About 20 of the most talented young cellists from around the world will converge on the QC this summer for the first International Cello Institute (ICI) to be held at the new Deanery School of Music.
From July 16 to Aug. 6, the ICI will take up residency at the Deanery, 1103 Main St., Davenport. Teenage and young adult cellists from throughout the world will be coming to ICI, taking master classes with visiting faculty members and hosting iConnect, their two-week program for younger cellists, age 9-13.
Students will be living at nearby St. Ambrose University. Since 2010, the ICI normally has had its annual residency at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, but heard about the Deanery School of Music from its founder and artistic director, Hannah Holman.
Principal cellist for the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, Holman has taught at ICI’s summer program, and is good friends with its founder and executive director, Anna Clift.
“The last time they were in person was 2019; this will be their first summer back,” Holman said Wednesday. “Anna and I are close, we compare cello stories. She was saying, ‘I think we need to find a new place. St. Olaf raised their prices.’ I told her, I have a great new school.”
Holman hosted Clift and ICI associate director Laura Sewell in January, did a master class for selected students at The Deanery and showed them around the Quad Cities.
“They were so impressed by the people, Davenport, how welcoming people were,” she said Wednesday. “They were really impressed. The more we talked to some of their faculty, Davenport is more centrally located.”
ICI started in the summer of 2010, first designed to invite cello students from China and around the world to the U.S. for a two-week summer camp based at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn. As it turned out, students from China and around the world did attend, but American students were just as interested, according to the group website.
ICI posted on Facebook about the QC area – “Cellists please note that this area is easy to travel to from the greater Midwest. Much easier to travel to with a cello than Minnesota where we usually are.”
“I’m so excited – I really feel like for people coming to Davenport and the Quad Cities, the people of the community to get these kids, will be great for the students,” Holman said. “It’s going to be a win-win situation. I hope they’ll have great time and come back again next summer.
“I hope that we worm our way into their hearts, stay here,” she added. “I would love to see as much support from the community, all those cello lovers out there. I think it’s really huge; I couldn’t believe they convinced their board. It’s big.”
“The students are really high level, high quality, national and international,” Holman said. “She’s got some great faculty coming, to teach and do solo recitals.”
ICI says its summer program “is focused on presenting opportunities for talented young cellists to work with the world’s most acclaimed pedagogues and soloists associated with globally recognized music and educational institutions.”
Cellists who have attended ICI over the years are students or alumni of every major conservatory or university across the U.S. — Indiana University, New England Conservatory, Eastman School of Music, Rice University, Oberlin, San Francisco Conservatory, UCLA, USC, University of Michigan, The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, Northwestern University.
Part of the summer program will be the CELLOici Recital Series, where three of the distinguished faculty members will be presented for recital: Bion Tsang on Saturday, July 16, Khari Joyner on Saturday, July 30 and Wilhelmina Smith on Wednesday, Aug. 3.
All three recitals (free admission) will be at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, 121 West 12th St., next to The Deanery. Trinity also owns the historic school building in the Hilltop Campus Village.
The Deanery formally opened in January 2022, offering lessons in Suzuki violin, cello, chamber music, Alexander technique, music literacy, and there will be master classes, lectures and concerts. Eventually, there will be a music tech program, jazz classes and organ instruction.
Holman will likely teach during some part of ICI, but she also has a solo concert scheduled during the time of the program in Vail, Colo. That will feature a performance by a New York City Ballet dancer; Holman plays in the NYCB orchestra.
The cellist also will give a free solo recital at the Davenport school Monday, June 20, at 7 p.m., playing cello sonatas by female composers, accompanied by Rene Lecuona, a piano professor at the University of Iowa.
For more information on the Deanery, click HERE. For more on ICI, click HERE.