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

2024 Primrose International Viola Competition & American Viola Society Festival A Letter from the AVS President

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Welcome to the 2024 American Viola Society Festival & Primrose International Viola Competition! It has been six years since we last gathered here in beautiful downtown Los Angeles for a full AVS Festival and PIVC, and it is a thrill to be back on the Colburn campus. The AVS is so grateful to our partners at the Colburn School for their excellent stewardship of the Primrose Competition and for providing strong support and an incredible venue for our combined event. We can’t wait to share this unparalleled

celebration of the viola with you!

This year we humbly dedicate our festival and competition events to Dr. David Dalton, a luminary of viola research and pedagogy, an early leader of the American Viola Society, and founder of the Primrose Competition. It is with deepest respect and gratitude for Dr. Dalton’s vast contributions to the viola community that we remember him this week. Please refer to your program for sessions honoring Dr. Dalton’s legacy during our festival. In addition to the riveting live rounds of Primrose Competition, we are excited to present full evening programs by vibrant contemporary violist-composer Jessica Meyer and dynamic recitalist Tatjana Masurenko, as well as a joint PIVC Juror recital by revered performers Atar Arad, Ayane Kozasa, and Steven Dann. We hope that you will enjoy the vast slate of AVS Festival and PIVC programming in Colburn’s state-of-the-art facilities, and that in between events you’ll visit our wonderful exhibitors. There are dedicated Exhibitor Coffee Breaks on Thursday and Friday at 2:00 3:30pm, so please be sure to take that time to explore what our sponsors and vendors have on offer and thank them for their presence and support. This year we also continue a new festival tradition begun in 2022, the AVS Exhibition of Modern Violas and Bows. Be sure to visit and play the instruments on exhibition and vote for their favorites in the categories of playability and tone, then hear them performed by Ben Ullery, Associate Principal Viola of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, on Saturday morning in Zipper Hall. Be sure to check out Whova, the festival app, and take advantage of all the pre-recorded and virtual-only festival content. Thanks to Whova, you will have access to event recordings for three full months after the festival. Be sure to take advantage of this benefit of your registration! As we kick off our exciting festival event, I want to give tremendous thanks to our wonderful hosts at the Colburn School and to the whole team that coordinated this extraordinary event. It truly takes a village to put on an event of this scope! On the AVS side, I want to recognize Festival Coordinator Daphne Gerling, Assistant Coordinator and Program Book Coordinator, Christina Ebersohl-Van Sycoc, Proposals Coordinator Tony Devroye, and Competitions Coordinator Hsiaopei Lee, who all put in countless hours to make this event a success. Without their tireless hard work, this event would not have been possible. When you see them, please thank our incredible festival team!

Thank you for your presence at this wonderful and historic event—we wish you a wonderful 2024 AVS Festival and PIVC!

Warmly,

Ames Asbell AVS President

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