JAVS Spring 2020

From the President

Dear friends and colleagues,

In this spirit, let’s celebrate this edition of the Journal. In the following pages we can learn about the history of the Forsyth Concerto, delve into the G Major Gamba Sonata by Bach, and discover strategies for coping with audition anxiety. We also honor the life of Baird Knecktel, Founder and first President of the Canadian Viola Society who wrote for our “With Viola in Hand” department before he passed away on May 29, 2020. The countless hours of work volunteered for the benefit of the AVS by our board members continues to inspire me. Please join me in recognizing the service of fellow board members who have now completed their terms of service: our outgoing President Michael Palumbo, Treasurer Michelle Sayles, and Members-at Large Travis Baird, Martha Carapetyan, and Michael Hall. We thank them for their years of work and dedication to the American Viola Society. We also welcome our newest board members and thank them for their willingness to serve: Ann Roggen, Katie White Swanson and Laurel Yu. The new Board is already hard at work to better support our current and future members. While this Spring has not been what we anticipated, the AVS continues to support violists and friends of the viola through the sharing of news, research and performance, and we will look forward to celebrating these ideals together at the rescheduled 2020 Festival, now to be held June 2-5, 2021. Stay tuned for several new initiatives the board is working on. We look forward to sharing the details with you soon!

As I sit to write my first welcome as President of the American Viola Society for JAVS , it is impossible to ignore the many challenges we face in today’s world. The COVID 19 pandemic has altered the way we live, work, play and collaborate. It has

rocked our economy, and many of our colleagues are hurting financially as performances and entire seasons are cancelled. In the midst of all of this there have been the devastating deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and countless others that have led to one of the largest protest movements in American history. In this unprecedented time, the work of the American Viola Society is more important than ever. The very mission of the AVS to encourage excellence in performance, pedagogy, research, composition, and lutherie makes evident the support we show each other as we work together and learn from each other. The board of the AVS is taking this opportunity to examine and further develop how the AVS serves our members and community at large. As we work to become an ever-better version of our society, we will continue to cultivate the spirit of community violists are known for so that the AVS will emerge even stronger from the effort.

With deepest regards, Hillary Herndon

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