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Jamie Fiste is Associate Professor of Cello at Central Michigan University where he has been teaching since 2000.
An active recitalist and chamber musician, Dr. Fiste’s performance engagements have taken him to Europe, including Hungary, France, Spain, and Germany, numerous colleges and universities such as the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, the UMKS Conservatory of Music, and the University of Notre Dame, and several conferences and conventions, including the Notre Dame Cello Fest, the 44th International Viola Congress, and others by Electronic Music Midwest, the American Viola Society Festival, College Music Society, and the Mediterranean Studies Association. An avid collaborator, Dr. Fiste regularly performs in the Saarburg Music Festival in Germany and was Co-Artistic Director for the Plymouth Chamber Music Festival in Plymouth, MA from 2001-2007 where he performed with artists of international stature.
Dr. Fiste also performs yearly at Emerald Isle String Haven with the faculty string quartet. He performed in the Ashmont Hill Chamber Music Series in Boston, MA for many years with Rachel Goodwin (Artistic Director) and musicians from the Boston Symphony and Boston University faculty. Dr. Fiste has also performed for the Shoreline Music Society (Manistee, MI), Brandenburg Festival (Interlochen, MI), Leelanau Summer Music Festival (Leelanau, MI), Baroque on Beaver (Beaver Island, MI) where he was a featured soloist with the festival orchestra, MASTA Chamber Music Festival (Michigan State University), Cumberland County Playhouse Recital Series (Crossville, TN), Fontana Festival of Music and Art (Shelbyville, MI), Festival of Arkansas (Fayetteville, AR), and Hot Springs Music Festival (Hot Springs, AR).
A sought-after pedagogue, Dr. Fiste was invited to the 2018 Music for our Young (MOY) International Festival of Music in Hong Kong with whom he will continue to collaborate. He also regularly teaches and coaches chamber music at the Saarburg International Music Festival in Germany. Dr. Fiste has given numerous presentations at the Michigan Music Conference in Grand Rapids in addition to presenting at the American String Teachers National Convention. Committed to supporting music education, Dr. Fiste will frequently visit public school orchestra programs within and beyond the state of Michigan to provide master classes and hold various cello workshops. He is also faculty advisor for the ASTA student chapter at CMU and is overseeing an after-school string program taught by ASTA chapter members. His special interest in teaching include understanding and experiencing how the parts of technique fit into the whole of playing the cello and music making.
Dr. Fiste’s teaching experience is broad and diverse. Although he teaches at the University level, he has been teaching younger and beginning students of all ages for many years. His first private student was an adult beginner in 1986 during his undergraduate years at the University of Illinois and he has been teaching cello to pre-college students every since. His teaching expereince also includes being a middle and high school orchestra director in New Mexico in the early 1990s.
Dr. Fiste was a prizewinner in the Rolland String Competition, Cello Society Competition, the University of Illinois Undergraduate Concerto Competition, and the University of Illinois Graduate Concerto Competition. He was also a member of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra in Providence, RI.
Dr. Fiste earned his B.M. at the University of Illinois (C-U), his M.M. from the University of Notre Dame, and his D.M.A. from the University of Illinois (C-U) where he studied with Karen Buranskas and Laurien Laufman. He has also participated in master classes with Janos Starker and Fritz Magg. Growing up in Milwaukee, he studied with Kathleen Lester of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and participated in string quartet camps held by the Fine Arts Quartet.
2021 Pop Music Sample List
A Thousand Years (Perri)
All I Ask Of You (Andrew Lloyd Webber))
All Of Me (Legend)
All You Need Is Love (Beetles)
At Last (Etta James)
Beauty and the Beast (Menken)
Bella Notte (Lady and the Tramp)
Best Day Of My Life (American Authors)
Bittersweet Symphony (Jaggar, Richards)
Can You Feel the Love Tonight (Elton John)
Can’t Help Falling In Love (Weiss)
Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You (Frankie Valli)
Cinema Paradiso – Love Theme (Morricone)
Chapel of Love (Phil Spector)
Con te Partiro (Satori)
Eleanor Rigby (Beetles)
Everybody Loves Somebody (Ken Lane)
Everything (Buble)
Free Fallin’ (Tom Petty)
Game Of Thrones
Good Day Sunshine (Beetles)
Have I Told You Lately (Van Morrison)
Here Comes the Sun (Beetles)
Here, There, and Everywhere (Beetles)
How Long Will I Love You (Ellie Goulding)
I Dreamed A Dream (From Les Mis)
I Will (Beetles)
In My Life (Beetles)
I’ve Got a Crush on You (Gershwin)
Julia (Lennon/McCartney)
Just The Way You Are (Billy Joel)
Lucky (Jason Mraz)
Love Me Like You Do (Fifty Shades Of Grey)
My Heart Will Go On (Titanic)
Moon Rriver (Mancini)
Night and Day (Cole Porter)
No Surprises (Yorke/Greenwood)
One Hand, One Heart (Bernstein)
Over the Rainbow
Perfect (Sheeran)
Por Una Cabeza Tango (Quartet only)
Since I Fell for You (Buddy Johnson)
Someone to Watch Over Me (Gershwin)
Space Oddity (David Bowie)
Stand by Me
The Best of My Love
The Prayer (Sager/Foster)
The Music Of The Night (A.L. Webber)
The Rose (Amanda McBroom)
The Way You Look Tonight (Kern)
When You Wish Upon A Star (Harline)
Yesterday (Beetles)
Your Song (Elton John)
You’ve Got A Friend (Carole King)
Viva La Vida (Coodplay)
What a Wonderful World
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A brilliant and engaging violinist, Takeshi Abo’s playing has been praised by critics as “Angelic” and “Breathtakingly beautiful.” He regularly performs throughout the United States and Japan, with recent appearances as soloist in concertos by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Brahms. An active orchestral violinist, Abo has performed as Concertmaster with many orchestras, and currently holds that position with both the Alma and Midland Symphony Orchestras.
Dr. Abo is Visiting Assistant Professor of Violin and Viola at Alma College in Michigan. He has served as Assistant Professor of Violin and Viola at Central Michigan University, and has taught at Albion College, Interlochen Arts Camp and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. A founding member of the Emerald Isle String Haven, a summer camp for adult string players, Takeshi Abo also founded the Alma College String Day Camp.
Along with teaching at collegiate institutions, Abo maintains a private studio where he educates violinists of the next generation. His students have been accepted at Indiana University, New York University, De Paul University, Brigham Young University, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Central Michigan University, among others.
Dr. Abo earned his bachelor’s degree at Kyoto City University of Arts in Japan. He continued his study at Michigan State University, where he completed master’s and doctoral degrees. He has studied with Yuji Tougi, Yukiko Igarashi, Yuko Iwatani, Mari Nishizono, Misako Kameda, Joseph Fuchs, and Robert Dan.