I just assumed that how recognizable the school name was, was the most important thing. But once I really started to do my research, came to New York and took lessons with teachers, I quickly realized that though a famous school may have some great teachers, they might not necessarily be perfectly suited for me. The main thing for me became who the teacher was.
The second factor was the scholarship availability, (the total cost) and I really wanted to study in New York City. So teacher, location, and cost were major factors.
B2M: What, do you feel is unique about the program at Mannes that you are in right now?
Matthew: Well Mannes as is very small in comparison to say Juilliard or even Manhattan School of Music. Mannes is just one building. At my first visit, the other schools here in New York, had much larger spaces and that is all very appealing but actually it turned out that it has worked out really well for me personally to be in a smaller environment. Mannes has a very tight-knit student body and everyone knows everyone else and this was much more like what I was accustomed to. I really needed to know people by name and have them know me by name. This is especially important as a musician when you start building personal contacts to use later in your career. I think that the student body size is a really special feature to Mannes. My studio is quite small so I get personal attention from my teacher every week.
B2M: Is there any other one thing that makes Mannes one of the top music schools?
Matthew: Yes, the faculty is topnotch. Almost all the major schools in New York share faculty. Almost every faculty member at Mannes also teaches at either Juilliard or Manhattan or Stony Brook or somewhere like that and vise versa with the other schools around, but I think Mannes has a very high concentration of topnotch teachers. Just about every teacher that I've worked with has been a pleasure and I've learned so much.
B2M: What's next for you?
Matthew: I'm still thinking about that. My teacher and I are exploring what is the best path for me. At the moment, I am not planning to go immediately on to pursuing a doctorate, but I am planning on continuing to study. Possibly in another program at Mannes and trying to continue to develop my professional career in New York.
I am doing a lot of private teaching and going to start teaching elementary public music once a week. I've been doing work with Gregory Singer of Gregory Singer Fine Violins, who has been extremely helpful as a friend and mentor while I'm in New York, The work has afforded me the opportunity to play mini-concerts I otherwise would not have been able to play, with his Manhattan Chamber Symphony. I have also been learning a whole lot of different skills besides just playing the instrument, which are absolutely crucial to success as a professional musician.
Matthew Chicurel, violist, began exploring his musical interests as a young child in his native Chapel Hill, North Carolina as a member of the North Carolina Boys Choir with whom he traveled extensively in the United States and Canada . He soon after took up studies in trombone and violin, and years later viola. Mr. Chicurel has performed in many cities of the United States as recitalist, orchestral and chamber musician in such halls as New York 's Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Lincoln Center 's Clark Studio. As an orchestral member, Mr. Chicurel has toured to Austria , where he performed in major cities including Vienna and Salzburg . Mr. Chicurel has performed regionally in North Carolina , with the Carolina Chamber Symphony as well as the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle under the Baton of Maestro Lorenzo Mutti. He has held orchestral positions with numerous orchestras including The New York Doctors Orchestra, where he frequently served as principal violist, the Mannes Community Orchestra and the Symphony of the Mountains in Tennessee , with whom he was member for several years. Mr. Chicurel is active in chamber music in New York City as member The Juniper String Quartet and the Mannes Piano Quartet. Currently Mr. Chicurel is a Master of Music Candidate at the Mannes College of Music under the guidance of his teacher, Daniel Panner.
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