Our Founder

Eric Berken

Eric Berken has been studying the violin since the age of five. His primary teachers are Wei Shu Co, Liane Bliss, Gary Kosloski, and Paul Mackerra. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Violin Performance and Chemistry from Baldwin Wallace University and a Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting from the Bowling Green State University where he studied conducting under Emily Freeman Brown. Mr.Berken has also studied conducting under Dwight Oltman, Kirk Trevor, Donald Portnoy, and Leonard Bernstein.
Mr.Berken has been a private violin and viola teacher throughout his lifetime. Many of his students have gone on to professional careers in music and have attended major international festivals and competitions. He is cofounder and past director of the Contemporary Youth Orchestra in Cleveland, Ohio and also Conductor Laureate of the Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra Philharmonia in Oberlin,Ohio. He is a former director of the Heights Chamber Orchestra based in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
Today he is the founder and director of Camerata di Magdalena which is a small conductor-less group of young musicians (ages 9 through 18) who give seven performances each season to benefit the homeless of Broward county. Mr.Berken is also a composer having written numerous chamber works for all instruments and specializing recently in works for string ensemble which are often performed by Camerata di Magdalena.





F.A.Q

Frequently Asked Questions

  • The term Camerata dates from the Italian Renaissance, indicating a small or chamber, instrumental group, often made up of stringed instruments.

  • Mary of Magdala (on the sea of Galilee) was one of several women who followed Jesus and ministered to him. By some traditions she was wealthy and financed Jesus's ministry with her own money. Luke tells us Jesus healed her by casting out seven evil spirits. Her life was forever changed, and she followed him all the way to the cross, even when the men had fled in fear. When Jesus revealed himself to her in the garden on Easter morning, she became the first witness to the ressurection and was sent to tell the others. She has long been the subject of sacred art and literature, and been an important role model for the leadership and role of women in the church. She reminds us there were many women leaders among Jesus' first followers. Despite later myths, there is nothing in the Bible to indicate she had been a prostitute. She is rightly known as the Apostle to the Apostles.

  • Baroque music dates from 1600 to 1750 with notable composers such as Corelli, Handel, Telemann and Vivaldi. Baroque music is characterized by ornamentation, polyphonic melodies, and simplistic harmonies.

  • Most concerts are ten dollars a person with occasional concerts free of charge. Donations are always welcome. To date, we have raised about $30,000 to feed the homeless of South Florida.