Grammy Award-winning conductor John Nelson joined Credo for a thrilling final concert of the 16th Credo Festival. Credo’s award-winning students from around the world were joined by principal players from the nation’s leading professional orchestras and internationally-known soloists Lisette Oropesa, John Tessier, and Adam Lau.
The Creation, considered by many to be Joseph Haydn’s greatest work, tells the story of creation beginning with its formlessness and concluding with its majestic splendor. Maestro John Nelson, internationally renowned conductor, and a central force in the interpretation of great sacred choral literature, provided inspiring leadership to a remarkable ensemble of rising artists and established performers who brought The Creation to life at beautiful Severance Hall.
Credo Music
Credo is a world-recognized and expanding family of programs of intensive classical music instruction and performance that bring together the world’s leading artist-teachers and talented students from five continents in an atmosphere of personal mentorship and community service. Credo’s flagship program is its three-week summer course of string and piano chamber music, hosted at the renowned Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Credo also presents programs and mission-related activity in a growing array of locations, including Chicago, Los Angeles, Texas, and (new for 2014) Sydney, Australia. Credo is building a global community of musicians at the blog: credo-music.org.
Peter Slowik
Recently profiled by the Strad magazine as “a man of limitless energy and purpose – he mentors high achievers who make their mark in top positions the world over,” Peter Slowik is in high demand as an artist-teacher. He has been a featured performer and teacher at six International Viola Congresses, and has recorded on the Deutsche Grammophon, deutsche harmonia mundi/BMG, American Grammophone, Erato and Cedille labels. An active chamber musician, Mr. Slowik has performed with William Preucil, Anner Bylsma, and Leonard Rose, the Mirecourt Trio, the Jasper, Saint Petersburg and Vermeer Quartets, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, and members of the Cleveland, Chester, Orford, and Smithson quartets. Past orchestral associations include service as Principal Violist of the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra, Concertante di Chicago, and the American Sinfonietta. Recent master class appearances have taken him to Australia, New Zealand, China, Europe, Canada, and most of the significant US conservatories.
Mr. Slowik is Chairman of Strings and Robert W. Wheeler Professor of Viola at Oberlin College, and also as Artistic Director for the chamber music program Credo. Past teaching posts include Northwestern University, Indiana University, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Eastman School of Music. He has been named to the highest teaching awards at both Oberlin (Teaching Excellence Award 2009) and Northwestern, (the McCormick Professorship for Teaching Excellence 1999). In 2002 Mr. Slowik was the recipient of the Maurice Riley Viola Award from the American Viola Society for "outstanding teaching, scholarship, and performance.”
His viola students have won first prize in numerous competitions, including the ASTA National Solo Competition, the Johannsen International Competition, the Ohio and Chicago Viola Society Solo Competitions, the Juilliard Concerto Competition, and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. They perform in such major American orchestras as the Chicago Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and National Symphony, and in university appointments throughout the country.