The 49th International Viola Congress takes place from 17-21 July in Campinas, Brazil. Your intrepid DVS bloggers bring you the daily debrief from the pulsating heart of the viola world.

Day 2 – Thursday, July 18th 2024.

Viola Ensemble rehearsals started at 9am today – there was some unavoidable chaos trying to cram 50 fanatical violists into a simple classroom and then split them into 8 groups so as to be able to rehearse Gordon Jacob’s Suite for 8 violas. It was worth the trouble – exciting sounds definitely happened!

At 10, we gathered to hear Dorotea Vismara and Andrew Filmer (via video link) give a lecture about “Viola Family Trees”. They explored the commonalities between the generational shifts in viola culture in Malaysia and Italy, and the significance of “lineage” when the next generation takes over.

Hella Frank gave a lecture (in Portuguese) titled “Aprenda mais rápido! Torne seu estudo mais eficiente!“, or in other words “Learn faster, make your studying more efficient“. According to one attendee it was a very interesting talk.

After lunch, the incomparable Marcin Murawski gave a masterclass in the Main Auditorium. It was admirable how he was able to level with each student and and make his points subtle, even though the levels were quite diverse.

Meanwhile in the upstairs lecture room, Jorge Alves presented a 4-piece Suite by the Portuguese composer Fernando Lopes Graça. Born in 1904, Graça had to spent most of his life in opposition to the regime. Only in 1974 did he obtain full freedom of speech. While he composed the Suite, he was also working on the Requiem to the victims of the Fascism. Jorge, whose parents also suffered during the dictatorial regime, gave a clear picture of the oppression and its influence on this composition. The score was shown on-screen during Jorge’s very good performance, and Graça’s “accusation” against the regime could be both seen and heard.

Daphne Gerling presented the program “Music from Latin and North America for Viola and Piano”, assisted by Tomoko Kashiwagi on the piano. Although currently teaching at the University of North Texas and being a long-standing board member of the American Viola Society, her family is rooted in Brazil, and in this congress she is firmly on home turf. The program featured works by Jessie Montgomery, Modesta Bor and Ilza Nogueira. Most appealing in my ears was the sonata by Marcelle Soulage, a French composer who earned a spot in this programme by being born in Lima, Peru. Finally Daphne gave an encore where she delighted us with a very good soprano voice rendering a Brazilian song.

After this it was time for the pitch talk “Toward an International Working Group for Viola Music Catalogues”, promoted by Daphne Gerling, Myrna Layton and yours truly, intended as a follow-on of our talk at the 2017 congress in Wellington. Instead of summarizing here, as promised in the lecture I leave you here the download link for the presentation slides. Please send us a mail (mail@dutchviolasociety.nl)  if you’re interested to join this working group.

The evening concert was presented by the Unicamp Symphony Orchestra and its conductor Cinthia Alireti. From the name, I had expected a good student orchestra,  based on a core of conservatory students. Instead it turned out to be a very decent professional orchestra. The climax of this concert was no doubt the Concertino for viola (1978) by Ernst Mahle, featuring one of today’s foremost Brazilian violists, Renato Bandel. While the Concertino itself may be quite modest in thematic material, Bandel made it a colourful and vivid Brazilian festa with his powerful sound and energetic musicality. We were left longing for more!

Back at the hotel, the IVS board had arranged a tribute event for prof. Donald Maurice, who has declared that this may be his last Viola Congress. Former host of multiple IVC congresses himself, he was an easy target for ad-hoc limericks and various viola choruses of thankfulness and encouragement, including some beautiful poetry, song and Taonga Puoro – playing from his fellow Kiwis.

More action from the 49th IVC tomorrow!

Kristofer Skaug and Karin Dolman, DVS