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RAVINIA’S STEANS MUSIC INSTITUTE
Since 1999, Fried has
convened an ensemble
of recent RSMI alumni
every spring to embark
upon a national tour,
even traveling to Cuba for
performances and master
classes. These tours have
featured violinist InMo
Yang, violists Shira Majoni
and Dana Kelley, and
cellist Haran Meltzer in
2016 (above, left to right);
violinist Je Hye Lee, cellist
Narek Hakhnazaryan,
pianist Michael Brown,
and violist Vicki Powell
in 2011 (left top, left to
right); and violinist Maria
Ioudenitch, cellist Zlatomir
Fung, and violists Zoë
Martin-Doike and Zhanbo
Zheng this spring (left
bottom, left to right).
“
It’s one thing to waltz in here and teach and leave, but it’s quite
another to be responsible for so much of what happens here
.
”
Fried began teaching in 198 at Indi-
ana University and has held a full-time
post at the New England Conservatory
since 2. “I love teaching,” she says. “I
really do. I’m not a missionary, so it’s not
a mission in that sense. But I do believe
that the most significant way you can re-
ally impart your beliefs about [the fun-
damentals of] the profession is through
teaching.” That reach extended in 1991
when Fried was invited to join the RSMI
faculty. Because she has been a cham-
ber-music devotee since she was 1,
including a 1-year stint as first violinist
of the Mendelssohn String Quartet, she
thought the program was a good fit for
her. Two years later, her manager got a
call wondering if she would be willing to
extend her teaching time there, and that
led to her fateful phone call with Mehta.
The conversation happened on a
Friday, so Fried asked if she could think
about his proposal over the weekend—
and she was reluctant at first. “It’s one
thing to waltz in here and teach and
leave,” she admits, “but it’s quite another
to be responsible for so much of what
happens here.” But her family nudged
her toward accepting the job. She recalls
her older son, Daniel Biss, now an
Illinois state senator who recently was a
popular Democratic candidate for gov-
ernor, being particularly persuasive.
“She valued this institution,” Daniel
remembers thinking, “and if she were
really able to put her stamp on it, it
would be a way to impart an important
system of values to a whole lot of young,
talented musicians in a way and, frankly,
on a scale that being a teacher in a par-
ticular institution doesn’t afford her.”
Daniel, his wife, and their two
children live not far from Ravinia’s
grounds, so an added bonus of Fried’s
annual summer residency has been an
almost daily opportunity for all of them
to spend time together. “I imagine that’s
not what Ravinia was planning for,”
he says with a laugh, “but we certainly
appreciate it.” [In fact, that has since
entered into the plan of the experience
Ravinia offers the musicians attending
RSMI—the festival owns several of
the residential homes adjacent to its
grounds and houses them there to foster
the familial summer retreat atmosphere
of the institute, rather than creating a
commuter school.]
In talking to Fried’s two sons and
others, what is frequently mentioned
are the closely held values that are at the
root of her teaching. Jonathan describes
these as being “ferociously honest”
and incapable of faking a sentiment or
thought, and possessing a total devotion
to music and expecting other musi-
cians to do the same. At the same time,
PATRICK GIPSON/RAVINIA