International Cello Institute
After attending the International Cello Institute for 4 years, I got the amazing opportunity to be the 2021 summer intern, assisting Magdalena Sas in the development of her "ICI Public Outreach Project." Since then, I have joined their core team as a 2021-22 Intern and am now developing "IConnect," a program for the 2021 Winter Session that brings international young cellists together with the ICI student body to provide pedagogical and inspirational support.
"This summer at ICI 2021, we implemented a new educational experience! The ICI 2021 Community Project was born from the idea that students need the skills to design outreach programs. This project was planned and led by Magdalena Sas, with assistance from our intern Daniel Knapp.
Divided into four days, each session focused on a different aspect of designing an interactive performance, featuring cello repertoire. The goal of this initiative was to help students develop teamwork skills, inspire creativity, and encourage interest in reaching audiences of different backgrounds and ages.
The Workshop concluded with presentations by the students in front of a panel of experienced musicians and educators. The selected winners were given the opportunity to carry out their projects in person next summer at ICI. The two most compelling, innovative and valuable projects were following:
1st Prize: Tyler Ngai, Eunji Ryu, James Stuber, Annie Chang, Jacob Youn, and Malina Chojnowska. This team’s goal was to create tangible interactions between the performers and the audience. The event they organized was a Concert / Music Scavenger Hunt at a museum in Northfield, MN.
2nd Prize: Carlo Lay, Mahtab Saadatmand, and Federico Strand Ramirez. This group’s desire was to acknowledge the role that music plays in helping people with illness and mental health issues. They came up with a plan to have a performance for patients and staff of the Northfield Hospital."
-ICI News, 2021
"The ICI 2021 Community Project was an invaluable experience that allowed and pushed us to think outside of the box regarding fresh and interesting ways to bring cello music to new people. With the guidance of the Fellows and Faculty members, it was a very valuable process to be able to take on the multi-faceted challenge of creating a concert event as a team."
- Tyler Ngai, Connecticut, ICI 2021 Alumni
“The ICI community project has been a wonderful experience and project for me. It forced my group members and I to think outside of the box and plan something creative. I have never arranged a concert in my life so this was a great experience for what it would feel like to be a professional musician trying to arrange a concert. I personally loved working with all my group members and ICI staff/ fellows! They were all super nice, helpful and encouraging!”
-Jacob Youn, Oregon, ICI 2021 Alumni
“I had such a great time performing and connecting with friends from all over the world. Especially in the community project of ICI, we were organizing and planning a concert for next year together. This way of connecting with each other on a rather difficult platform (zoom) worked out very well and I’m immensely looking forward to next year's edition of ICI!“
- Carlo Lay, Germany, ICI 2021 Alumni