JAVS Summer 2014

Spotlight on the Primrose Competition and Festival June 8–14, 2014

by David M. Bynog

Jury members of the 2014 Primrose International Viola Competition, from left to right: Claudine Bigelow, Wing Ho, Luis Magin, Cassandra Lynne Richburg, Cathy Basrak, Martin Beaver, Pierre Henri Xuereb, Nokuthula Ngwenyama (competition director), Caroline Coade, and Massimo Paris (photo courtesy of Dwight Pounds) For one week in June, all eyes in the viola world turned toward Los Angeles, where twenty-seven young violists gathered to compete in the fourteenth Primrose International Viola Competition (PIVC). International viewership of the competition was once again made possible by the American Viola Society’s live HD streaming of competition rounds, and more than 18,000 visitors from 67 countries tuned in to follow along. In celebration of the competition’s thirty-fifth anniversary, the AVS hosted a companion Primrose Festival from June 12 to 14, which offered recitals, master classes, workshops, lectures, health and wellness sessions, and more. The Colburn School of Music, with its first-rate facilities and helpful and knowledgeable staff, served as the backdrop for events. Gina Coletti of the Southern California Viola Society hosted a ViolaFest for violists from the fourth through twelfth grades on Saturday, June 14, and area music lovers came out in full force to volunteer.

V OLUME 30 S UMMER 2014 O NLINE I SSUE

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