JAVS Fall 2024

“I am so sorry to hear about the loss of Roger Myers. One of my first performance experiences in a masterclass was for Mr. Myers at an American Viola Society Festival. Though it was years ago, I still remember that his wisdom, kindness, and vibrant energy made it a positive experience for me. My deepest condolences to Roger’s family, friends, students, and community.”

A Community Remembers

-Alyssa Warcup

Photo courtesy of Sergio Lozano: (L-R) Sophia Acheson, Roger Myers, Christopher Luther, and Sergio Lozano, International Viola Congress in Wellington, New Zealand.

“Roger Myers was larger than life.

For me he was more than a university professor, he was also my mentor and eventually we became best friends. Our connection sparked from the moment we met. I looked up to him and considered him to be like a father. He provided for his students the way a father provides for his children. Unbeknownst to many, he paid application fees, tuition, & travel expenses and say that he found a scholarship. For some of us, he helped with immigration, or even gave instruments and bows. After my time at the University of Texas, we spoke on the phone almost every day. We shared wonderful moments in Austin, at Round Top, in Houston, Vermont, Southern California, and even Australia & New Zealand. He was always there for me. He had all the class of an English gentleman while staying true to his Australian sensibility which is to say he exuded all the posh & classy qualities with the irreverence to mock them at same time. As a teacher, his approach was to transform players. He wanted “teachable,” not perfection. He always knew what was possible in an individual and gave all of himself in their learning. It was an intense, but magnificent educational experience. We lost one of the greats.”

“My former teacher, Roger Myers died of cancer yesterday.

We headbutted a lot. He often would drive me crazy. He was cocky. He was stubborn. He could be very intimidating and did not take kindly to any criticism. Every time he’d say “It’s the Rog way or the highway,” I wanted to strangle him. We had a major falling out and I completed my doctorate with another teacher.

Yet his death is hitting me hard. Much harder than I would have anticipated.

I don’t know if it’s the abruptness or the untimeliness of his death, or simply the realization that a major page in my life has been turned. He was the reason I moved from New York to Texas. He was a brilliant, knowledgeable, and extremely intelligent man. He was my teacher. He was a passionate, energetic, and involved teacher. He had an amazing arsenal of “quick fixes” and long-lasting problem-solving tools. His classes on Baroque and classical performance were fascinating, highly interactive and thorough. The quality and the level of playing that he brought out of his students was inspiring and sometimes truly revelatory. All of us in his tight-knit studio have experienced at least one utterly freeing and unbelievably powerful breakthrough, and looking back, it is now painfully evident that I would not have become the musician and the teacher I am now.

-Sergio Lozano

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Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 40, No. 2, Fall 2024