La Sierra violin prof launches OC studio

Uyeyama, La Sierra’s director of string studies, founded the Orange County String Studio in Tustin in December, first offering private lessons. The venture is also now providing group and duo instruction. Victoria Belliard, a La Sierra sophomore violin performance major serves as teaching assistant. Violinists Ashoka Thiagarajan and Ellen Jung serve as additional faculty while Uyeyama functions as studio director.

“We are a unique program in that each faculty member is also a seasoned international performer, with years of experience in professional orchestra and chamber music,” Uyeyama said. He plans to involve the studio’s students in recitals, master classes and other music department events at La Sierra University, he said.

Uyeyama has performed regularly with the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 2005, and has played numerous concerts with the Pacific Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Festival appearances include Festival Mozaic in San Luis Obispo, Festicamara in Medellin, Colombia, as well as acclaimed festivals in Aspen, Tanglewood, and Taos.

His students have been accepted to The Juilliard School in New York City, the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and other eminent institutions. At La Sierra he teaches violin, viola and chamber music. Uyeyama has also served as music director since 2008 of the San Bernardino nonprofit outreach program Community Kids Connection.

Uyeyama received his master’s degree from The Juilliard School where he studied with Masao Kawasaki. Previous teachers include the renowned Itzhak Perlman, Dorothy DeLay, and Yao-Ji Lin.

Thiagarajan recently completed his fellowship with the New World Symphony in Miami, Fla. He toured twice through India with his brother, pianist Krishna Thiagarajan, and played numerous concerts as well as solo and chamber music performances in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the United States and Canada. He has won several first prizes in solo and chamber music at the Jugend musiziert competition in Germany.

Jung has performed frequently around the world as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician.  She has been featured with the Korean Philharmonic, Taejon Symphony, Republic of Tatarstan Symphony, North York Symphony Orchestra, the Korean-Canadian Symphony Orchestra, and both the University of Toronto Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. An active chamber musician, Jung is a member of the award-winning Jung Trio with her two sisters, Jennie and Julie. Together, they have performed throughout North America, Russia, South Korea, Kenya and Mauritius.

Belliard is pursuing a bachelor’s degree at La Sierra in violin performance and is studying with Uyeyama. She was a second place scholarship prize winner in May 2012 for La Sierra’s first Promising Young Artist Scholarship Competition. She has performed with orchestras throughout Europe, South America, Canada, Africa and the United States in such esteemed venues as the Hollywood Bowl, Salzburg Mozarteum, Teatro Verdi, and Walt Disney Concert Hall. Belliard has also served as concertmaster for several orchestras including the La Sierra University Orchestra, University of Redlands Youth Symphony, and the Credo Summer Music Festival Orchestra at the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio.

She has been featured as a soloist with several orchestras including the Canadian Union College Orchestra, the New England Youth Ensemble and the California State University, San Bernardino Orchestra.

“One of my primary goals as a music major is to use music as a tool for social change,” said Belliard. “I want to join the movement of social programs sprouting across the country and the world, programs such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s program Youth Orchestra Los Angeles and Antonio Abreu’s El Sistema in Venezuela.

Many music students, such as myself, do not have the opportunity to acquire any teaching experience before they graduate. Through the Orange County studio I will have the opportunity to teach private lessons and group lessons in a structured, professional environment. At the OC String Studio I will be working with and learning from some of the best quality violin instructors in the area.”

For further information visit www.ocstringstudio.com.