UtahViolaSociety

July 20, 2014July 20, 2014

It’s official! Viola Day 2.0 is actually a Viola Weekend with Roger Chase!

Dear Violists,

I hope everyone is having a good summer! We are well into planning Viola Day!!!! 2.0, and we are pleased to announce that renowned British violist Roger Chase will be joining us as our guest artist, offering a masterclass and presenting several performances during his visit. Please mark your calendar for Viola Day!!!! 2.0, and include the entire weekend of November 1. Here is a preliminary outline of events:

Friday, Oct. 31, 7:30 PM – Concert at Utah State University featuring Mr. Chase and the Fry Street Quartet with a mixed program of solo viola and chamber music.

Saturday, Nov. 1, 9am to 5 PM – Viola Day!!!! 2.0 at the University of Utah, featuring a masterclass by Mr. Chase, a viola ensemble concert, and a full day’s worth of events to be announced.

Sunday, Nov. 2, 7:00 PM – Roger Chase, viola with Michiko Otaki, piano. Recital in Libby Gardner Hall, University of Utah.

This will be a rare opportunity to hear one of the world’s great instruments. Mr. Chase plays the Montagnana viola once owned by Lionel Tertis and immortalized in his recordings. Sunday’s full length recital will present “The Tertis Project”, in which Mr. Chase performs music commissioned and programmed by Tertis, with whom he had the opportunity to work with as a young man. You can read more here: http://www.rogerchase.com

Please hold these dates, and share them with your friends and colleagues – more details to come!

In other news, congratulations to Claudine Bigelow and Julie Edwards for presenting at the 2014 Primrose Festival in Los Angeles, to David Dalton for receiving the Gold Alto Clef Award from the International Viola Society for the importance of his continuing contributions, and to Michael Palumbo for becoming the new President-Elect of the American Viola Society. We are incredibly lucky here in Utah to be home to such a strong community of violists.

All the best,

Brad

Bradley Ottesen

President, Utah Viola Society

Read all about Roger Chase here.

On a personal note, I love all things English Viola, so much so that I teased a friend about wanting to change my name to Winifred Copperwheat (I mean, have you ever heard such an English name, and for a violist no less?!?), so I am really exited about this opportunity to hear Mr. Chase and his legendary viola in real life.

July 10, 2014

Brad Ottesen in recital July 15, Logan Utah

On July 15 as part of the Summer Noon Music Series at the Logan Tabernacle, violist Brad Ottesen will be performing a recital of English Chamber Music. Brad is the violist of the Fry Street Quartet, a member of the faculty at the Caine College of the Arts at Utah State University, and is also President of the Utah Viola Society. Brad will be performing the Ralph Vaughan Williams Suite for Viola and Piano; Frank Bridge Three Songs for Mezzo-Soprano, Viola, and Piano; and the Rebecca Clarke Sonata for Viola and Piano. Joining him on the program will be Liesel Fedkenheuer, Mezzo-Soprano, and Mayumi Matzen, piano. (Many of you may recall the trio’s wonderful performance of the Brahms Two Songs for Alto, Viola, and Piano back in 2012 as part of the Viola Day recital.)

WHEN: Tuesday, July 15 at Noon

WHERE: Logan Tabernacle

ADMISSION: FREE

April 6, 2014April 6, 2014

Viola Day pictures!

Enjoy these photos from Viola Day 2014 courtesy of my better half, Scot Singpiel. If you have images you’d like to include, please email me full size good quality .jpg files and I’ll add them.

The nicest way to view these images is to click on the first image which pulls up a new window, then you can arrow through all the images. Enjoy!

March 26, 2014March 26, 2014

THANK YOU!

A huge thank you to everyone who made Viola Day 2014 such a tremendous success! Thanks to all the performers: Dr. Claudine Bigelow, Dr. Elizabeth Kuefler Wallace, Scott Lewis, Carl Johansen, Leslie Harlow, Joel Gibbs, Dr. Robert Baldwin, viola sections from Utah State, BYU, Chamber Orchestra Ogden, and The Utah Symphony Viola Section featuring Brant Bayless, Roberta Zalkind, and Scott Lewis. Big viola sized thanks to Brad Ottesen for making it all happen and having the vision. And a special thank you to all who attended, we couldn’t do it without people who love the viola and love violists!

We are so lucky to have such a vibrant viola community here in Utah. I feel personally lucky to have so many wonderful viola colleagues from all over the Beehive state.

Keep your eye on this site for information regarding future viola activities, including Viola Day 2014 2.0 in October!!!

March 20, 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?” 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!!!

March 19, 2014March 19, 2014

He has a purple bow and he climbs red rock!

Meet Joel Gibbs.

1. He’s originally from St. Louis.
2. He likes to hike, camp and ski, and of course he plays viola in the Utah Symphony Viola Section!
3. When he is asked about the purple fiberglass bow in his case he tells them it’s a “mood bow.” It’s always purple, so he’s always energized!

If you’d like to see him scale musical heights with purple energy, join us on Saturday, March 22 when Joel will perform Max Reger’s Suite #2 in D Major for Solo Viola as part of V!iola Day 20!4!!! Events begin at 4 pm at Dumke Recital Hall.

March 18, 2014

Elizabeth Keufler Wallace

Originally from Kansas, Dr. Elizabeth Wallace currently serves on the faculty at the Gifted Music School where she teaches viola, violin, and chamber music. She also performs in the viola section with the Utah Chamber Orchestra at Ballet West. In her free time, Elizabeth enjoys running, reading, and spending time with her family.

Join us as Dr. Elizabeth Wallace takes a break from spending time with her (totally adorable!!!) family and performs the J.S. Bach Suite in G Major on Saturday, March 22 as part of the Utah Viola Society V!iola day 20!4 recital. Festivities begin at 4 pm with the recital beginning around 6pm.