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

2024 Primrose International Viola Competition & American Viola Society Festival Schedule of Events — THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2024

3:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Lecture-Recital Mayman Hall Julius Röntgen, Sonata for Viola and Piano

Katrin Meidell – Julius Röntgen (1855-1932) was a German-born Dutch composer and pianist. A prolific composer of approximately 650 works, his compositions belong to the late Romantic school. An amateur violist, Röntgen composed three viola sonatas. His Sonata in C Minor, composed in 1924, is an incredible work, yet it is rarely programmed. With this presentation, Katrin celebrates the centennial of the Sonata in C Minor and introduces the piece to AVS Festival participants.

Sonata in C Minor

Julius Röntgen (1855-1932)

Julius Röntgen (1855-1932) was a German-born Dutch composer and pianist. A prolific composer of approximately 650 works, his compositions belong to the late Romantic school. Listeners can hear influences from Schumann, Brahms, Grieg, and Liszt. Also an amateur violist, Röntgen composed three viola sonatas. His Sonata in C Minor, composed in 1924, is an incredible work, yet it is rarely programmed in the US. With this presentation, I celebrate the centennial of the Sonata in C Minor and introduce the piece to AVS Festival participants. The session will begin with a discussion of Röntgen’s life and career, and will end with a full performance of the Sonata in C Minor. It is my hope that others will find the work as magnificent as I do and begin to program it themselves. Of note, this work is similar in style and difficulty to the Brams sonatas, but a welcome alternative to the well known Opus 120 works.

3:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Lecture Olive 229 A New Normal: Viola Jokes in the Age of Social Media

Alice Sprinkle – This lecture explores what the culture of viola jokes reveals about the past, present, and future status of the viola, its players, and its community. Whilst these jokes are a “normal” aspect of the viola experience, they have now entered the “new” medium of social media. Through historical evidence, JAVS extracts, fieldwork data, and psycho-sociological literature, potential implications of these jokes — especially for young students — will be explored, with suggestions for approaching this “new normal”.

4:45 pm – 5:45 pm

Lecture-Recital Thayman Hall Viola and Piano Arrangements: Inter-generational Collaborations with Florence Price and Amy Beach Molly Wise – Violist Molly Wise provides an inside look into her process arranging works by Florence Price and Amy Beach for viola and piano. Each movement is a case study in balancing the preservation of the original version and making editorial changes that better serve the character of the original. In this way, Wise sees the arrangement and performance of these works as a living, breathing, inter-generational collaboration between herself and the composers. Featuring James Palmer, pianist.

Seven Descriptive Pieces

Florence Price (1887-1953)

I. Little Truants

Arr. by Molly Wise

II. Two Busy Hands III. Hard Problems IV. Tittle, Tattle V. In Romance Land VI. Hilda’s Waltz VII. Pensive Mood

Romance for Violin and Piano

Amy Beach

Op. 23

(1867-1944) Arr. by Molly Wise

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