Last night, Oberlin had the opportunity to see world-renowned violinist Gil Shaham from a rare perspective as he taught a master class in Finney Chapel. Conservatory Dean David Stull introduced him as a “terrific human being and a great teacher,” a description which Shaham quickly proved to be true.

Shaham offered advice to three talented Conservatory violinists: junior Xi Hu, senior Yuncong Zhang and first-year Allison Lint, accompanied on piano by junior Valeria Dovgaya, senior Tian Lu and faculty accompanist Yu Sakamoto, respectively.

Hu opened the master class with a confident and powerful performance of Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” Sonata, matching his style adeptly to the material at hand. Shaham’s famously mild-mannered persona was on display from the beginning, as he confessed himself to be “too scared to play this piece,” praising Hu’s skill. “The times that I have, it hasn’t gone very well,” he continued.

Shaham demurred that he wished he knew the piece better, but his modesty only served to make his brilliant demonstrations all the more striking. Holding his violin in one hand and a microphone in the other, he quickly established an easygoing rapport with the musicians and the audience, explaining that performers are “like actors,” and that it is their job to “take what is on the page and bring it to life [for the audience].”

He later expanded this metaphor as he advised Lint, comparing Tchaikovsky’s grace notes to Vermeer’s reds, and the arc of a musical phrase to the plot of an Indiana Jones film: “You have to wait until the end of the movie for the conflict to be resolved.”

Though he was laid back and gracious (“sounds great” and “sorry to interrupt” were frequent refrains), Shaham was persistent in seeking his desired musical results from the students. He emphasized to each player the importance of making full use of the bow as well as exaggerating phrases and effects for the benefit of the audience. In general, he didn’t spend much time on technique, and instead coached the already-adept players on aspects of musicality and performance.

It should come as no surprise that Shaham, born in Illinois and raised in Israel, is so attuned to the needs of an audience: at the age of ten, he debuted with the Jerusalem Symphony and the Israel Philharmonic, later entering the Juilliard School. He has been a fixture in the musical world since 1989, gaining notoriety as violinist Itzhak Perlman’s replacement in a series of concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Shaham, who has won a Grammy award for chamber music performance, will showcase his talents in what promises to be a stellar collaboration tonight in Finney Chapel at 8 p.m.