Doctoral Colloquium (Music): Jessica Korotkin (Schulich School of Music, Candidate for the Graduate Diploma in Performance)

The Doctoral Colloquium is open to all.

Doctoral students (Music) for whom attendance is required must sign the attendance sheet at the colloquium.

The Popularization of the Cello Endpin

The nineteenth-century evolution of the cello endpin created a lasting impact on technique and posture. This topic is close to Jessica Korotkin’s heart, as the function of the endpin has definitively enabled women to pursue orchestral and solo cello careers. Iconography and written source material provide evidence that suggest that use of the endpin was not considered to be a standard practice until the late nineteenth-century. This lecture will provide information about the history of the endpin, its construction and usage, its impact on female cellists, its use and resistance among orchestral and solo cellists, as well as the discoveries Korotkin has made in her applied research of this topic. As a practical application, she has prepared a program of music inspired by Lisa Cristiani’s (1827-1853) Gewandhaus concert (1845). All of her practice has been conducted in period dress, while experimenting with two separate posture options that require the use of an endpin. It is with great enthusiasm that she shares her discoveries on how performing the cello in this manner has influenced her technical and musical approach to nineteenth-century works.

1. History and Iconography
2. Nineteenth-Century Endpin Construction and Usage
3. Endpin Use Among Early Female Professional Cellists
4. The Endpin in Nineteenth-Century Orchestras
5. The Traditionalists
6. Practical Application

Early Music America scholarship recipient Jessica Korotkin has performed at the Bloomington Early Music Festival, Portland Bach Festival, Cleveland Bach Festival and the American Bach Soloists Academy. Ms. Korotkin was recently featured in a performance of Vivaldi’s double cello concerto under the direction of Jeanne Lamon. This past winter, she participated in the young artist training program for Tafelmusik. Ms. Korotkin has been featured as a summer faculty member at the Cornish College of the Arts where she taught a baroque improvisation workshop. Before moving to Montreal to continue her studies in historical performance, she held a position as section cellist with the Firelands Symphony Orchestra, led by Carl Topilow. Ms. Korotkin earned her BM at the Peabody Institute and MM from Oberlin’s Historical Performance Masters Program.