Sandy & Friends: Beethoven’s Chamber Music

In this episode of Sandy & Friends, Dr. Sandra Dackow, Tempo Press arranger and music director of the Hershey Symphony, discusses Beethoven’s chamber music with John Dalley, Kathleen Butler-Hopkins, and Patrick Hopkins.

John Dalley was born into a musical family and began playing the violin at the age of three. After studies at the Curtis Institute of Music with Efrem Zimbalist, he joined the faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and was a member of the Oberlin String Quartet. One of the four original founding members of the Guarneri String Quartet, John has toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, South America, Australia and Asia both as a soloist and as a member of the quartet. He has also made numerous recordings for the RCA, Phillips and Surroundby labels with such notable artists as Artur Rubinstein, Leonard Rose, Pinchas Zukerman and members of the Budapest Quartet. John has held teaching positions at both the Curtis Institute of Music and the University of Maryland.

Kathleen Butler-Hopkins is a violinist who has concertized in major forums in the United States and Europe. She is a veteran of both the Tanglewood Festival and the “Yale in Norfolk” summer music programs. In addition to her activities as soloist and chamber musician, she has served as assistant concertmaster for the Boston Civic Symphony, and is concertmaster of other regional orchestras along the east coast, including the Adelphi Chamber Orchestra. She is currently on the faculty at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey as an adjunct professor of violin and chamber music, and is a member of the faculty Hobart Piano Trio.

Cellist Patrick Hopkins is an active soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player having performed nationally and internationally in venues such as Alice Tully Hall, David Geffen Hall, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Merkin Hall, and Suntory Hall. He made his Lincoln Center debut in 2008 as soloist with the Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra and has appeared three times as soloist with the Fairbanks Symphony. In July 2015, he was soloist/principal cellist with the National Repertory Orchestra and recently appeared as soloist with the New Amsterdam Orchestra of New York. In 2011, Mr. Hopkins was the Grand Prize winner of the Music Teachers National Association Young Artist Competition and is also a Yamaha Young Performing Artist. He joined the faculty of South Texas College in the fall of 2018. Mr. Hopkins was a member of the Wichita (Kansas) Symphony Orchestra and has also served as a lecturer at Rutgers University.