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

2024 Primrose International Viola Competition Competitors

Toby Alexander Cook performs internationally as a soloist and chamber musician, recently at Kings Place London, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, and Berlin Philharmonic. He is a winner of the Małopolska competition, the Barbirolli Prize at the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, and the Len Lickorish Memorial Prize at the Royal Overseas League International Competition. Mr. Cook currently studies with Lawrence Power at the Zurich University of Arts, having completed his master’s degree with Tabea Zimmermann at Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin, and bachelor’s degree with Juan-Miguel Hernandez and

Garfield Jackson in London, where he began in the junior department with Jacky Woods and Clare Thompson. An avid chamber musician, Mr. Cook has performed at the “Open Chamber Music” seminar at IMS Prussia Cove and Kronberg Academy’s Chamber Music Connects the World. Mr. Cook is a Tillett Trust and Villa Musica artist and part of the Festivalcampus Ensemble at Heidelberger Frühling Festival, designing and performing for a number of events.

Riko Eto actively participates in solo, chamber music, and orchestral seminars worldwide. She has performed in the Open Chamber Music week at IMS Prussia Cove as well as the Beppu Argerich Music Festival, Seiji Ozawa Music Orchestra Academy, and Ozawa International Chamber Music Academy Okushiga. As a soloist, Ms. Eto participated in the solo viola section of the ARD International Music Competition 2023 in Munich. She was also selected as an active student of Kronberg Academy’s master class and received sessions from Tabea Zimmermann. She also received master class sessions from Nobuko Imai at the

Lac Leman Music Masterclasses. In Project Q (Japan), she participated in master classes given by the Vision String Quartet, Koichiro Harada, Sadao Harada, and Jean-Guihen Queyras. She completed her bachelor’s degree at the Tokyo University of the Arts (Kazunori Kawasaki’s class) and is currently studying with Kaoru Ohno and Toshihiko Ichitsubo at the Graduate School of Tokyo University of the Arts.

Andjela Josifoski was born in Belgrade, Serbia, into a family of musicians. She started to play the violin at the age of seven and switched to viola at the age of 13. She finished music school studying with Aleksandra Kijanovic and, in 2022, she joined the prestigious International Menuhin Music Academy (Switzerland), studying with Ivan Vukčević and Gerard Causs é. She has won many national and international competitions. At the international Talents for Europe competition, (Slovakia) she won the grand prize (2022) as well as at the Guarneri Fest (Serbia) and Music & More Summerfest (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Ms.

Josifoski has played at many festivals and attended master classes by Igor Ozim, Dora Schwarzberg, Gabor Takacs- Nagy, Dejan Mihailović, Mr. Causs é , Mr. Vukčević, and Panta Veličković. She has played with multiple orchestras, including IMMA soloists (Switzerland), Žilina chamber orchestra (Slovakia), and Sinfonietta Belgrade.

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