The Tertis Project Recital

Utah Viola Society presents:

“The Tertis Project” – Roger Chase, viola, with Michiko Otaki, piano

TERTIS_poster

 

The Utah Viola Society is pleased to present internationally renowned violist Roger Chase in recital with pianist Michiko Otaki on Sunday, November 2, at 7:00 PM in Libby Gardner Hall at the Univeristy of Utah.

Mr. Chase will be presenting “The Tertis Project”, an ongoing endeavor devoted to performing and recording works by important U.K. composers of the last century which were written for the legendary violist Lionel Tertis (1876-1975).  Mr. Chase worked with Tertis as a young man, and studied extensively with his protege, Bernard Shore.  He now performs on the Monatagnana viola made famous by Tertis in his legendary recordings.  This recital is an opportunity to hear one of the world’s great string instruments and a wonderful example of aural tradition come to life.

Among the late romantic–style works offered are the Sonata by Sir Arthur Bliss,  Concertpiece by Sir Arnold Bax, the Romance by Benjamin Dale, and Two Melodies by York Bowen.

Mr. Chase has been a member of many major ensembles including the Nash Ensemble (for more than 20 years), the London Sinfonietta, the Esterhazy Baryton Trio, the Quartet of London, Hausmusik of London, and the London Chamber Orchestra.  He has been invited to play as principal viola with every major British orchestra and many others in North America and Europe, including the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. He has recorded for EMI, CRD, Hyperion, Cala, Virgin and Floating Earth Records, demonstrating his diverse interests by playing with a folk group on an amplified viola, as a soloist on an authentic instrument and as an exponent of the avant-garde.  Mr. Chase has taught at the Royal College of Music, the Guildhall School and the Royal Northern College of Music. He has been a professor at Oberlin College, and now teaches at Roosevelt University in Chicago.

Michiko Otaki at keyboard 2009 150 dpi

Michiko Otaki has been a frequent chamber music partner to Roger Chase.  Otaki performed previously at the National Gallery with the Warsaw Wind Quintet and has toured the USA this spring with the Graffe String Quartet from the Czech Republic. She has also toured and recorded with the Brno Chamber Soloists and with many other orchestras and chamber ensembles from Central and Eastern Europe.

“The Tertis Project” is the final presentation of Utah Viola Society’s “Viola Week”, a series of concerts and educational events at the University of Utah and in Logan at Utah State University.  Events will include a master class by Mr. Chase, and exhibition of local instrument makers, and performances by the Fry Street Quartet, Utah Symphony Principal Violist Brant Bayless, and students from across the state of Utah.

Spend Halloween with the FSQ and Roger Chase as part of Utah Viola Society’s Viola Weekend!

FSQ-with-Roger_chase

Who knew Halloween was a night for Viola Quintets?! Come hear Utah’s own Fry Street Quartet in concert with world renown viola soloist Roger Chase. The first half will feature Mr. Chase in recital, and the second half features the FSQ and Roger Chase performing the Mozart C Major String Quintet.
Friday, October 31
7:30 pm
The Performance Hall
Utah State University

Viola Viola VIOLA!!!

VlaTrio (1 of 2)

Meet Madison Marshall, Mackie Moore, and Miriam Wagstaff. I just had the pleasure of listening to these lovely young ladies give a preview of their upcoming Viola Day performance. (Nothing makes me happier than this many violas in my house at once!)  They are preparing the Beethoven Trio Op. 87 which was arranged by Lionel Tertis for viola trio. What a perfect piece to play for a Viola Weekend that will be topped off with a recital of music devoted to works composed for Tertis.

These fabulous young violists are currently students of Dr.  David Dalton and Dr.  Elizabeth Wallace. Madison says that she is really in love with the Rebecca Clarke Sonata (I know, who isn’t?!?) and she named her viola Mr. Darcy. (Oooh, a lover of English viola music in the making!) Mackie Moore is already taking college classes in history and algebra at Utah Valley University and fits viola in when she can. Her viola’s name is Uqu, which is curiously inscribed on the tag inside the viola. Miriam Wagstaff doesn’t have a name for her viola (neither do I, other than awesome!) but she is a competitive Irish step dancer with the Shelley School of Irish Dance. I should have had her show me some moves!

These talented young ladies will be performing on the ensemble recital as part of the Utah Viola Society’s Viola Day 2014!!! These young viola rock stars are truly great musicians in the making, and I’m really happy that they will be joining us for Viola Day 2014!!! Don’t miss it!

Viola Day!!!!2.0 schedule of events is here!

Dear Violists,

We have a schedule for Viola Day!!!! And the countdown begins!

Don’t forget to pay your dues in advance so that you can zip through the registration line!

 

Utah Viola Society

Viola Day!!!!2.0  November 1, Gardner Hall, University of Utah

 9:00 Thompson Hall, first floor.  Registration and visit exhibitors.

10:00 Dumke Recital Hall.  Master class with Roger Chase, followed by Q&A

12:00 Pizza Lunch. Free for all attendees!

12:45 Meet your Maker.  An exhibition of local luthiers and demonstration of their instruments, followed by the opportunity for instrument trials.

1:15 Lecture/performance.  A presentation on scordatura in viola repertoire, given by Leslie Richards, DMA candidate at the University of Utah.

2:30 Viola Quintets, Old and New.  The Fry Street Quartet with violists Brant Bayless and Roger Chase.  The unofficial world premiere of “White Roses”, written by Christopher Burns for Brant Bayless and Anne Francis Bayless.

3:00 Viola Ensemble Concert.  Featuring ensembles from area students as well as the Utah Symphony viola section.

 

Join us….you know you want to!

I just want to say a loud and clear THANK YOU to everyone who has responded to our membership drive!

THANK YOU!!! From the bottom of my alto range heart, thank you!

Membership is a Bargain. Yes, a Bargain with Capital B.

Your yearly dues will gain you FREE entrance to Viola Day!!!!2.0 events on November 1, 2014.  That’s FREE masterclass with Roger Chase, FREE admittance to a discussion about instrument making, FREE admittance to a very interesting Lecture/Performance by Leslie Richards (more to come about that event!), FREE admittance to a recital of The Fry Street Quartet featuring special guest artists Roger Chase and Utah Symphony Principal Violist Brant Bayless. And FREE admittance to our signature Viola Ensembles recital featuring students David Dalton, students from Weber State and Utah State University, and viola section members of the Utah Symphony.

OK, so that sounds amazing. BUT WE’RE NOT DONE YET!
Your Utah Viola Society Membership will also gain you FREE admittance to Roger Chase’s Recital on November 2. (Be still my heart!) This recital is part of Roger Chase’s The Tertis Project which is an ongoing endeavor devoted to performing and recording works by important U.K. composers of the last century which were written for the legendary violist Lionel Tertis. He will be performing works by Sir Arthur Bliss, Sir Arnold Bax, Benjamin Dale, and York Bowen. Mr. Chase performs on Lionel Tertis’s Monatagnana viola, so you will also have the chance to see and hear this amazing viola. (FREE!!!)

If you join in advance of Viola Day!!!!2.0 you will have ease of entry into all of these Utah Viola Society events.  Let’s do the math: Viola Day!!!2.0 entrance fee is $10. The Roger Chase Tertis Project Recital admission is $15. If you are a student and join at the UVS student rate of $10/year you have saved $5.

We can’t be a healthy and vibrant viola society without members. Without members urging us forward we can’t challenge ourselves to bring you the kinds of Viola Days and Viola Weekends that all of us want to be part of. Thank you so very much to those of you who have joined the Utah Viola Society.

You can pay dues online or send a check. We’re not picky. You don’t even have to be a violist to join, if you love the viola or even love a violist that is reason enough!

Just a taste:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYXi_eJOdq8

 

 

The countdown begins!

And here’s your first taste. Hey everyone, this is Roger Chase. Roger Chase, meet everyone!

The fabulous violist Roger Chase will be joining us for Viola Day 2014. The first event features him in recital with the Fry Street Quartet on October 31 in Logan. On Saturday he will be presenting a masterclass for the Utah Viola Society on November 1, and on Sunday evening November 2 will play a recital of English Music entitled The Tertis Project with pianist Michiko Otaki.

Among other works he will be performing the Sir Arthur Bliss sonata, an overlooked gem in the viola repertoire. More details to come, but in the meantime give this a listen, and then join us for Viola Weekend 2014!

York Bowen 1884-1961

When I’ve been asked what I’m playing on Viola Day 2014 and I reply that I am playing the York Bowen Fantasy for 4 Violas, the most common response that I receive is a quizzical expression followed by the question, “Who?” Bowen Vla QT York Bowen  was an English composer, born in 1884; a contemporary of Arnold Bax and Benjamin Dale, with whom he was close friends. He is often referred to  as the “English Rachmaninoff; ” he wrote romantic-style music much after a time when it was considered fashionable and remained true to his own voice and style throughout his life. His talent as a pianist was recognized as a young age, and he began composition early in his life as well. Camille Saint-Saens hailed him as “the most remarkable of the young British composers.”  He had a long career at the Royal Academy of Music, teaching both piano and composition. He was also an accomplished violist and horn player, and evidently could play most instruments for which he composed.  He was the first pianist to record Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto.  After his death, most of his music went out of print and performances of his music were rare.

Lionel Tertis was responsible for many of Bowen’s viola works. In Tertis’s autobiography “My Viola and I” he writes, “From the beginning of my campaign to create a library of solo viola music I begged for viola compositions from the younger English composers; and great is my debt to them. Such was their response that the British library of viola music looked like becoming the most extensive in the world.” York Bowen’s viola concerto was written with Lionel Tertis in mind, and the two Viola Sonatas are also dedicated to Lionel Tertis, works which York Bowen and Lionel Tertis often performed together. The Fantasy Quartet for 4 Violas Op. 41 #1 (1907) was written for Lionel Tertis to perform with his students. Tertis includes in his autobiography a review of a 1972 concert (on the occasion of Tertis’s 96th birthday!) that included a performance of the Fantasy Quartet which read, “Tertis persuaded York Bowen to write a Fantasie for a string quartet of violas, which was played in this concert. The bass line cannot descend farther than C below Middle C, but the limitation is barely perceived, so rich and multifarious are the textures available. This is a finely imagined movement in several sections, often twilit and nostalgic (with a touch of modality that doffs the cap to Debussy’s quartet), worth hearing several times.”

If you would like to hear this finely imagined movement live, join Utah Symphony viola section members Brant Bayless, Roberta Zalkind, Scott Lewis, and Julie Edwards on March 22, 2014 as they present the York Bowen Fantasy Quartet as part of V!ola Day 20!4!!! Bowen QT (16 of 19)