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

2024 American Viola Society Festival Competition Jurors

Jacob Shack Violist Jacob Shack is based in Baltimore, Maryland, where he is Associate Principal Viola of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Appointed to this position in 2022, Jacob was previously Fourth Chair Viola of the BSO. He maintains a highly varied career of orchestral, contemporary, and chamber music performance . When not performing, Jacob is a devoted educator. In addition to maintaining a private studio in Baltimore, Jacob has been an instructor of viola at Baltimore

School for the Arts since 2018. He is also an artist - faculty member of the Charles Ives Music Festival, in Ridgefield, Connecticut. A native of Andover, Massachusetts, Jacob earned his bachelor’s degree in Comparative Religion from Harvard University in 2014. While an undergraduate, Jacob studied with Martha Strongin Katz of the New England Conservatory. He went on to pursue a master’s degree at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Heidi Castleman and Misha Amory.

Peter Slowik Profiled by the Strad magazine as “a man of limitless energy and purpose – he mentors high achievers who make their mark in top positions the world over,” Peter Slowik is Professor of Viola at Oberlin Conservatory and Artistic Director of Credo Music. Recent master class appearances include Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, Europe, New Zealand, the leading US conservatories. His students perform in virtually every major American orchestra, many in principal positions, Meredith Snow Meredith Snow is a native of Long Island, New York, and received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School of Music, where she was a student of Paul Doktor and Samuel Rhodes. A former member of the Colorado String Quartet, she has also participated in the Tanglewood, Aspen, and Marlboro Music Festivals. Snow played three seasons with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra before joining the LA Phil in 1986, and she often appears with the Philharmonic Chamber

and hold university appointments throughout the country. Slowik has received top teaching awards at Oberlin and Northwestern and is the recipient of AVS Maurice Riley Viola Award.

Music Society and the Green Umbrella Series. She currently serves as Chairperson of the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians (ICSOM), a players’ conference within the American Federation of Musicians (AFM). Niloofar Sohi An Iranian musician, Niloofar has studied with great teachers of Iranian and American backgrounds, such as Korey Konkol, Setareh Beheshti, and Taha Abedian. She ranked first among all students while studying music and performance at the University of Tehran. She was also distinguished as an Elite student in National Elite Foundation and won the first award from the University of Tehran to continue her studies for a master’s degree in Performing Arts. Niloofar is a co - founder of LyreIran and is pursuing a viola performance DMA at the University of Minnesota.

105