JAVS Summer 2001

66

VOL 17No. 2

j OURNAL OF THE A'-IERICAN VIOU. SOC!En'

Miles Davis' All Blues. The evemng closed with a brilliant caricature of Saint-Saens' The Swan with violist Piotr Jandula, pianist Kelly Lin and vocalist/chef Robin Lorentz, who vocally "cooked the swan".

system. The afternoon workshop "Diverse Sryles of Performance and Education" opened with an edifying presentation "On Practicing" by Northern California Viola Society presi dent Tom Heimberg. This engaging session articulated and provided an abundance of ideas and practical solutions to the confound ing and frustrating question of how to prac tice. Tom Heimberg's article is featured in the most recent issue of Strings magazine and the San Francisco Opera Program. The next ses sion was on improvisation. Well-known L.A. jazz violist Dan Weinstein brilliantly demon strated various ways to play and teach this elu sive subject; he presented various bowing and rhythmic examples showing several jazz sryles. From the audience's enthusiasm, violists are craving more exposure to improvisation. Because of an unfortunate death in Novi Novog's family, we had to schedule another presenter; we were able to secure Venessa Kay, a marketing consultant and group facilitator from Southern Oregon. Ms. Kay concluded the afternoon workshop with an interactive and group brainstorming session covering a multidimensional spectrum of ideas from how we musicians can market ourselves and our COs on the internet to how to create oppor tunities in other markets. After dedicating the evening's concert, "Music for Viola and Various Instruments," to Novi Novog's recently deceased mother, renowned Los Angeles violist David Schwartz addressed the audience with humorous and entertaining stories from his extensive experi ence as a successful violist in New York and Los Angeles. The concert opened with violist Piotr Jandula in a sensual performance of Polish composer Henryk Czys' jazz Etude for String Quartet with guest artists Marcy Vaj and Robin Lorentz on violin and cellist Victor Lawerence. Then, violist Patrick Rosalez from the Arizona Viola Sociery chapter presented a virtuosic performance ofVincent Persicherti 's Parable XVI Op. 130 for solo viola. Violist Cynthia Fogg and cellist/composer Tom Flaherry then played Music for Viola, Cello and Processor, a piece full of rich timbrel and tex tural colors by Tom Flaherry. The L.A. Crossover Band members violist Ray Tischer and guitarist Kenton Youngstrom next played a wide variery of jazz and crossover tunes such as Villa Lobos' Bachianas Brasilieras #6 and

Cynthia Fogg and Tom Flahmy

Ktl/y Lin, Robin Lorentz, and PiotrJandu!A

Sunday May 6th began with a highly informative slide show presentation on instru ment making by Margaret Shipman of the shop ofHans Weisshaar. Following the presen tation, former SCVS president violist Simon Oswell demonstrated violas from the shops of Mark Womak, Metzler Violins, Studio Ciry Music (Hans and Eric Benning), Marquis Violins, Vita Dolce Violins (Tom and Trudy Egan), Michael Fischer, Professional Violins (Stephen Derek), Howard Needham, Antonio Rizzo, James Cave, Bergbows (Mike Duff) and others. His wonderful playing dearly showed each instrument's unique timbre and personaliry. The final event of the weekend was the Multiple Violafest opening with a passionate performance by Northern California Viola Sociery's Linda Ghidossi-De Luca; she played Benjamin Britten's Lachrymae effectively