At this time of year, in 1996, I arrived to Berne. Perhaps the constellations bore similarity to their present alignment. I had a violin case on my back, a small suitcase in one hand, and a certain sense of excitement intermingled with apprehension as I stepped off the train that had brought me from Zurich airport.
Walking out onto the main station square, I heard a lilting, song-like language around me. Bärndütsch. It would take me quite some time to understand the language, and the culture that came along with it.
In the high German I had learned at school, I turned to a stranger and asked for directions to Berne’s “Konsi” - I was to meet my teacher Igor Ozim there for the start of semester. My first semester as a third-level student, my first time away from home, alone, for more than just some days.
National Concert Hall of Ireland International Master Course 2022
From 2nd-7th August 2022 Gwendolyn, along with Finghin Collins, artistically directs the fourth International Master Course at the National Concert Hall. This intensive summer school offers Irish and international musicians the opportunity to partake in a series of masterclasses and seminars by world-renowned musicians Mihaela Martin, (violin), Lars Anders Tomter (viola), Frans Helmerson (cello), Finghin Collins (piano), and Gwendolyn Masin (violin). as well as concert platforms. Participants also receive performance opportunities. The IMC strives to build confidence in students and promote participation in chamber music.
Gwendolyn's GAIA Music Festival is 14 years old in 2023. This edition's theme is inspired by folk and traditional music and its influence on classical music.
Gwendolyn's annual concert series "Cocktail für die Musen" offers classical music fans a place to discover newness in the ‘mix’ and curious music-lovers an adventure for all the senses. The next concert takes place in January 2023 in Bern Casino's Great Hall. The evening showcases music by the groups Yurodny and Jütz. The glue holding the experience together is provided by cimbalom-player Miklós Lukács and Gwendolyn.
The Exhale is an online platform and in-person retreat providing professional courses and holistic masterclasses to musicians, practitioners, and artists from across the globe. It is unique in its holistic approach to music education. The Exhale redesigns how music is taught and practiced by exploring a broad variety of topics and offering a range of classes that encapsulate a diversity of subjects that, to date, is not offered on one single platform anywhere else.
Gwendolyn's four-part series of articles for The Strad Magazine are woven around a holistic approach to learning and living as a musician. From the origin of human movement to the integration of somatic experience for the purpose of interpreting music, Gwendolyn builds a case for teaching human beings as a whole.
A unique happening, facilitating new audiences: Simon and Gwendolyn occupied the shop window of Loeb in Bern during three days of concert performances. Relive their last performance in our livestream.
“Violin Teaching in the New Millennium" is a collection of stories about music, violinists and violin performance – involving intrigues and anecdotes, revealed secrets and unpublished interviews given by some of the leading lights of the classical music world.
