<p>Californiaharp, I am going to ask you to please use some care for the manner in which you ask questions; the music world is very small and you might well do your son a disservice, which I am sure is not what you wish.
First, when inquiring about a professor, do your research and spell his/her name correctly. Ivan ZENATY is the new teacher and he is Czech. He is also far from “unknown” in Europe, serving on the faculty at the Dresden Hochschule for the past 15 years in addition to a full performance schedule and judging international competitions. His teacher was the excellent Josef Suk. If your son used the right search engines, he could find out a great deal about Mr.Zenaty.
Some of the questions you pose can not be accurately answered by anyone here. The number of students following Mr Laredo is unknown right now- still time for final decisions- but I would expect that he will have openings in his studio for the 2013-2014. I doubt the school would give out an exact number though because they don’t know for sure who will return in a given year until the deposits are in.
It is not all that unusual for a school to hire both members of a couple, especially if they are well known in their field of expertise, as is the case with Ms. Robinson; but no, CIM did not “lose” a cello prof. The school’s reputation supports the expansion. Again, no one here knows if or when CIM would look to add more members to the violin faculty. If your son reads any of the violin/string publications, he would see the advertisements at the same time as everyone else.
Nothing is a sure bet, least of all studying with the same teacher for multiple years. While many “put down roots” and intend to stay, others might choose to leave for warmer climates, more money, gaining a chair in an orchestra, etc. They could even, heaven forbid, get hit by a product of the Acme Anvil Company and vanish into nothing more than a silhouette! Things happen, and students learn to role with the punches.
William Preucil is the concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra, and thus enjoys the renown and prestige that comes with that position. He is an excellent musician and his students follow that path and do very well for themselves. He and Joel Smirnoff are very, very selective in who they take on.
I cannot stress enough the importance of your son making the contacts with the various schools. He is an adult, even older than the typical first year graduate student and any dealings with schools and potential teachers needs to come from him. I wish him success and that’s why I’ve said what I did here. Artists are temperamental and teachers have been known to turn down students for all kinds of reasons, real and imagined. They do read boards like this, as do their students and members of the administrations and it is very easy to have things be taken out of context or misunderstood .Thus, you need to be very careful of what you say and to whom you say it, so as not to have your son starting out behind the curve from the beginning.</p>