JAVS Summer 2000

56

VoL 16 No.2

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN VIOLA SOCIETY

The Utah Viola Society, in conjunction with Brigham Young University School of Music, held Violafest 2000 this past March. The event opened with the Primrose Memorial Recital and Master Class given by Lawrence Power, the recent Primrose Competition win ner at Guelph, and his collaborator, Simon Crawford-Phillips, pianist. Power began the festivities with a master class held at BYU where he instructed four students in the playing of Hindemith, Bloch, Bartok and Shulman. The following evening Power and Crawford-Phillips gave an impres sive program that included the Rebecca Clarke Sonata, Hindemith Sonata, Op. 25, no. 1 and the Primrose transcription of La Campanella on the first half. After intermis sion the duo played the Vieuxtemps Sonata, Op. 36, Borissovsky's arrangement of Prokofiev's The Death of juliet and the Hindemith Sonata Op. 11, no. 4. Power and Crawford-Phillips gave a mem orable performance that had a strong impact on their audience. Their playing was dean and passionate, highlighted by their ability to cre ate a varied palate of colors. The Violafest activities continued on Saturday, March 11 with workshops address ing the subject, "The Viola in My Life: Careers in Music Making." The morning started with a presentation given by Roberta Zalkind, the associate principal violist of the Utah Symphony. Her opening lecture, "The Orchestral Violist," addressed how to prepare for orchestral auditions with helpful ideas for each part of the process. She included advice for the sometimes neglected areas of prepara tion outside of the practice room, such as resumes and letter writing. She also gave

instruction to a student that had prepared a mock audition. A student in attendance, Elizabeth Ashton, commented afterward, "Roberta's explicit comments about preparing for and going to an audition were so detailed, that a month later when I had my first audition, nothing came as a surprise to me. Her lecture really helped me. Her hand-out will be a check list for all my future auditions." Brant Bayless, the violist of the Arcata Quartet in residence at Utah State University, spoke of his experiences in chamber music and how he was able to make quartet playing his career. He advised students not to under estimate the influence of summer festivals and also discussed the staples of the literature that every aspiring quartet violist needed to know. Brant followed his remarks with a master class. After a lunch break, there was a recital entitled "Viola Valentines." Roberta Zalkind and Claudine Bigelow gave a performance of W. F. Bach's first viola duo. This was followed by the Frank Bridge Lament, played by Bayless and Bigelow. The program closed with Interlude, a viola octet composed by David Sargent and conducted by the director of BYU's "Group for New Music," Murray Boren. The event concluded with a play-in con ducted by Brant Bayless. A highlight of this portion was the Festival Overture by Michael Kimber, a joyful celebration of the instrument we cherish. 1g

-Claudine Bigelow Brigham Young University School ofMusic