Author: Emily

This Wednesday, June 29, 2016, Utah Viola Society President Brad Ottesen will present a recital as part of the 2016 Logan Tabernacle Concert Series. He and pianist Jessica Roderer will present a “world tour” of music, taking the listener to Germany, England, and France, musically speaking, of course!

J.S. Bach, Sonata No. 3 for Viola da Gamba
Hindemith, 1937 Sonata for Viola Solo, First Movement
Vaughan Williams, Romance for Viola and Piano
Enesco, Concertpiece for Viola and Piano

The recital will be at the Logan Tabernacle, Wednesday, June 29 at noon.

Bradley Ottesen, a performer of “warmly rich, opulent tone” (Washington Post) is the violist the internationally acclaimed Fry Street Quartet. He has earned degrees from Northwestern University and the New England Conservatory.  He is an assistant professor of music at Utah State and currently serves as president of the Utah Viola Society.  He has had extensive training and experience and currently also teaches privately.

Jessica Roderer’s performances are “rich in emotion and dramatic passion”, The Deseret Morning News.  She recently graduated with her Master’s and Doctorate of Musical Arts in piano performance from the University of Southern California. She earned her Bachelor’s from Utah State University under the instruction of Gary Amano. She has performed with the Utah Symphony and currently works with Opera by Children in connection with Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre.

Congratulations to all the performers for beautiful contributions to the Utah Viola Society’s Spring Recital! Bravi Tutti!!!

Sunday, March 6, Dumke Recital Hall at the University of Utah, Utah Viola Society presents its Spring Recital!

We have animal lovers, we have Baroque recorder players, we have composers, we have crazy motorcyclists, we have three (Count ’em, 3!) duo collaborations, we have professors from three (Count ’em, 3!) Utah music schools, we have Utah Symphony members, we have original compositions, we have VIOLA.

Resistance is futile. See you Sunday.

 

One of the most rewarding things about performing music is the wonderful collaborations one gets to be part of. I am honored to be performing a wonderful collaboration with my dear friend and colleague Roberta Zalkind. Roberta is Associate Principal Viola of the Utah Symphony, she is a wonderful teacher to many incredible students, a fabulous violist, and an all around fantastic duo partner.

 

We are pleased to be performing Katrina Wreede’s aptly named “Duo for Sunday.”  A former member of the Turtle Island String Quartet, Katrina Wreede is a violist, a composer, and a founder of Composing Together, which brings together composers and students side by side.

Duo for Sunday is in three movements: Sunday, Rocking, and Tango? Each movement has elements of jazz tonalities and rhythms, and each viola has an equal role to play. It’s whimsical, explores a full range of moods and characters, and a even has dueling viola cadenzas! Roberta and I deeply hope that everyone enjoys listening to it as much as we’ve enjoyed preparing it!

Come hear jazzy-ish dueling viola cadenzas Sunday, March 6, 3pm, Dumke Recital Hall at the University of Utah.

 

Utah Symphony Principal Violist Brant Bayless will perform two works by Matthias Pintscher this Sunday for Utah Viola Society’s Spring Recital. He will be joined by Utah Symphony Principal Cellist Rainer Eudeikis for Janusgesicht, for Viola and Cello, and will play the Solo Viola work In Nomine. (If you attended last weekend’s NOVA Chamber Music Series concert, this will be your second opportunity to hear these works! You can read the program notes here.)

In Brant’s words:

The first piece is a duo with Utah Symphony Principal Cello Rainer Eudeikis. Called “Janusgesicht” (The Face of Janus), it deals with the “duality of a single person.” From the introductory poem by Pintscher:

“One body, one head, -but two faces, two voices, two directions.
Two voices delicately floating in one sound.
One voice penetrates the other, looking for merger with itself.
Sounds on the edge of silence.”

The two performers sit back to back, an allusion to the Roman god in profile.

In nomine, for unaccompanied viola, is part of a large group of chamber works by many composers inspired by an English plainchant melody. I briefly considered singing (!) that melody before performing Matthias’s piece, but aside from a tinge of sadistic joy inflicting that on an audience, there’s not much to be found in the back to back comparison. “In nomine” develops flights of fancy and melismatic passage work that, like the plainchant melody, almost always departs and returns to the note D.

Both of these pieces call for the viola to play with an alternate tuning. In the duo, the lowest string is simply altered down a half-step to B. “In nomine” features a much more radical scordatura: A-D-Eb-G. Special thanks to Brad Ottesen for the use of his wonderful Moes and Moes viola. Being able to use a separate viola for the solo piece allows for quicker and more convenient transitions than retuning one instrument. And, by the way, if you like Brad’s radically re-tuned viola, it is for sale!

Sunday, March 6, 3pm, Dumke Recital Hall, University of Utah.

Carl Johansen: Motorcyclist. Violist. Carl will be performing the Schumann Marchenbilder with pianist Ning Lu this Sunday as part of Utah Viola Society’s Spring Recital.

Sometimes at night after a concert when I’m driving home I hear a noise behind me. I look in my rear view mirror just in time to see a motorcycle speeding up behind my car. It passes me, speeding away into the night. I notice a stripey viola case on the driver’s back.

IT’S CARL!

(Carl, slow down and be safe!)

On Sunday, come see Carl take us on a ride through Schumann’s Fairy Tales.

Sunday, March 6, 3pm, Dumke Recital Hall, University of Utah.