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

2024 American Viola Society Festival Artists

Elianna Nielsen Elianna Nielsen is a recent graduate of Northern Illinois University where she received her Bachelor of Music degree in Viola performance. Growing up, Elianna studied at the Wheaton College Community School of the Arts and was a member of the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra, and ILMEA All State Orchestra in Illinois.

Stephen Nordstrom Dr. Stephen Nordstrom is currently Associate Professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, where he teaches violin, viola, and graduate string pedagogy. He has recently presented solo and chamber music recitals in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado, and internationally in Lithuania, Latvia, Mexico, and Belgium. In 2017, his album of new works for viola with composer and pianist Dominic Dousa, entitled A Musical Portrait of the American Southwest, received critical acclaim in American Record Guide and Gramophone Magazine. The Nordstrom Dousa duo has performed these works for numerous universities and arts organizations across the Southwestern United States. Northern California Viola Society The Northern California Viola Society is a non-profit, volunteer-run organization with a mission to enhance the musical lives of violists of all ages and levels in the Northern California region through performance, education and viola-centric activities. The NCVS's annual Young Violists Competition and the Composition Contest have been a central part of the Society’s work over the past decade. James Palmer Houston-based pianist James Palmer regularly performs throughout the city, appearing as a soloist and chamber musician in the Music in Context Chamber Series, Musiqa, and numerous recitals in Houston and throughout the United States. He is a featured performer for the Houston Public Library’s Houston in Harmony series for the Museum of Fine Arts Houston’s Summer Nights Gallery Exhibit. Palmer is the Secretary for the Scriabin Society of America, a national organization dedicated to promoting the music and legacy of Alexander Scriabin. He helped organize and gave a lecture-recital at the International Scriabin Amanda Perez Amanda Perez is a graduate of Northern Illinois University where she studied with Anthony Devroye and earned a bachelor’s in music in 2024. Amanda first developed a love for music in the Sphinx Performance Academy and soon after was selected as an inaugural fellow in the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative where she studied with Helen Callus. She is an alumna of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra where she was awarded a Luminarts Scholarship in 2020. Amanda was a winner of the Illinois American String Teachers Association Competition in 2021, and in 2023 was awarded a Sphinx

150 Festival, celebrating the composer’s sesquicentennial anniversary.

Empower Artist Grant.

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