JAVS Fall 2002

VOL. 18 No .2 & 3

48

j OURNAL OF THE AMERICAN V IOLA SOCIETY

Roberto Diaz, MiklOs Rozsa Concerto for Viola, Op. 37

Although Saturday evening's gala concert was billed as a farewell event, the congress continued into Day Five with a BRATS (Bratsche Resources And Teaching in the Schools) Community Outreach Day for school-age violists. The events of the day mirrored the congress events, with master classes, lectures on memorization, practicing and tone production, a play-in, and a performance by the University of Washington Viola Ensemble. Another View &om Seattle ... For a new perspective on congress events, I spoke recently with first-rime delegate Arthur Ross. KS: First of al~ tell me a bit about yourselfandyour involvement with the viola. What brought you to the con gress this year? AR: I was born and raised in Augusta, GA, and began playing the violin when I was 11 years old. I remember the person who would eventually become my first violin and then viola teacher, Brenda Hargrove, coming to my fourth-grade classroom and demonstrating the violin. For some reason, I wasn't all that interested in learning to play at that rime. Bur at the end of that year, several of my friends from class who did begin lessons put on a lircle recital in the school auditorium. I watched them perform on that stage to enthusiastic applause, and I was hooked. I began lessons that next school year. I switched to viola in the eighth grade. At the rime, I was attending a special public school in the area called Davidson Fine Arts School: tuition-free, open to any student in the area between fifth and twelfth grades, with the goal of providing high-level instruction in the arts as well as a more rigorous academic curriculum. T he strings instructor there, JeffWatson, was a viola player, and I think he needed a viola player for the school string quartet. He convinced me I should be that player. I went to the Eastman School of Music for an undergraduate degree, and graduated in 1995. I began freelancing in Georgia and South Carolina soon after. I first heard about the International Viola Congress in college. The whole idea of it sounded great. The top viola teachers and performers from all over the world would be in one place. People I had read