TOPkans op solistenrol in Bruch Dubbelconcert!

The DVS received the following advertisement last week. Much too good to withhold from our loyal followers! Carpe Diem!

Stichting Talent op Podium Orkest (T.O.P. Orkest; “Talent on Stage Orchestra”) was founded to accompany soloists in their first steps towards the top of the classical music profession. We perform solo concertos with instrumental and vocal soloists who are at the start of their career to give them the opportunity to perform with an orchestra.
For our project in October 2018 we are looking for:
 
  • advanced clarinet and viola soloists (not necessarily a duo)
  • with solo ambitions
  • to perform with us M. Bruch ’s double concerto for clarinet and viola
  • in two concerts on 23rd and 27th October 2018

We offer:

  • a chance to perform as a soloist with an orchestra
  • an advanced amateur orchestra
  • a beautiful program
More information: email info@talentoppodiumorkest.nl, visit www.talentoppodiumorkest.nl or call us on 06-34355166.
 
Send your motivation letter, CV, and a short demo recording to info@talentoppodiumorkest.nl by 1st December 2017. We will invite the most suitable candidates for an audition in Leiden on Saturday 27th or Sunday 28th January 2018. We will ask you to play a piece of your own choice, and a fragment of the concerto selected by us.
 

Met DVS-korting naar Tamestit + NedPho = Bartok

Tamestit_2

Antoine Tamestit

English version below! Follow this link.

Zoals eerder aangekondigd is de beroemde franse altist Antoine Tamestit volgende week in Amsterdam om tweemaal het altvioolconcert van Bartok uit te voeren, op 27 en 31 maart ‘s avonds in het Concertgebouw. Hij wordt begeleid door het Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest (NedPhO) olv. Andrew Litton. Als dikke bonus staat de machtige 10e symfonie van Shostakovich ook op het programma.

Dankzij een mooie geste van de organisator kunnen DVS-vrienden met 50% korting naar deze concerten,

Interesse?
-> Stuur een mail aan mail@dutchviolasociety.nl
met als onderwerp “Tamestit“.

Als vriend van de DVS krijg je dan van ons een mail retour met een link en een kortingscode waarmee de kaartjes besteld kunnen worden.

Over het concert:
In de kleine kring van de concertante werken voor altviool en beroemde altviolisten heeft het Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest een klinkende combinatie gemaakt met het weergaloze spel van de Franse altviolist Antoine Tamestit en Bartóks Altvioolconcert. ‘Hij zingt misschien niet zo hoog als de viool, maar zijn lied is des te warmer,’ schijnt Paganini ooit over de altviool gezegd te hebben. Dat is Antoine Tamestit en zijn grote talent ongetwijfeld meer dan toevertrouwd.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
English Version

As previously announced, the famous French violist Antoine Tamestit will be in Amsterdam next week to give two performances of the Bartok viola concerto in the Concertgebouw, in the evenings of March 27th and March 31st. He will be accompanied by the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra (NedPhO) with Andrew Litton at the baton. As a major bonus, they also play the mighty 10th Symphony of Shostakovich.

Thanks to a nice gesture from the organizers, DVS Friends can now visit these two concerts with a 50% discount.

Interested?
-> Send a mail to mail@dutchviolasociety.nl
  with “Tamestit” in the subject line.

As a Friend of the DVS, you will receive a mail in return with a link and a discount code, with which the tickets can be ordered on-line.

Met DVS naar Lawrence Power (2)

Lawrence_Power_3Het Altvioolconcert van Sir James MacMillan – de toonaangevende Schotse componist van nu – is opgedragen aan altviolist Lawrence Power. Sinds de wereldpremière in februari 2014 gaf Power adembenemende vertolkingen van dit werk op verschillende internationale podia. Op vrijdag 2 december a.s. is de Nederlandse première in Tivoli Vredenburg. Het Radio Filharmonisch Orkest begeleidt hem, en speelt tevens de 5e symfonie van Tsjaikovksij.

Bestel kaarten via deze link.

NB: Vrienden van de DVS kunnen een kortingscode krijgen voor de kaartjes (kortingsprijs: €29,- ipv €34,-); deze code kun je opvragen door ons een mail te sturen.

Lees hier ons interview met Lawrence Power, waarin hij o.a. vertelde over de (toen, 3 jaar geleden nog) aanstaande première van MacMillan.

 

Met DVS-Korting naar Strosser in De Doelen

Genevieve-GWEK-1-klein

Geneviève Strosser, bij de Recital van de DVS in Den Haag, 11 mei 2016 (foto: Evelien Tollenaar)

Geweldig nieuws! Vrienden van de Dutch Viola Society kunnen met €4 korting kaartjes bestellen voor het concert met Geneviève Strosser in De Doelen Rotterdam, as. vrijdag (13 mei). Ze brengt daar de wereldpremière van het altvioolconcert van Hanna Kulenty (onder de naam: “Rotterdam Concerto no.5”),  begeleid door het Residentie Orkest olv. Otto Tausk.

Geïnteresseerd? Stuur ons een mail, en wij reserveren een kaartje voor je, met deze speciale actieprijs. Voorwaarde is uiteraard dat je Vriend bent van de DVS (bijdrage voor 2016: €30 normaal, €20 voor studenten).

Flag_UK

 

 

Great news! Friends of the Dutch Viola Society can order tickets with €4 discount for the concert with Geneviève Strosser in De Doelen Rotterdam, this coming Friday (May 13th). She performs the world premiere of the Hanna Kulenty Viola Concerto (aka. “Rotterdam Concerto no.5”). She is accompanied by the Residentie Orkest, conducted by Otto Tausk.

Interested? Send us a mail, and we will reserve a ticket for you, with this special discount price. It is of course a prerequisite that you are a paying Friend of the DVS (rates for 2016: €30 normal, €20 for students).

Masterclass Geneviève Strosser

Strosser_Foto_DVSOn Wednesday May 11th 2016, the renowned violist Geneviève Strosser will give a unique solo recital and masterclass in The Hague, organised by the DVS in co-operation with Codarts Rotterdam. The Masterclass is intended for viola students enrolled at a Dutch Conservatory (Bachelor or Master level). The five participants will be selected on the basis of meritable applications.

Your application must consist of:

  • a letter of motivation,
  • a Curriculum Vitae,
  • your photo, and
  • a (link to a) representative recent video recording of a solo performance, between 5 and 8 minutes duration.

Furthermore, in order to be considered for this masterclass, you must have paid the DVS student friendship fee for 2016 (€20,-); If you are not already a Friend of the DVS, please register via the form on this page..

Send your application to:  mail@dutchviolasociety.nl by March 18th latest.

Audience is welcome: Tickets for recital + masterclass are  €7,- (DVS friends: free).
The seating capacity is limited, so you may want to make a reservation (address above).

Schedule:
14.00 – 14.45 Solo recital Geneviève Strosser
15.00 – 18.30 Masterclass

Location:
“Gunst, wat ’n kunst”, Raamweg 45, Den Haag
(Tram 9, stop “Laan Copes van Cattenburgh”).

Dankwoord aan onze vrienden…

20160217_DVS_Bedankt_clickBeste vrienden / Dear friends,

// English version below

Bedankt! Bedankt voor alle steun die wij van jullie hebben gekregen. De Dutch Viola Society gaat alweer haar vierde levensjaar in en dit was niet mogelijk geweest zonder alle bijdragen en inspanningen van onze vrienden. Want de DVS, dat zijn jullie!
Dankzij jullie heeft de DVS een grote hoeveelheid workshops en masterclasses met docenten van internationale faam kunnen organiseren, en altvioolspelend Nederland samen kunnen brengen. Daarnaast werken we hard om het Internationaal Altviool Congres 2018 (IVC 2018) naar Nederland te kunnen halen, een grote impuls voor de DVS, en het muziekleven in Nederland en de stad Rotterdam!
Het bestuur en de IVC2018-commissie zijn nu al druk bezig met het plannen en financiëren van deze vijfdaagse altvioolweek. Mocht u mee willen helpen aan dit fantastische evenement, mail dan de IVC2018-comissie en neem plaats!
Rest ons nog u nogmaals te bedanken voor al het vrijwilligerswerk, de (financiële) steun en de vele aanwijzingen.

Met vriendelijke groeten,
Het DVS-bestuur & de IVC2018-commissie

———————————————————————-

English:

Dear friends,

Thank-you for your support! The Dutch Viola Society has been active for 4 years, and this would not have been possible without the contributions and efforts from our friends. Because you ARE the DVS!
Thanks to you, the DVS organised a large number of workshops and masterclasses led by internationally renowned coaches, and we have brought violists in The Netherlands together. Furthermore we are working hard to organise the International Viola Congress (IVC) 2018 in The Netherlands, a big stimulus for the DVS and the musical life in the City of Rotterdam and The Netherlands!
The DVS Board and the IVC2018 Committee are already busy with the planning and financing for this five-day viola week. Should you be interested in helping to create this fantastic event, please send a mail to the IVC2018 Committee and join us!
We thank you once again for your support, volunteer work, financial support and the many suggestions and ideas.

Best regards,
the DVS Board and IVC2018 Committee

Interview Jennifer Stumm & Nils Mönkemeyer

It’s that time of year again, when the Delft Chamber Music Festival (DCMF) descends upon us as a small musical paradise. And where there’s chamber music, viola players are sure to be part of the action. In this 2015 edition, artistic leader Liza Ferschtman has invited two very special violists, Jennifer Stumm and Nils Mönkemeyer. The DVS reporter was fortunate to meet up with both of them for a chat about chamber music, viola, and viola advocacy.

by Kristofer G. Skaug

Nils

Nils Mönkemeyer  (photo by Ronald Knapp for DCMF).

DVS: Nils Mönkemeyer, welcome in Delft – your first time, I believe?

Mönkemeyer: I was very excited to come here, because I met Liza (Ferschtman, ed.) at the Lockenhaus festival (Austria); I liked her instantly, I think she’s a phenomenal musician. Besides, many of my friends came here regularly in the past.

DVS: And Jennifer Stumm, you are a regular at this festival. What keeps you coming back?

Stumm: Liza and I are really old friends, we’ve known each other for 17 years. Apart from the really charming and beautiful old city, this festival has a reputation of having a certain kind of very intelligent and sensitive musicians; so the concerts here are such a pleasure to play. We really work, it’s a process, and I walk away from a concert thinking something quite special happened. It’s really an extraordinary festival!

Mönkemeyer: Judging from the short time that I’ve been here, it really feels like everyone could play with everyone, and it would work. That’s very special.

DVS: You still have relatively limited rehearsal time, does that bring out extra tension in the performance, as if there’s something that still needs to be negotiated on stage?

Jennifer Stumm

Stumm: Well, that’s true of any festival. But Delft actually has more rehearsal time than most places. We really do work hard to prepare, which I think brings the most satisfying results.

DVS: Are there any pieces that you are particularly looking forward to perform here?

Mönkemeyer: Well yes, the Brahms (string) quintet on Monday (August 3rd), because that’s the only piece, apart from the Duo recital earlier that same day, where I get to play together with Jennifer.

Stumm: Yes, Monday is really “Viola day”.

Mönkemeyer: Definitely, Monday is going to be really cool. I have to say that I never played a duo concert (with 2 violas) before. I don’t know why. Even in my student days.

DVS: There was a viola quartet here at DCMF, some time back; the Bowen Fantasia, with Isabelle van Keulen and her friends.

Mönkemeyer: Well she is one of the few violinists who can really play the viola.

DVS: Some viola players personify their instrument by e.g. giving it a name. How do you think about your instruments, do you see it as a utility, a household pet or a soulmate?

Stumm: Naming my instrument? No.

Mönkemeyer: Or as in, is the viola male or female?

Stumm: The instrument has such a character of its own, it doesn’t need to be assigned a label. Violas are a character actor in the music, and I want my instrument to be able to do anything, so I wouldn’t want to say “it’s a man, and his name is Herbert!”, because then I would have a hard time asking it to play the part of a really sexy woman, for example.

DVS: In the interest of acoustics and ergonomics, luthiers have experimented with innovative viola designs, leading to some pretty strange shapes. Have you tried one of these instruments?

Stumm: Occasionally I’ve had the opportunity to try such instruments, although not in all seriousness. I don’t really look at the viola as if it’s lacking something. Of course every instrument has its pluses and minuses, but I don’t feel that the viola has anything to be ashamed of. In fact to me this is what gives the viola its character, what I love about it: The fact that it is so changeable, and that it could be either male or female, because the instrument itself is not acoustically perfect.

Also because violas are physically so diverse means that with your personal physical characteristics you have to find the instrument that’s right for you.

Mönkemeyer: I think that is very particular for viola players. The size, the set-up of the instrument can be so different. An instrument that my student is playing sounds good, until I try, and then it sounds terrible. My own viola is reasonably big, but it’s quite difficult to make it sound well. I have to work hard for the right sound, but I like that. Others prefer their instrument to sound smooth and soft right away. Violas can be so different!

DVS: What are your favourite “unknown viola pieces”,   deserving of more public recognition?

Mönkemeyer: I have recently recorded a CD with Spanish baroque repertoire, for example a viola sonata by Gaetano Brunetti, he was a Spanish viola and violin player from the Boccherini era. There were 12 sonatas which were written as mandatory audition pieces for the orchestra. I hadn’t thought that I would take to this music, but it’s gorgeous.

Stumm: I’d like to mention the music of Alessandro Rolla, which I recorded. For example some of his sonatas, and the duet for viola with violin accompaniment :-). There’s so much undiscovered early repertoire, but people just don’t dig very hard.

DVS: But then again, violists are probably the only musicians who think of Hindemith as ‘mainstream’…

DVS: Have you had any exposure to the Viola Societies in your home countries?

Stumm: Sure, the American Viola Society is very big, and also sponsors the Primrose competition, which I won; so I actually owe them a lot. They’re really dedicated people, working hard to give young violists opportunities, they have a big national convention where I played a few times. And also in the UK where I live now, there’s a thriving Viola Society.

Mönkemeyer: Well, the German Viola Society is not as big as the American one, but for me it was very important. I grew up in the countryside, and I didn’t know any other viola players at all. So I always looked forward to the monthly newsletter from the Viola Society, which arrived by ‘snail mail’, and I could read about concerts with Yuri Bashmet, Kim Kashkashian and so on; It also provided a way to order viola sheet music which was difficult to get by. So for me it was the only link I had to other viola players, when I was younger. Only after I joined the German Youth Orchestra did I realize how many other violists there were around!

DVS: Do you see any missed opportunities that Viola Societies have failed to pick up on, where more priority should be given, in order to have a bigger impact?

Stumm: I’m going to say something very controversial now: I dream of the day when we don’t need Viola Societies! They are important now, for the advocacy of the instrument. But in the future – well, we’re on our way. I mean, how many violin societies do you know? And why is that? Well, maybe they’d only be having fights… 🙂

Mönkemeyer: But maybe the “nerd factor” of such a club is also holding violinists back. Violists are less worried about that, they’re more like Star Trek fans…

Stumm: But really I do hope so much that the viola will keep climbing until it’s no longer a niche instrument; and that major composers are writing repertoire for us, which is to me a key indicator of where the profession is going. There is a growing number of violists who never played the violin.

Mönkemeyer: That’s a very important thing; many music schools don’t offer a good viola teacher. If you want to start playing the viola you pretty much have got to go to a violin teacher initially, who may not know exactly how to approach viola training. That’s one area where the Viola Societies can make a big difference, by providing teaching materials, courses for would-be viola instructors, and so on. This could be key to get more young viola players. Again this is my countryside upbringing speaking.

Stumm: Anyway, advocacy seems to be a natural part of a viola player’s life.

DVS: What are your most exciting plans for the coming year?

Stumm: A few years back I did a (TEDx) talk about the viola, concerning its physics and the way it is in a way acoustically imperfect, and how that creates the character of the instrument. So I’ve developed a concert program around that, which I’ll be on tour with toward the end of next season, starting in May in Berlin.

Mönkemeyer: So what are you going to play there?

Stumm: It’s a mix of viola solo works and chamber music; as the basis I have two viola quintets, the Mozart g minor and the Brahms G major. And then I’ll be playing some of the Ligety sonata, the Brahms songs, and then George Benjamin’s “Viola, Viola”.

DVS: Are you coming anywhere near here (Netherlands)?

Stumm: No, not next season. But maybe the season after.

Mönkemeyer: This summer I have my own 3-day viola festival within the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, with four concerts every day! Chamber music, concertos, and more. My students are performing there as well. And in The Netherlands, I go on tour with Liza (Ferschtman) next season, we play in Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Eindhoven and many other places.

DVS: Thank-you so much for your time, looking forward to see (and hear) you in the concert hall!

——-

The Delft Chamber Music Festival has a packed programme, starting this weekend and lasting until August 9th. Among the highlights (for viola fans) worth noting:

  • Monday Aug 3rd: Stoelendansconcert Midden-Delfland, 13:00h
    with Viola duos by
    Stumm/Mönkemeyer
  • Monday Aug 3rd: Concert in Maasland, 18:00h
    with Brahms string quintet, op.111 (with 2 violas:
    Stumm/Mönkemeyer)
  • Wednesday Aug 5th : Jong Talent Dag, 15:00h
    with young violist
    Dana Zemtsov and pianist Mariam Batsashvili
  • Sunday Aug 9th: Behagen en/of Prikkelen, 14:15h
    featuring
    Marc Desmons (viola) in the Dvorak Piano quintet.
  • Sunday Aug 9th: Denken en Gevoelen, 20:15h (festival closing concert)
    with
    Marc Desmons in the rarely heard cello quintet by Gyorgy Catoire (!)

Residentie Altvioolavonden

Op 5 en 6 maart as. organiseert het …. Residentie_Orkest_altviool… de Residentie Altvioolavonden! Op donderdag 5 maart zullen er van 19:00 tot 23:00u verschillende workshops en masterclasses worden aangeboden door de altviolisten van het Residentie Orkest. De tweedaagse wordt op vrijdagavond afgesloten met het prachtige altvioolconcert van Bartók, tegelijk ook het afscheidsconcert voor en met de vertrekkende solo-altist Mikhail Zemtsov, die ruim 10 jaar bij het orkest speelde.

Vrienden van de DVS krijgen een mooie korting op dit arrangement – zie beneden!

Donderdag 5 maart:

19:00:  Gezamenlijke opening

19:15 – 22:00:  Keuze uit verschillende workshops, waaronder:
– De klank van één altvioolgroep – Jacomine Punt
– Vibrato en streektechniek – Tanja Trede
– Individuele masterclasses – Mikhail Zemtsov, Elisabeth Runge
– Altvioolonderhoud en reparatie – Katharina Meierrot
Meer details over de workshops zijn te lezen in de officiele flyer van de Altvioolavonden.

22:00 – 23:00: Altvioolborrel (inclusief AltvioolMoppenTapperij)

Vrijdag 6 maart:

20:15  Concert Residentie Orkest,
mmv. Mikhail Zemtsov, altviool en Kirill Karabits, dirigent
Bernstein – On the Town
Bartok – Altvioolconcert, op. posth. (Serly)
Dvorák – Symfonie nr. 9, “Uit de Nieuwe Wereld”

(dit concert wordt tevens herhaald op zondag 8 maart, maar dan los van dit arrangement).

Alle programmaonderdelen vinden plaats in de Dr. Anton Philipszaal, Spuiplein 150 te Den Haag. Aanvullende details over prijzen en opties zijn ook te lezen in de officiele flyer van de Altvioolavonden.

Aanmelding:

Meld je aan via het online formulier.  Let op dat je als DVS-vriend de juiste betaal-opties aanvinkt! … DVS-vrienden krijgen tot wel 10 euro (of 33%) korting!