JAVS Fall 2012

The 12:30 p.m. viola play-in performance represent ed a culmination of daily play-in rehearsals that were open to all congress attendees. Kenneth Martinson led a group of about twenty-five violists and two cel lists in a performance of Bach’s Sixth Brandenburg Concerto. The complete performance of this work made a nice bookend to the Opening Ceremony’s mass performance of the first movement.

for Flute, Viola, and Double Bass and Derek Bermel’s Soul Garden for solo viola and string (cello) quintet. So ended the Fortieth International Viola Congress; a smashing success by any measure. While attendees will remember this event for the talented performers, the wide array of sessions, and the enjoyable compa ny of many friends and colleagues (old and new), this congress was perhaps most notable for its engagement with the Rochester community. Local leaders graciously spoke at events, area students par ticipated in a Community Viola Day, the radio sta tion broadcast interviews and concerts, and hordes of citizens came out to hear a pair of viola concertos. The hosts are to be commended for creating a con gress that so fully resonated with both the worldwide viola community and the local Rochester communi ty. I cannot imagine a more suitable encore to the Fifth International Viola Congress at Eastman in 1977; here’s hoping that we don’t have to wait another thirty-five years for the next Eastman viola congress.

Basil Vendryes at the closing recital

The closing recital at 1:30 p.m. focused on chamber music. After comments by the congress hosts and Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks, Basil Vendryes performed three short works beginning with David Tcimpidis’s Sonata for Viola and Piano and ending with David Mullikin’s Arlecchino’s Waltz , a fun romp reminiscent of Shostakovich. The duo of Scott Slapin and Tanya Solomon was augmented to a trio with the addition of Ila Rondeau, performing here Slapin’s Capricious . Incorporating snippets from twelve of Paganini’s Caprices , this work opens with a virtuosic section (repeated at the end) contrasted with a lyrical, almost meditative middle section, lov ingly played by the ensemble. Violinist Annette Barbara Vogel and violist Daniel Sweaney next per formed László Weiner’s Duo. One of the many casu alties of the Holocaust, Weiner perished in 1944 at the age of twenty-eight in a labor camp. The violin/viola duo, composed in 1939, demonstrates the influence of his teacher, Kodály, and has been gaining in popularity in recent years. This exciting performance received a deservedly enthusiastic reception from the audience. The concert concluded with performances of Erwin Schulhoff ’s Concertino

Louise Goldberg, host of Eastman’s 1977 viola congress, enjoys Eastman’s 2012 congress, this time as an attendee!

J OURNAL OF THE AMERICAN VIOLA SOCIETy 24