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Department of Strings

The Department of Strings offers a personal, supportive, and dynamic conservatory education combined with the outstanding resources and academic rigor of a top public university. The esteemed faculty champion individualized approaches to help each student fulfill their highest artistic and intellectual potential. Offering comprehensive programs including an extensive exposure to cutting-edge new music as well as an unswerving commitment to excellence in the standard repertoire, A variety of graduate and undergraduate degree programs within the department allow string players to choose a path best suited for their unique individual academic and musical goals. Through private instruction, ensemble coaching, musicianship classes, and entrepreneurial training, students learn a wide range of skills enabling them to succeed and adapt in today’s rapidly changing professional environment.

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Faculty

The Department boasts a seasoned and outstanding faculty, with a wealth of performance, teaching, and research experience. At Michigan, private study goes beyond a weekly appointment. Professors are accessible and involved mentors, deeply committed to their students’ growth as individuals as well as musicians. The faculty’s range of experience and expertise creates an incomparable in-house resource, while their commitment to teaching provides students with the foundation and real-world guidance needed to flourish in today’s musical landscape.


Eric Chin

Adjunct Clinical Instructor of Music

David Halen

Chair of Strings and Professor of Music
Violin

Performance Opportunities

From large ensembles in celebrated concert halls to chamber groups in intimate recital spaces, performance opportunities across all disciplines abound, with nearly 900 student performances each academic year. Whether your focus is on early, classical, or contemporary music, whether your passion is for jazz, electronic, or world music, there is an ensemble—or in many cases, multiple ensembles—to suit your interests.

smtd performance opportunities
Orchestras

Orchestras

SMTD orchestras offer numerous concerts each season, performing notable works in the symphonic repertoire as well as abundant newly commissioned works.

Chamber Music

Chamber Music

The thriving chamber music scene at SMTD offers students nearly limitless options to perform, innovate, and collaborate in small, self-driven, and diverse ensembles.

Early Music Ensembles

Early Music Ensembles

Students interested in historically oriented performance have opportunities to explore music from across the centuries, performed on authentic period instruments and high-quality replicas.

Solo & Studio Recitals

Solo & Studio Recitals

Across all disciplines, students perform and study with their peers in studio classes and perform for the public in solo student recitals and studio recitals.

Jazz Ensembles

Jazz Ensembles

With large and small jazz ensembles exploring a range of styles, SMTD offers abundant opportunities for students – music majors and non-majors alike – to perform.

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Alumni Notes

More Alumni Notes
Anna Piotrowski (BM ’14, violin), who minored in performing arts management and entrepreneurship, recently incorporated her Chicago-based freelance performing business under the name Piotrowski Strings Inc. She has expanded to include a team of string players available for hire as soloists or ensembles to meet a growing demand for her services for private events. (1/2025)
Dina Maccabee (BM ’02, viola) is a recipient of a 2024 Discovery Grant from the OPERA America Opera Grants for Women Composers program, and a New Music USA 2024 Creator Fund award. She also composed and performed the score for the 2024 limited series podcast Hysterical, produced by Pineapple Street Studios.
As a successful fundraiser and producer for his University of Delaware Master Players Concert Series, Sean Gao (BM ’96, MM ’97, violin) is a performer, composer, and concert presenter. Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropists, Shanghai Sonatas, the new American musical-in-development conceptualized and composed by Gao, was presented by the Powerhouse Theater in Poughkeepsie, NY. (1/2025)

Show Your Support

Any gift to SMTD helps launch the next generation of artists, scholars, educators, and entrepreneurs who challenge and inspire the world.

You can support the Department of Strings with a contribution to the Strings Enrichment Fund.

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