JAVS Spring 2020

The concerto is the topic of Dalabakis’s PhD research. She was joined by Polish violist Artur Paciorkiewicz, who gave the premiere performance of the work in 1993. Later in the morning, Maxim Rysanov presented a master class. This was followed by discussion by Turkish violist Barış Kerem Bahar of works for viola. An interesting Q & A with Bahar brought up an emerging genre referred to as “Turkish Classical music.” Swiss violist, Viacheslav Dinerchtein gave a lecture-recital about Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s sonatas for solo viola, important works in the solo viola repertoire. Dinerchtein gave a strong performance of Weinberg’s first solo sonata. After lunch, performances included those by Aneta Dumanowska and Barbara Papierz of Frank Bridge’s Lament for 2 Violas; violinist Annette-Barbara Vogel and violist Jutta Puchhammer- Sédillot of the Sonata for violin and viola of Italian composer Mario Castelnuovo Tedesco, a piece that is, undeservedly, rarely performed; and Portuguese violist Jorge Alves, performing works by Portuguese composers Miguel Azguime ( Dedans-Dehors ) and Armando Santiago ( Neume Ill, enhuit strophes ). (viola) with pianist Pawel Rydel of compositions by Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz. The next program featured classical cello sonatas, transcribed by violist Leszek Brodowski. Brodowski and Rydel performance of Beethoven’s Sonata, op. 5, no. 2 was convincing. Violist Krzysztof Komendarek-Tymendorf then performed his own transcription of Brahms’ Cello Sonata no. 1, op. 38 in E minor with pianist Mirosława Sumlińska. The evening concert took place in the Poznań Grand Theatre, with the Poznan Grand Theatre Symphony Orchestra with conductor Katarzyna Tomala-Jedynak. This night of concerto performances included Anton Wranitzky’s Concerto for violin and viola with Polish born violist Jerzy Kosmala and his grandson Stefan Kosmala-Dahlbeck. Congress co-host Ewa Guzowska then performed a relatively new work by Polish composer Ewa Fabiańska-Jelińska. Tomasz Rosiński performed the Concert for Viola and Strings by Marek Stachowski. The program ended with a seminal work for viola and orchestra by the important Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz, performed by violist Pawel Riess. The afternoon continued at the Henryk Wieniawski Music Society with a lecture-recital by Błażej Maliszewski

Kathryn Brown performing Sanctum by Adolphus Hailstrok. Photo by Dwight Pounds

Day one ended with an evening concert featuring father and-son duo Lech Balaban and Jan Balaban (violin). They performed Ewa Fabianska-Jelinski’s Passacaglia, Piotr Komorowski’s Albo-albo ( Either – or ), and Slawomir Czarnecki’s Capriccio Brda. Lech Balaban was joined by pianist Krzysztof Sowinski for a performance of Szymon Godziemba-Tryteck’s Comtemplation . The concert finished with an excellent performance by Maxim Rysanov of Shostakovich’s Sonata for Viola and Piano. Day Two Day two began with a thought-provoking lecture by Brigham Young University’s Myrna Layton, Building Your Public: Attracting and Retaining the Millennial and iGen(eration) Audience . Following was a presentation by Elyse Dalabakis, violist and PhD student of Donald Maurice in New Zealand, about Greek composer Dimitris Dragatakis’s Concerto for Viola and Orchestra.

Myrna Layton delivering her lecture entitled “Building Your Public: Attracting and Retaining the Millennial and iGen(eration) Audience.” Photo by Dwight Pounds.

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Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 36, No. 1, Spring 2020