2024 Primrose International Viola Competition & American Viola Society Festival Program Book

2024 American Viola Society Festival Competition Jurors

Katrin Meidell Violist Katrin Meidell, DMA, enjoys a prolific career as a performer, pedagogue, and lecturer. She has been published in American String Teacher and the Journal of the American Viola Society (AVS). She was highly involved in the AVS for eight years — first as a volunteer, then a board member — culminating in her organizing and hosting the 2022 American Viola Society Festival & 47th International Viola Congress (June 2022). She is a Karen Tuttle Coordination pedagogue, and is interested in musician’s health and wellness, both physical and mental. She teaches at the Schwob School of Music, Columbus State University, in Georgia.

Amir Nasseri Nasseri is a violinist and composer. He received his Bachelor’s in Music Performance from Tehran University and Master’s in Music Performance from the University of Maryland. Amir has collaborated with orchestras such as Annapolis Symphony, Avanti, and Parsian Chamber Orchestra. and ensembles such as Balance Campaign, Tehran Baroque Music Atelier, and red fish blue fish. He is currently a member of ensembles Yasnaa and En Route. He is a two - time awardee by Nahal Short Film

Festival for his film compositions and first prize winner of the National Festival of Youth Music in Tehran in 2015. From 2022 - 2023, Amir was a fellow at the Roshan Institute of Persian Studies where he researched Khorasani Maqam music. He is currently pursuing a DMA in contemporary performance at the University of California San Diego under Erik Carlson.

Aurélien Pétillot Violist Aurélien Pétillot is a versatile performer and pedagogue. A passionate chamber musician, and an advocate for living composers, he is a founding member of Camerata Oceana, and of the Chiaroscuro Trio. He holds degrees from the Sorbonne University, the Mannes College of Music, and UT Austin. He lives in Bordeaux, teaches at the Tulle conservatoire and is principal violist with the Bordeaux virtuosi. Previously, he taught at UW - Eau Claire, SIU Carbondale, and the University of Matt Pickart Pickart is Director and Co - founder of Clazz International Music Festival in Arcidosso, Italy, and Assistant Professor of Music at Webster University in Saint Louis, where he serves as Director of Chamber Music and teaches violin, viola, improvisation, and music entrepreneurship. Dr. Pickart has performed and recorded in multiple genres internationally as a soloist, chamber musician, and ensemble member, and he has had the distinct honor and privilege of having performed at both Jazz at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Music Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.

Mary Hardin - Baylor. An avid researcher, he has presented many lectures on Shostakovich, music and the arts, humor in music, and under - represented composers and repertoire.

His students have gone on to attend prestigious institutions on scholarship such as Belmont University, Berklee College of Music, and the New England Conservatory.

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