JAVS Fall 2011

In the imminent future, Noelle is going on to gradu ate school at the Cleveland Institute of Music to study with Lynne Ramsey. As she leaves PIVA behind, Noelle says, “Working with PIVA was something that I felt very honored to be a part of. The hours I put in I knew were for the continuation of a great work for the best instrument in the world. Lots of people worked before me and made it what it was when I got there, and now I’m leaving, and I hope my time there will be a benefit to the future. I was able to be a part of the great legacy created by some of the greatest names of the viola. The Primrose International Viola Archive has made me a better violist; there is no doubt about that! I have a greater appreciation of the legacy that got us to where we are today. But I also am aware of how much we can still do. The archive is constantly growing, and so is the viola world. I hope to be the best violist I can be, and that passion became brighter with my work in PIVA.” Violist Bryan Lew worked with a non-violist student, Brandon Holst , on a PIVA bookplate project in the summer of 2010 and continues to keep new PIVA acquisitions identified. Brandon and Bryan diligently went through every item on the shelves, ensuring that there were no errors in the catalog record for each item and that the correct donor’s attribution was on the bookplate. Bryan, who is pursuing a degree in viola performance at Byu, says, “Working in the archive has helped me expand my knowledge of the solo viola repertoire as well as chamber music. It also prepared me for working out of different editions of music, which is extremely important for viola players to understand. Working in the archive has given me the proper resources for viola research and perform ance. It has given me experience in helping others uti lize these resources and in teaching privately.” Annisija Wallin has been working in PIVA for about a year, since the summer of 2010, continuing Blake’s work with the ulrich Drüner Collection. She says, “This collection is especially fun to catalog, because many of the scores are very old. I have to do a lot of research on composers, arrangements, and publishers.” Annisija says, “The more I spend time with the collec tion, the more I love it. The PIVA room is a violist’s

Rózsa’s Viola Concerto, with a gift bookplate for Paul Doktor

heaven. I love just going through the stacks and pulling off scores. I’ve found so many treasures on technique and lots of music for instrument combina tions that I had no idea existed. Working there has made me so much more aware of the breadth and depth of viola repertoire. I feel inspired when I spend time in PIVA. It makes me feel like I can do anything when I’m constantly surrounded by Primrose’s books and violas and photographs of the most famous vio lists in the world.”

From left to right: Annisija Wallin and Noelle Rader replace a string on one of PIVA’s violas

Many of the students mentioned the value of meeting other violists through their work in the archive. Charles Martin said, “We would have people from all over the world come to the PIVA, and it was mutually exciting to share stories and experiences about the

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