Barry Shiffman becomes artistic director at Rockport Music

The long search to replace outgoing Rockport Music artistic director David Deveau has finally been completed.

Barry Shiffman, violinist/violist and founding member of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, has been named to the post. He assumes the title of artistic director designate immediately, and will take over artistic duties entirely for the summer festival and the in-season classical concerts next September. 

Shiffman left the St. Lawrence Quartet in 2006, and since then has served on the faculty of the Glenn Gould School and the Royal Conservatory, both in Toronto, where he lives. He has also filled numerous executive roles at the prestigious Banff Centre, including his present post as director of the international string quartet competition.

David Deveau has led Rockport Music for 21 seasons, and presided over unprecedented growth for the organization. When he began, it was a summer festival, giving concerts in the Rockport Art Association. Now, it is a thriving, year-round organization, giving not only chamber music concerts but presenting jazz, world, pop and other cultural events in the Shalin Liu Performance Center.

In a prepared statement, Rockport Music executive director Tony Beadle said that Shiffman “has found a perfect home here at Rockport Music.”

Here's a link to the newspapers. More on this when I catch up with Shiffman.

http://gloucester.wickedlocal.com/news/20160907/barry-shiffman-hired-as-new-artistic-director-of-rockport-music