East Studio Building, JS431
Education
- Diploma, Curtis Institute of Music, 1991
- B.M., Bachelor of Music, The Juilliard School, 1988
Biography
Stephen Wyrczynski is professor of music in viola at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he has been on faculty since 2010. He has been an artist-faculty member at the Aspen Music Festival and School since 2006.
Wyrczynski was a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra for 18 years, joining in 1992. He earned his bachelor degree from The Juilliard School in 1988. He earned a diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1991. His principal teachers were Kim Kashkashian, Karen Tuttle, and Joseph DePasquale.
As a chamber musician, Wyrczynski has performed with such artists as Joshua Bell, Sarah Chang, Pamela Frank, Edgar Meyer, Vladimir Feltsman, and Dawn Upshaw. He has played in many of North America’s most celebrated venues as well as at the Aspen Music Festival and School, Colorado; Le Domaine Forget, Quebec; New Port Music Festival, Rhode Island; Grand Teton Music Festival, Wyoming; Tanglewood, Lenox, Massachusetts; Kingston Music Festival, Rhode Island; Casals Music Festival, Puerto Rico; and El Paso Pro Musica, Texas; and with the Apollo Chamber Players, Denver, Colorado.
Wyrczynski also performs regularly with his artist faculty colleagues at the Jacobs School of Music and participates in faculty-student collaborations. One such partnership, which he co-founded with colleague Jorja Fleezanis, violin, is an ongoing exploration of music from the Second Viennese School, in which faculty and students together perform music by Schoenberg, Webern, and Berg.
Wyrczynski considers his teaching a direct result of his own relationship to performing, practicing, and listening. He approaches each student as an individual personality and potential artist. Teaching a student about the great privilege it is to serve the composers of our repertoire is one of the best ways for the students to gain ownership of their musical training. He encourages students to ask probing questions and be musically curious beyond their own instrument. He supports his students in exploring musical context rather than segregating technique from music making.