Virtuosi Music Academy Launches Online Beginners Violin Class

NEW BRITAIN, CT - February 17, 2021 - The Connecticut Virtuosi Music Academy, the educational arm of the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, has launched a new online beginners violin class for youth ages 5 and older.

Violin for Beginners includes six comprehensive lesson pods covering the fundamentals of the instrument to enable young students to play. The course was created and taught by Violinist Brunilda Myftaraj, Director of the Music Academy and Concertmaster for the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, to fill an artistic need left by the ongoing pandemic.

“COVID-19 has affected the music industry more than any other, and remote schooling and social distancing have both greatly diminished the ability of students to access, learn and perform orchestral instruments,” Myftaraj said. “I created these online lessons to not only teach kids a simple, easy way to play the violin but also to instill in them a lifelong love for the instrument.”

WATCH: Introduction to Violin for Beginners
Violin for Beginners is presented in six short recorded video lessons, all taught by Myftaraj. Students do not need prior experience with the violin - only a desire to learn. Although the class is geared toward youth, adults interested in learning the violin may also find the course appealing. Students learn at their own pace and enjoy unlimited access to the private video pods. Lessons include printable PDFs to help students more fully understand the material, and Myftaraj will be available by email to assist those with questions.

Registration is currently open for Violin for Beginners. The cost for the complete course is $75. For more information, and to register, visit the online class page on the Connecticut Virtuosi Music Academy website or email brunilda.myftaraj@gmail.com.

Albanian-American violinist Brunilda Myftaraj has drawn enthusiastic accolades from audiences and critical acclaim for her masterful musicianship in her native Albania, as well as Italy, Greece, France, Morocco, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Israel, and the United States. The New London Day has praised Ms. Myftaraj as an “especially fine and beautiful player.” She graduated with the highest honors from the renowned Conservatory of Fine Arts in Tirana and has studied throughout Europe and the United States. Her teachers include some of the world’s finest: Proletare Skenderi, Piero Faulli, Alberto Lissy, Phil Setzer, Eugene Drucker, Rafael Druian, and Renato Bonacini. Ms. Myftaraj has been featured as a soloist with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra. A frequent recitalist, she has performed at Piano and Friends Chamber Music in Tucson, Arizona; Mostly Mozart in Napa Valley; the Schubert Club in Minneapolis; the Westchester Chamber Music Series; and Music & Friends of Manchester.

Ms. Myftaraj has been featured on New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts radio stations. She received first prize in the Van Rooy competition, Emerson Quartet competition, and Trinity Auditions in New York. Ms. Myftaraj was a semifinalist and participant in a number of prestigious competitions, including the Young Artist Guild in New York, Indianapolis International Violin Competition, and the Lipizer Competition in Gorizia, Italy. Ms. Myftaraj has released two solo recordings - “Naked Violin” and “The American Pie,” both of which received high praise from Fanfare, the leading American classical music magazine. In 2018, Ms. Myftaraj performed and released a recording of Leonard Bernstein’s “Serenade, after Plato’s Symposium” with the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra.

Ms. Myftaraj serves as a Concertmaster for Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, Connecticut Lyric Opera, and the Greve-In-Chianti Opera Festival in Italy. She is also the Director of the Virtuosi Music Academy and the Connecticut Virtuosi Summer Music Festival in Farmington. Ms. Myftaraj is currently collaborating with pianist Blake Hansen, with whom she is recording all of Ludwig van Beethoven's piano and violin sonatas.