2025 String Intensive Faculty

Peter Slowik, profiled by The Strad Magazine as “a man of limitless enthusiasm and purpose” is one of the world’s leading artist-teachers of viola. An active chamber musician, Mr. Slowik has performed with cellists Anner Bylsma and Leonard Rose, the Mirecourt Trio, the Saint Petersburg Quartet, the Vermeer Quartet, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, and members of the Cleveland, Chester, Orford and Smithson Quartets. He has been a featured performer at six International Viola Congresses, and recent Master Class trips have taken him to Australia, New Zealand, Czech Republic, and China. Orchestral experiences include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and service as Principal Viola of the American Sinfonietta and the Wichita Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Slowik has served on the faculty of Northwestern University, the Cleveland Institute of Music and Eastman School of Music. Mr. Slowik has been named to the highest teaching award honors of Northwestern University and Oberlin Conservatory. He has served as President of the American Viola Society and currently is Professor of Viola and String Division Director at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. His students may be found in virtually every significant professional orchestra in the US (many serving in titled positions) and in university appointments throughout the country.

Christa Cole (’12, ’16) is a music theorist who studies how the physical and expressive gestures of musical performers intersect with notation and listener experience, especially in post-1900 classical repertoires. She has presented work on effort and gesture at various regional, national, and international conferences, and she has published on performance technique and interpretation in J.S. Bach’s solo violin writing in Music Theory Online. In her role as Assistant Professor of Music Theory at Oberlin College and Conservatory, Cole enjoys drawing on her experience as a violinist, pianist, singer, and amateur mandolin player to help students connect classroom topics to their musical lives. Cole also currently serves as co-chair of the Society for Music Theory’s Performance and Analysis Interest Group.

Australian violinist Sarita Kwok has distinguished herself as a charismatic and powerful performer whose passion for performing is matched only by her commitment to education, cultural leadership, and academic innovation. Frequently sought after as a chamber musician and soloist, Kwok is a founding member of the Arabella String Quartet, an ensemble that has rapidly developed a reputation for its remarkable artistry. Their first recording, "In the Moment" (Naxos, 2017), was praised by The Strad magazine as “an artfully balanced mix of rarities … this is a fine disc, the Arabella digging deep to produce performances of great intensity and poise”. Their recent recording of Six Concertante Quartets by Chevalier de Saint-Georges (Naxos, 2022) has also garnered extensive praise. BBC Music Magazine reported "there’s certainly no lack of prowess in these delightful performances ... This is wonderful advocacy of enchanting music". Sarita is currently the Dean of the Adams School of Music and the Arts at Gordon College, where she also holds the Adams Endowed Chair in Music. Prior to Gordon, she served as Director of the Undergraduate lessons program at the Yale School of Music while concurrently holding a faculty appointment at the Yale Department of Music. A respected pedagogue, Kwok has given masterclasses at institutions such as the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, University of Maryland, Longy School of Music, MIT, and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. Kwok received the Doctor of Musical Arts and Artist diploma degrees from the Yale School of Music.