Byron Duckwall
Byron Duckwall is one of the premiere string teachers in New York City, He is a master of the Dounis “Advanced Techniques” and the founder of the “The Dounis School NYC”. to He teaches violin, cello and viola and has concertized for 30 years. He has a great love of teaching perhaps because he came from a family of string teachers.
He also teaches online and has students all over the world. In NYC instructs adults and kids.
“I get very inspired when I see the tremendous progress students make. I don’t care if someone is 5 or 65, I just want the whole learning experience to be inspiring to them…a delight! And most often it is, as soon as they begin to see they have a much greater potential than they thought possible.” Byron Duckwall
Byron also routinely teaches online where he works with professionals, intermediate and advanced students.
To set up a session email Byron at byrond166@gmail.com or click below..
Musical Biography
Byron began his studies with his father at age 7. He studied with many great teachers including, Joel Krosnick, Dudley Powers, Aldo Parisot, Bernard Greenhouse, Lazlo Varga, Robert Gardner, Daniel Morganstern and most notably George Neikurg. At 17, he won the Greater Chicago Youth Orchestra competition and soloed in Orchestra Hall. Soon after he won a full scholarship to the New England Conservatory. Performing the Vivaldi Double Concerto with Aldo Parisot critics praised Byron’s playing saying his “timing and resonance were exceptional.”
At age 20, Byron became faculty cellist for the Center for New Music, a Rockefeller Foundation group. He attended both Yale Graduate School of Music and San Francisco State University and has received both a bachelors and masters degree in music.
After receiving his degrees, he moved to New York City where he worked for the Metropolitan Opera Association and played in the Trio Antara under New York management. Esteemed New York Times critic Peter G. Davis wrote of his playing”…a luscious sound tempered by a sensitive feeling for the music’s rhythmic lilt and subtly shifting colors.”
Shortly after, Byron accepted the post of principal cellist in the Orcuestra da Estadual de Sao Paulo under Brazilian conductor Eleazar de Carvalho where he soloed on national Brazilian television.
After moving to Boston he met George Neikrug in 1986 and began studying the Dounis method. Neikrug said of Byron “His playing exhibits an effortless technique and a uniquely beautiful and identifiable tone.”
Currently Byron concertizes in the US and abroad. Most recently he launched the MTC “Master The Cello” website revealing the secrets of D.C. Dounis. He recently compiled and edited the most definitive book on the Dounis method with his mentor and teacher George Neikrug, called “Notes from my studies with D.C. Dounis.”