JAVS Fall 2023

appeared as soloist with many major orchestras including the Washington National Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra. In addition to his many solo and chamber music performances, Alan’s career also included ten years as principal violist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Maestros Mehta and Giulini, guest principal violist of the New York Philharmonic and membership in An die Musik, the Aldanya String Quartet, and the White House Quartet. He has also performed on literally hundreds of motion picture soundtracks, and recorded for almost every major record label. Throughout his career Alan additionally served as a faculty member of numerous music festivals and universities, including Indiana University, where from 1994-2012 he was Professor of Music (the professorship previously held by William Primrose). His students hold many of today’s most prestigious viola positions and include such names as Paul Neubauer, James Dunham, and Nokuthula Ngwenyama. In 2017, a major celebratory “Alan de Veritch Tribute Weekend” was co-hosted by Brigham Young University and the Primrose International Viola Archive (PIVA) where a large collection of Mr. de Veritch’s personal memorabilia, recordings, photographs, correspondence, music, programs, publications and historic documents pertaining to his life, heritage and career is now permanently housed.

Footnotes: 1 For proper perspective, I really should mention that at the time of this meeting, the very early 1960’s, as strange as it may seem today, virtually no young string players were seriously considering the viola as their instrument of choice! 2 Interestingly, William ultimately attributed this backstage discomfort to the many years his father had consistently worked to discourage any potential for William to acquire traits typically associated with excessive self-ego! 3 “Walk on the North Side” was published in 1978 by Brigham Young University Press. 4 As a related point of interest with regards to William’s hearing infliction…he eventually explained to me that his hearing deficiency was not primarily “a traditional hearing loss” per se, but rather a calcification of his auditory nerve which in fact was creating a reversal of sound input. In other words, the auditory sounds being created by the functions of his inner body were exceeding the sounds from outside of his body. Hence, the notes he was generating on his viola were being drowned out by his internal body sounds! Personally, I cannot imagine what a nightmare that scenario must have been….24 hours a day…and night!!)

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Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 39, No. 2, Fall 2023