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

2024 American Viola Society Festival Competition Jurors

Wendy Richman Richman has been celebrated internationally for her compelling sound and “absorbing,” “fresh and idiomatic” interpretations with “a brawny vitality.” (The New York Times, The Washington Post). As soloist and chamber musician, she has performed at Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mostly Mozart Festival, Phillips Collection, and international festivals in Europe, Asia, and across North America. Dr. Richman is an academic lecturer at UCLA and the viola instructor at California State University at Northridge (CSUN). She is a founding member of the International Contemporary Ensemble; her debut solo album, "vox/viola," was released on New Focus Recordings in 2020. Rachel Riese Riese is a Baltimore - based violist currently completing a Graduate Performance Diploma at the Peabody Institute with Victoria Chiang. She actively teaches and performs around the D.C. area with ensembles including Mount Vernon Virtuosi, District Strings, and the Great Falls Philharmonic, and she has been a substitute musician for the New World Symphony in Miami Beach. Rachel earned her Master of Music at Peabody studying viola with CJ Chang and pedagogy with Rebecca Henry. She earned her Bachelor of Arts with Distinction at the University of Wisconsin Madison studying with Sally Chisholm and earning additional degrees in linguistics and German.

Karen Ritscher Karen Ritscher is an American violist and academic. She is on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music, New York University and Boston University. She has performed and taught in the United States, Asia and Europe. She is a certified 5Rhythms® Movement teacher, she has led workshops and clinics, often combining the exploration of movement with the art of self- expression as a musician. Ritscher served as the Principal Violist for both the Dallas Opera and the Houston

Grand Opera and the Assistant Principal for the American Composers Orchestra. She has performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, New York City Ballet Orchestra and the New York City Opera Orchestra. She has been a member of the Aureus Piano Quartet the Azure Ensemble as well as playing in many other chamber music ensembles and festivals. She has commissioned and performed new works by composers such as by Chen Yi, Bruce Adolphe and Gabriela Lena Frank. Ritscher has served on the faculties of Rice University, the Mannes College of Music, Oberlin Conservatory and the Eastman School of Music. She has served on the faculty of the Karen Tuttle Coordination Workshop since its inception. She was the string consultant for Madeline Bruser's book, "The Art of Practicing; A Guide to Making Music from the Heart."

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