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

2024 Primrose International Viola Competition Jurors

violist of both the wonderfully eclectic Zebra Trio (with violinist Ernst Kovacic and cellist Anssi Karttunen) and Toronto’s multi-Grammy-nominated ARC Ensemble. In solo and chamber music, Dann has recorded for Sony, Naxos, CBC Records, Marquis Classics, Centrediscs, RCA Red Seal, Ondine, Kairos, Chandos, ATMA Classique, and Toccata Classics. The Stereo Record Review described his recording of the viola works of Brahms (ATMA Classique) as “without doubt, one of the most beautiful viola recordings I have ever heard”. Dann has a diverse solo and chamber music repertoire born of both the researcher’s joy in uncovering forgotten treasures, and a love of taking part in new creations. To name a few, important solo works with large ensembles by Mark-Anthony Turnage, Christos Hatzis, Morton Feldman, Giya Kancheli, Alexina Louie, and Jonathan Harvey. Unearthed gems from the past, some recorded for the first time, by Rebecca Clarke, Julius Röntgen, Jerzy Fitelberg, Pierre de Breville, Pierre Tournemire, Paul Ben-Haim, and Alberto Hemsi. And commissions including works from Peter Lieberson, R. Murray Schafer, Kaija Saariaho, Alexina Louie, Magnus Lindberg, Friedrich Cerha, and Hans Abrahamsen. As both a performer and teacher, Dann is a regular guest at many international festivals and arts schools. He teaches viola and chamber music at the Glenn Gould School in Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music and is the coordinator of chamber music programs at the Domaine Forget in Québec and the Music by the Sea Festival in British Columbia. With his colleagues in the Zebra Trio, a contemporary music seminar entitled “Creative Dialogue France” involving young and established composers and performers happens each August in the Loire Valley, France. Dann plays a viola commissioned from Joseph Curtin, based on the “Primrose” Guarneri.

Gera l dine Walther United States

Former violist of the Takács String Quartet and former Principal Violist of the San Francisco Symphony, Geraldine Walther previously served as assistant principal of the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Miami Philharmonic, and the Baltimore Symphony. During her tenure with the San Francisco Symphony, she was soloist with the orchestra 47 times and gave the US premiers of several important works. She has appeared in many chamber music festivals including Aspen, Marlboro, Santa Fe, Tanglewood, Music @Menlo, Telluride, Seattle, Cape Cod, Music Academy of

the West, Ravinia, and the Green Music Festival.

In 1995, Walther was selected by Sir Georg Solti as a member of his Musicians of the World, an orchestra composed of leading musicians from around the globe, for concerts in Geneva to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. She has also served as principal violist with the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego and has performed as soloist with other orchestras. As a member of the Takács Quartet, she traveled the world as a performer and served as Artist in Residence at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Walther’s recordings include eighteen Hyperion recordings as a member of the Takacs Quartet, Hindemith’s Trauermusik and Der Schwanendreher with the San Francisco Symphony (both on London/Decca), Paul Chihara’s Golden Slumbers with the San Francisco Chamber Singers (Albany), and Lou Harrison’s Threnody (New Albion), Delectable Pieces with the Volkert Trio (Con Brio), and numerous recordings available from Music@Menlo LIVE. With collaborator David Korevaar (piano), she has recorded two albums of viola sonatas, one featuring Brahms and the other works of Hindemith on the MSR label.

Walther is a founding artist of the Ruby Mountain Chamber Music Festival and the Chamber Music Sundaes series in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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