Gwendolyn Masin is a concert violinist, chamber musician, educator, artistic director and author, holding a PhD in musicology. She performs internationally to praise from press and audiences, working creatively with musicians, artists and orchestras from all over the world. Gwendolyn teaches violin and chamber-music masterclasses at institutes and festivals and gives talks concerning her areas of expertise throughout Europe and North America. She is Professor of Violin Studies at the Haute École de Musique de Genève, Switzerland, since September 2013, and also the author of the award-winning book “Michaela’s Music House, The Magic of the Violin” which is available in English and German and is part of the ESTA Edition collection available via Müller & Schade. Her exploration and experience of techniques to enable musicians when it comes to postural awareness, and understanding of the origin and evolution of human movement, span more than twenty years and include somatics and practices such as Yoga, Pilates, Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais Method and Spiral Dynamics.
Gwendolyn designed The Exhale in 2019. The culmination of her philosophies and lifetime’s work, The Exhale offers musicians a safe space to pause, explore and refresh; a place to begin an inner journey to understanding, without outward expectation. Behind the discipline, professionalism and creativeness that music-making demands, Gwendolyn recognised a need for an internal wellbeing, both emotional and physical. Her vision was a retreat for professional, student and amateur players alike, with exceptional music-making running alongside sessions for the mind and body. When it became clear to Gwendolyn that it would not be possible to host her retreat for musicians as a physical event in Switzerland over the Easter break in 2020, in a matter of a few weeks, she had turned it into an online event, offering participants a series of courses with leading artists and practitioners, covering a wide range of subjects from Baroque violin to Bircher muesli. Within its first two weeks online, some 1000 people signed up to take part in The Exhale, with many sessions selling out quickly.
Spoken languages: English, German, Dutch, French