Listening Beyond the Notes: Chloé Dufresne Coaches CSYSA’s Vivace Strings
Young musicians across our region recently got a masterclass in musicality when Colorado Springs Philharmonic Music Director Chloé Dufresne spent an hour working with Vivace Strings, the top string ensemble in the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony Association (CSYSA). Composed of talented students ages 11 to 17 performing at a Grade 4 and 5 level, the ensemble welcomed Dufresne for an intensive, focused rehearsal on Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.”
Starting just ahead of schedule, Dufresne jumped right into the music, asking the ensemble to play through the piece immediately so she could listen, conduct, and diagnose areas for growth. With an hour on the clock, she zeroed in on three core musical pillars: navigating duple versus triple time, sharpening intonation, and shaping expressive phrasing.
Rather than simply instructing from the podium, Dufresne guided the students to actively think and listen like ensemble professionals. Working section by section—moving from cellos and basses to violins and violas—she unpacked dynamics, encouraging a gentler opening and demonstrating how subtle diminuendos can highlight the most important notes in a phrase. To lock in intonation and blend, she had the entire orchestra hold their opening chord together, offering a simple yet transformative piece of advice: “Listen, don’t just hear them.”
Throughout the session, Dufresne kept the students engaged through interactive exercises. She frequently paused to ask the musicians what differences they noticed between sections, prompting them to analyze the score themselves, and even had the string players put down their bows to sing their lines aloud so they could internalize the phrasing naturally. As the piece gained momentum, she reminded rushing players that a crescendo builds intensity in volume—not speed.
In the final minutes of the hour, Dufresne led one last pacing exercise, challenging the ensemble to stay locked in with her baton as she shifted the tempo in real time. By the end of the session, the young musicians had elevated not just their technical precision on Bach’s classic, but their ability to breathe, listen, and move together as a cohesive orchestra. Through partnerships like these with CSYSA, the Colorado Springs Philharmonic and Center for Future Audiences continue to mentor the next generation of orchestral artists right here in our community.