 American chamber music icon Toby Appel returns to Viola Day! After inspiring us as our 2023 guest artist, we are honored to welcome him back once again. Read more about Toby here. In addition to leading a masterclass, Toby will be playing a recital alongside pianist Monica Ohuchi and the Fry Street Quartet. The centerpiece of this recital was actually written for Toby by our second guest artist, Kenji Bunch! Kenji was Toby’s student at Juilliard, and that teacher/student relationship has evolved into one of artistic partnership. The title of the piece is, of course, “The Viola Burns Longer”. Read Kenji’s description below and watch a video of Toby premiere this exciting piece! Watch the whole thing or drop in at 13:47 to watch the fiery finale.  The Viola Burns Longer (2024) is a suite of four short vignettes for solo viola with piano and string quartet. Reclaiming the familiar punchline of a well-worn viola joke (what’s the difference between the violin and viola…?), this work envisions the viola as a mythical creature of great beauty and supernatural power, capable of self-immolation and regeneration. The four movements use different aspects of fire as points of departure to explore disparate sound worlds that demonstrate the broad range and expressive capabilities the magical instrument possesses when in the hands of a highly skilled conjurer. They are:I. Glow: a melody rises out of a blur of slowly expanding harmonies.II. Flicker: sharp bursts of activity pop out of a texture of plucked, off-kilter rhythms.III. Smolder: a blues-tinged ballad evoking a smoky nightclub after hours.IV. Blaze: a raging sprint to the finish!This work was commissioned by The Colorado College Summer Music Festival for its 40th Anniversary season. It was written for and dedicated to violist Toby Appel, my great mentor and friend, who premiered the work. |
Viola Day Guest: Kenji Bunch!
 Kenji Bunch is a fantastic violist and composer with a truly unique style! We are so excited to welcome him to Viola Day, to hear him perform, and to participate in his fiddling workshop. Bring your viola! Check out Kenji’s performance of his own piece, 3 Gs, and read his short bio below! Remember to submit your sticker designs to brad.ottesen(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)gmail.com.  Kenji Bunch writes music that looks for commonalities between musical styles, for understandings that transcend cultural or generational barriers, and for empathic connections with his listeners. Drawing on vernacular musical traditions, an interest in highlighting historical injustices and inaccuracies, and techniques from his classical training, Bunch creates music with a unique personal vocabulary that appeals to performers, audiences, and critics alike. With his work frequently performed worldwide and recorded numerous times, Bunch considers his current mission the search for and celebration of shared emotional truths about the human experience from the profound to the absurd, to help facilitate connection and healing through entertainment, vulnerability, humor, and joy.Mr. Bunch is widely recognized for performing his own groundbreaking works for viola. He currently serves as Artistic Director of the new music group Fear No Music and is deeply committed to music education in his hometown of Portland, Oregon. |