JAVS Fall 2012

A T T HE G RASSROOTS

ValdostaViola Day

Local Viola Societies Arizona Viola Society Jeff Norman, President violist@mad.scientist.com Florida Viola Society Kenneth Martinson, President kenmartinson@gmail.com Idaho Viola Society Linda Kline Lamar, President lkline@boisestate.edu Minnesota Viola Society Kirsti J. Petraborg, President kpetraborg@comcast.net Northern California Viola Society Ethan Filner, President ethan@cypressquartet.com Ohio Viola Society Christiana Reader, President christianareader@gmail.com Rocky Mountain Viola Society Matthew Dane, President matthew.a.dane@gmail.com South Carolina Viola Society Constance Gee, President cgee@mozart.sc.edu Southern California Viola Society Andrew Duckles, President aduckles@yahoo.com Tennessee Viola Society Kathryn Plummer, President kathryn.plummer@Vanderbilt.Edu Missouri Viola Society Leslie Perna, President PernaL@missouri.edu

Participants at Valdosta State University’s Viola Day perform in a viola choir.

On October 8, 2011, Valdosta State University held its first Viola Day, hosted by Lauren Burns, Lecturer in Viola. Susan Dubois, Professor of Viola at the University of North Texas, and Michael Fernandez, Principal Viola of the Alabama Symphony, gave master classes on solo repertoire and orchestral excerpts for college-level violists and then performed as guest artists on the Viola Day recital with pianist Maila Gutierrez Springfield. Dr. Dubois performed selections from Glinka’s Sonata, Pochon’s Passacaglia, and Bloch’s Suite, and Michael Fernandez played his own transcriptions of Waxman’s Carmen Fantasy and Brahms’s Op. 38 Sonata. The Viola Day recital also included the following viola ensemble pieces: Lauren Burns and Renate Falkner (University of North Florida) performed the Lament for Two Violas by Frank Bridge, and Kenneth Martinson (President of IVS), Ulisses Silva (Reinhardt University), Lauren Burns, Tania Maxwell Clements (Georgia State University), Michael Fernandez, Emily Jensenius (FSU student), Larissa dos Santos (VSU student), and Susan Dubois performed two movements from Gordon Jacob’s Suite for Eight Violas. Morning sessions included scale/technique classes by Lauren Burns, Renate Falkner, and Larissa dos Santos; a pre-college session on the Telemann Concerto by Tania Maxwell Clements; a Rolla duo lecture-demonstration by Kenneth Martinson and Michael Fernandez; a pre-college master class by Lauren Burns; and a viola choir led by Valdosta State University alum Michael Giel. There were about fifty participants aged twelve to thirty, mostly from the Atlanta area, Savannah, Thomasville, Macon, Tallahassee, and Valdosta. Vendor displays at the event were violas by William Harris & Lee, bows by David Forbes, accessories by Frank Kilgard, and sheet music by Gems Music Publishing. – Lauren Burns

Utah Viola Society Michael Palumbo, President mpalumbo@weber.edu

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