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

2024 American Viola Society Festival Artists

Sydney Whipple Sydney Whipple from Oakland, California, began violin lessons at age 5 and switched to viola at 10. She spent her high school years studying with Dimitri Murrath at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre College Program and is currently a student of Carol Rodland at The Juilliard School where she is the proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship. Sydney has a passion for chamber music and has taken part in music programs including Bowdoin International Music Festival, The Perlman Music Program, Music@Menlo, and Young Chamber Musicians. Sydney also has an interest in the brain and how music Molly Wise Violist Molly Wise maintains a versatile performance portfolio that includes innovative projects promoting music by women and other underrepresented groups. Her playing has taken her to the Kennedy Center, Sarasota Opera House, and more across the United States and Canada, not to mention countless engagements across Houston in concert halls, museums, and classrooms. She has performed alongside members of the Miró and New Orford quartets, Milena Pajaro-van der Stadt, and Vietnamese instrumentalist Vân-Anh Vo. She made her solo debut performing Penderecki’s Viola Concerto, has been guest principal with the Amarillo Symphony, and is currently pursuing her

cultivates empathy.

DMA at Rice University.

Erin Wood Trio Lawrence

Erin Wood joined the faculty of University of Kansas in 2011, having previously taught at University of Nevada Reno, Indiana University Southeast, and the Arts Institute in New Albany Indiana. She has served as the principal harpist of the Reno Chamber Orchestra and the Utah Festival Opera. Erin has enjoyed performing as a soloist and chamber musician for the Seventh World Harp Congress in Prague, the American Harp Society Summer Institute in Los Angeles, and the Harp Carnivale in New Orleans. She was a prize winner in the Prix Renie and National Society for Arts and Letters.

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