I am a violinist with the Minnesota Orchestra and a teacher of violinists and violists of all ages and levels, from intermediate to advanced, with a focus on junior high school, high school, and adult students. My primary goal as a teacher is to help each student develop a love of music and build the skills needed to play the incredible music written for violin and viola, both in solos and in orchestras and chamber music.
One of my specialties is guiding students in their college research and application process. I help them find ways to incorporate music into their college life, whether as a music major, double music major or minor, or as a non-music major active in their college orchestra. I also help my students showcase their extraordinary musicianship in their college application process to maximize scholarship and admission opportunities.
I strive to meet each student where they are, working with a positive and constructive approach. I benefited greatly from this approach in my studies at Juilliard in New York with the legendary pedagogue Dorothy DeLay, teacher of many great violinists, including Itzhak Perlman, Gil Shaham, Midori, David Garrett, Anne Akiko Meyers, and many others.
If you are interested in working with me, please use my contact form. I offer prospective students a free consultation lesson.
A little more about me:
Aaron Janse has performed across the globe to critical acclaim as a violinist and violist and as an orchestral performer with the Minnesota Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, and the Berlin Philharmonic. Washington Post's Daniel Gawthrop wrote “Rarely have I heard Ravel’s Tzigane played with such intensity and authority." El Paso Herald-Post called him “a tour-de-force at any age" after his performance of Paganini's 1st Violin Concerto. OpusColorado - "I do not think I have ever heard a violist get so much depth of tone out of his instrument as Aaron Janse. It was absolutely mind boggling".
As a recipient of the Fritz Kreisler Scholarship, Aaron earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees at The Juilliard School, where he studied with world-renowned teacher Dorothy DeLay and Joel Smirnoff of the Juilliard String Quartet. His chamber music studies included extensive work with Felix Galimir, Zoltán Székely and Joseph Fuchs, as well as the Guarneri and Juilliard String Quartets. His most influential teachers especially include Daniel Heifetz as well as Robert Semon, a Carl Flesch disciple who fled Nazi Germany, teaching and performing in El Paso, Texas.
At Juilliard, he served as Concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra and as Teaching Fellow for the world renowned pedagogue Dorothy DeLay (teacher of Itzhak Perlman, Gil Shaham, Midori, Sarah Chang), teaching technique classes for her studio at the Aspen Music Festival and The Juilliard School Pre-College Division.
Aaron has been fortunate to have performed in most of the world's greatest concert halls including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Vienna's Musikverein (home of the Vienna Philharmonic), and Berlin's Philharmonie (with both the Minnesota Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic), Boston Symphony Hall, Symphony Hall in Chicago, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw (with both the Berlin Philharmonic and the Minnesota Orchestra), and Tokyo's Suntory Hall.
Also an accomplished violist, Aaron has performed, toured, and recorded in the viola sections of the revered Berlin Philharmonic (Germany) and the legendary Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He performed on Berlin Philharmonic's 2004 recording of Olivier Messiaen's last completed work - Éclairs sur l’Au-Delà - Images from the beyond (Deutsche Grammaphon/Simon Rattle). He has also performed, as a violist, in numerous chamber music concerts with Gil Shaham, Joseph Silverstein, Charles Castleman, Stephen Hough, Alicia de Larrocha, and Ayke Agus (Jascha Heifetz's longtime pianist and author) at festivals including the Tateuchi International Music Festival in Silicon Valley California, Aspen Music Festival, Cincinnati’s Linton Series, the Las Vegas Music Festival, Alpenglow Festival in Colorado, Foulger International Music Festival and Timpanogos String Camp in Utah.
Aaron is one of the most active and experienced performers and teachers in the upper Midwest. He has many students attending top music conservatories and universities, including Princeton, Cornell, UC Berkeley, Berklee College of Music (Boston), Brown, NYU, Vanderbilt, Oberlin, Carleton, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Emory, Drake, Northwestern University, Peabody Institute of Music, Johns Hopkins University, Cleveland Institute of Music, Indiana University, Eastman School of Music, New England Conservatory, St. Olaf, Luther, University of British Columbia Vancouver, University of Wisconsin Madison, and University of Minnesota Twin Cities.
Aaron's students have won the concerto competitions of Minnesota's major youth symphonies GTCYS and MYS in the Twin Cities, and SEMYO in Rochester. They have also won the Thursday Music Club, Schubert Club, and Mary West Competitions, and have been finalists in Minnesota Orchestra's YSPCA concerto competition. His students are routinely featured as concerto soloists with orchestras in the Twin Cities. His students have won positions with the Minnesota Orchestra, Rochester Symphony (NY), and Minnesota Opera Orchestra.
Aaron's students actively perform with and in the top youth symphony orchestras in Minnesota - Minnesota Youth Symphonies (MYS), Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies (GTCYS), All-State Orchestra of the Minnesota (MMEA), and Southeastern Minnesota Youth Orchestra in Rochester (SEMYO). They are routinely selected as section leaders in these orchestras, including Concertmaster, Principal 2nd Violin, and Principal Viola.
Aaron has given masterclasses and taught courses at colleges and universities around the country, including Juilliard School Pre-College, New England Conservatory Pre-College, Hartt School of Music (Hartford, CT), St. Olaf College, University of Minnesota, University of Nevada Las Vegas, University of Iowa, University of London (Ontario), University of North Carolina Charlotte, and Weber State University in Logan, Utah.
Aaron and Becka Janse met while practicing yoga and were married in 2012 at the Como Conservatory in Saint Paul. They live in Saint Paul with Sukhi, their beautiful and sassy calico kitty, and Molly, their super sweet Aussie Shepherd mix - A huge thanks to Warrior Dog Rescue! warriordogrescue.com