From Eastern Europe to Emerald Beach: The Creanga-Cockrell family shares their multigenerational Interlochen story

Alumni and current/former faculty members Yvonne Creanga and Alexandra Cockrell reflect on Interlochen’s transformative effect on their family—from providing a way out of communist Romania to fostering cherished family memories.

November 8, 2024

“Interlochen changed my life” is a common refrain among Interlochen alumni—an expression of the powerful artistic experiences that shape students’ lives and careers for decades to come.

But for Arts Camp alumna Yvonne Creanga (IAC/NMC 78, UNIV 79, Camp Fac 06-10), the phrase has a deeper meaning.

Born in communist Romania, Yvonne defected to the United States during her first summer at Interlochen with the assistance of her Arts Camp counselor. Through the support of her counselor and instructors, Yvonne was able to earn a full-ride scholarship to the University of Michigan and build a new life as a violist, music educator, and U.S. citizen.

Beyond her own two summers as a student, Yvonne is connected to Interlochen through a rich family tradition of attending and teaching at Interlochen. Her father-in-law, Richard Cockrell (UNIV 49), was a voice and choral conducting student in the Camp’s University Division. Her sister, Odette Creanga-Kurth (IAC/NMC 77), attended Camp as a violinist. In 2006, she joined her husband, Thomas Cockrell (IAC Fac 06-08), as a member of the Camp’s music faculty. The couple’s two children, Alexandra (IAC 06-10, IAA 10-12, IAC St 12, IAC Fac 15, 22-24) and James (IAC 07-10, 14; IAA 14-16), continued the multigenerational legacy by attending Camp and Academy.

“I’m very lucky to have had this place, because it has enriched all of our lives,” Yvonne says. “It’s very close to our hearts.”

Finding freedom through music

Yvonne Creanga (standing, far left) with her Arts Camp cabinmates and counselors.

Yvonne began her musical studies as a violinist in Romania’s rigorous string training program: a combination of the Russian and the French schools with instruction in solfege, music theory, ear training, and sightreading. At age 7, she successfully auditioned for the George Enescu Music School.

“Up until lunchtime, we had normal school; after lunch we would go to different music classes until about 5 p.m.,” Yvonne says. “By second grade, we were already in orchestra. Every three months, we had some sort of exam where the entire faculty of your instrument would get together. It was like the juries we have here at the university level, but we started from first grade.”

In the 1970s, Yvonne’s school became part of Interlochen’s former international program, an initiative through which Interlochen offered full-tuition Camp scholarships to students from Eastern European countries that were considered friendlier to the West—such as Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, the former Republic of Yugoslavia.

“My school would have a little competition to secure these spots; two or three instrumentalists would be chosen to come to Interlochen,” Yvonne says. “Your parents had to pay for travel, and you had to be vetted [by the government] in some sort of way.”

Yvonne and her younger sister, Odette, both earned scholarships to attend Camp in 1977. The two sisters hoped to defect during their time at Camp. Their plans were waylaid, however, by Nicolae Ceaușescu’s educational reforms—which meant Yvonne had to remain in Romania to take school exams.

Instead, Odette went to Camp alone. Although Odette was accepted to Interlochen Arts Academy, she was unable to attend due to government restrictions, and unable to defect to the United States because she was a minor. Today, Odette teaches violin at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music in Victoria, Australia. Her remarkable career has included 20 years teaching in the Vancouver public schools—during which she built Canada’s leading high school strings program—and violin positions with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio Orchestra, Vancouver Opera, and Boston Symphony Orchestra, among other ensembles.

In 1978, Yvonne came to Arts Camp while Odette stayed behind.

“Everything was so new: The idea of sleeping in bunk beds, being with so many girls from so many different aspects of the arts,” Yvonne says. “I didn’t speak English. I had a handful of sentences that I knew, and I soaked up a lot.”

While Camp was an adjustment socially, Yvonne thrived artistically.

“I was placed second chair [in the World Youth Symphony Orchestra], and I knew how special that was,” Yvonne says. “I always worked hard to make sure I didn’t lose that place. I did have one or two times where I was section leader before Evan Wilson (IAC/NMC 78) challenged me. He ended up being the principal violist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for many years.”

Outside of her artistic activities, Yvonne worked with her counselor, Linda Palmer (IAC St 76-79), to begin the process of defecting to the United States.

“At the very end of Camp, I told [Linda] that I wanted to defect and stay here in the United States,” Yvonne says. “I gave her the name of a friend of my mother’s who was a doctor in Detroit, and she went to the library in Traverse City to look up all the doctors in Michigan. She found his name, and I called him, but it turned out he wasn’t here anymore—he had moved to Atlanta. He advised me what to do, but had it not been for Linda, I don’t think I would have been able to find him.”

Yvonne also auditioned for three colleges in the United States: The University of Michigan, Peabody Conservatory, Eastman School of Music. All three schools offered her full-tuition scholarships.

“I chose to go to the University of Michigan because the bass teacher from Interlochen [Larry Hurst] was the Chairman of Strings, and my viola teacher from Interlochen [Francis Bundra] taught there,” Yvonne says. “My teacher said they would help me in any way they could. The other schools didn’t want me to defect, but I said, ‘I have to accomplish this on top of going to school.’”

Through her studies at the University of Michigan, Yvonne was also able to return to Interlochen in 1979 as a University Division student.

“I came back to Interlochen that summer because I had nowhere else to go, but it was wonderful to be back here,” Yvonne says. “I did quite a lot of wonderful work here, both chamber music and solo work. I was also part of a great string quartet: the cellist is now the assistant principal of the St. Louis Symphony.”

Yvonne, too, went on to a decorated career as a musician. She is currently a violist for the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, and has played with Rome’s Santa Cecilia Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and the New York City Opera, among other ensembles. Beyond her performance career, Yvonne is also a dedicated string educator. She has taught at the University of Arizona School of Music; University of California, Irvine; and Vanguard University, and has founded chamber music programs for both young artists and adult musicians.

Creating a family tradition

In 2006, Yvonne’s husband, Thomas Cockrell—who serves as the Director of Orchestral Activities at the University of Arizona and Artistic Director of Opera in the Ozarks—was engaged to conduct Interlochen Arts Camp’s Intermediate Symphony Orchestra. Yvonne was hired as an instructor of viola, and Alexandra and James enrolled as day campers—sparking a new family tradition.

“Every summer, we packed up the car and drove three-and-a-half days from Arizona to Interlochen,” Yvonne says. “The kids did different programs: violin, acting, piano. I taught everything from juniors to middle schoolers to high school chamber music.”

The family spent their summers living in a cabin on Emerald Beach, a group of faculty residences situated on the shores of Green Lake just west of Main Campus. They fondly remember the many memories created there—from sharing a tiny bathroom and living next door to close friends to calming their dog during thunderstorms and experiencing the launch of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

For Alexandra and James, experiencing Interlochen as day campers offered a different perspective on Camp life.

“I used to hang out with all the other day camper kids,” Alexandra says. “We all lived on Emerald Beach, and we had our own little posse. We had a lot of opportunities that other campers couldn’t have: we could have bicycles, and we could leave campus. It was pretty great.”

Continuing the legacy

L-R: Thomas Cockrell, Yvonne Creanga, James Cockrell, and Alexandra Cockrell at James' Arts Academy graduation in May 2016.

Alexandra Cockrell as Sally Bowles in the Academy’s 2011-12 production of Cabaret.

Despite her parents’ careers as musicians, Alexandra was drawn to theatre.

“My dad also conducts operas,” Alexandra explains. “I got to watch a lot of his opera rehearsals, and they were very theatrical. I was raised on a lot of the 90s Disney films, which felt like theatre to me.”

In 2010, Alexandra enrolled at Interlochen Arts Academy as a theatre major. James followed four years later.

“We felt like it was natural for us to go to the Academy,” Alexandra says. “We had a good theatre program at my public high school in Tucson, and I did a lot of theatre in junior and middle school, but it was the obvious choice to go to the Academy and get the well-rounded education that I really wanted. I’ve always been very independent, so it felt like a breeze to leave home and spend two years here.”

During her time at the Academy, Alexandra starred as Sally Bowles in the school’s production of Cabaret; served as the stage manager for West Side Story; and appeared in Julius Caesar, Beauty and the Beast, and several student- and faculty-led acting showcases. She also built lasting friendships with many of her peers.

“I live with other Interlochen people in New York City,” Alexandra says. “We all live within a ten-block radius of each other. We’re very close—we’re all just best friends. It is that unity and that friendship that you carry outside of this place that has put a stamp on our lives.”

After Interlochen, Alexandra went on to receive a B.F.A. in acting from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. A member of the Actor’s Equity Association, her credits include a guest appearance on Law and Order: SVU; a starring role in the short film “Missing Out”; and numerous theatre roles, including Peaseblossom in the Interlochen Shakespeare Festival’s 2012 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She is a core company member of Venture Theatre, a theatre company based in Hamilton, Bermuda that unites international artists with local talent to stage classic and contemporary plays.

In 2022, Alexandra returned to Interlochen Arts Camp as a member of the Camp’s theatre faculty—and hasn’t missed a summer since. This summer, she served as the associate director for the High School Repertory Theatre program’s production of Kate Hamill’s stage adaptation of Sense and Sensibility.

“Those five summers [at Arts Camp] really changed my life,” Alexandra says. “The fact that I now am the associate director of the same high school program that I did during my last two years at Camp completely blows my mind.”

Alexandra’s enthusiasm for working with artists of all ages is a passion shared by the entire Creanga-Cockrell family.

“We are all in the service of music and art, and we want to better ourselves and others,” Yvonne says.

As Interlochen approaches its 100th anniversary, the family is excited about the possibility of gathering at Interlochen for the Centennial Celebration. Although Yvonne, Thomas, Alexandra, and James have lived, studied, and performed around the world, Michigan still feels like home.

“If there is any part of this country that I feel I am from, it’s Michigan,” Yvonne says. “This is my place.”