Steven Rochen conducts ISO’s Carnegie Hill Orchestra. Teaching children to perform with confidence has been a driving force in shaping the his career. A native of Texas and beneficiary of excellent public school music programs and youth orchestras, Mr. Rochen has enjoyed nurturing and encouraging young musicians at many levels of accomplishment. As a specialist in music for children, he has served for more than two decades on the faculties of Third Street Music School Settlement, Trinity School and at the Meadowmount School of Music. At Third Street and Trinity, he has worked in developing the orchestral programs as a conductor and director in addition to his work as a violin and strings teacher. He has also coached members of the Vermont Youth Orchestra in their summer program.
His arrangements and compositions for children have been used in educational settings and in broadcasts on NBC and PBS. His recent composition for solo violin, A Piece of Pi, has received acclaim and has been performed in mathematical festivals and in serious recitals. The piece is based on the irrational number Pi and was mentioned in articles published worldwide by the media service Agence France-Presse and in articles by other media services.
His musical career has included work in chamber music as a performer and as a coach, which when combined with his experience as an orchestral musician has shaped his approach to conducting. He teaches children’s orchestras with a view of music as an expanded form of chamber music, stressing interaction of musical voices and varying textures of sound. This forms the center of his educational focus.
Mr. Rochen studied violin at the Mannes College of Music with Sally Thomas where he completed a Masters Degree and Post-Graduate Diploma. His undergraduate training as a violinist was at the University of Houston with Fredell Lack and his conducting study was with Igor Buketoff. His chamber music coaches have included Felix Galimir, Hans Jørgen Jensen and Paul Doktor. He has performed in master classes with Josef Gingold and Julius Levine. In 2008, he was appointed the Paul-Philippe Bolduc Memorial Fellow with trips to Berlin, Vienna and Prague for research.
Outside the scope of classical music, he has enjoyed work with the indie band, The Baskervilles, as an arranger and performer on their latest CD, Twilight 14. He also performs as a singer and fiddle player in the folk band, The New Lost Faculty Ramblers. He has won awards in film and has also had works published as a photographer.
Email: Mr. Steven Rochen
