Steans Music Institute
Program for Piano & Strings • June 21 – July 25, 2025
Attend a Performance
View Summer 2025 ScheduleProgram Overview
The Piano & Strings Program focuses on interpretation of classical sonatas and chamber music through deep collaboration in small groups. Each summer, about 30 violinists, violists, cellists, and pianists come together for an immersive experience with intimate repertoire. They engage in intensive rehearsals and receive guidance from leading artists, who help them refine their craft and enhance their interpretive skills and creative insights. The emerging musicians are featured on more than a dozen concerts and master classes in community venues and at Ravinia, most of which are livestreamed for free to the global audience.
A Collaborative Piano Fellowship for alumni, focused on duo performance, offers specialized training in this unique, expansive realm of piano repertory as part of the Piano & Strings Program’s summer season.
Notable Alumni
Faculty and Fellows
Artistic Director
Faculty
Martin Beaver, violin
Ettore Causa, viola
Timothy Eddy, cello
Liza Ferschtman, violin
David Grimal, violin
Hsin-Yun Huang, viola
Jeffrey Kahane, piano
Gilbert Kalish, piano
Teng Li, viola
Jens Peter Maintz, cello
Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola
Christoph Richter, cello
Marcy Rosen, cello
Mark Steinberg, violin
Joel Thompson, composer in residence
Donald Weilerstein, violin
More to be announced in Spring 2025
Cello
Collaborative Piano
Piano
Viola
Violin
Applications for Summer 2026
Piano & Strings Program applications open in September 2025 and deadline in January 2026.
See Summer 2025 application information for reference