Category Archives: Artikelen

De altviool is meer dan alleen muziek, lees hier verhalen, recensies, interviews en adviezen. Geschreven door het bestuur van de DVS zelf!

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Stuur uw ideeën naar mail@dutchviolasociety.nl!

HVVS: Het Orkest als Laboratorium

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door Roald van Os, HVVS
Rhenen, Oktober 2025

Met het Orkest als Laboratorium van en onder leiding van ‘hoofdlaborant’ Johannes Leertouwer kregen studenten van de historische en klassieke afdelingen uit Den Haag, Amsterdam en Utrecht en jonge professionals weer een unieke kans zich verder te ontwikkelen in de historische uitvoeringspraktijk van romantisch repertoire. Dit keer stond de 3e symfonie (Rheinische) van Schumann en zijn pianoforteconcert met als solist niemand minder dan Olga Pashchenko in de proefopstelling om nader onderzocht en uitgevoerd te worden. Ook de Historical Violin&Viola Society (HVVS) was getuige van deze bijzondere week en doet er graag verslag van.

De altviolengroep van het “Laboratoriumorkest”

Ons orkest dat uitsluitend op historische instrumenten speelde, hield zich een week lang op in de Bernhard Haitinkzaal van het Conservatorium van Amsterdam waar heel gedisciplineerd en hard gewerkt werd. Johannes had dit keer zelfs de beschikking over jong professionele assistenten die met de partituur erbij vanuit de zaal en soms op het podium feedback en ideeën gaven en als sparring partner van grote waarde bleken bij het schaven aan de wijze waarop bijvoorbeeld mooi het verschil in dynamiek en effect tussen sforzandi en fortepiano’s door het orkest gemaakt konden worden. The devil is in the details blijkt dan toch maar weer, de partituur staat nl. vol met aanduidingen en die verschillen nogal eens van elkaar. We hebben geleerd dat het grootste effect en expressie pas bereikt wordt wanneer je heel bewust die verschillen zo precies mogelijk maakt en dat je op voorhand al weet wát je er mee doet en probeert niet in oude aangeleerde gewoontes te vervallen of alles in een soort quazi Fortepiano-default-stand behandelt. Dat laatste is gewoon best lastig omdat je het eerder aangeleerde moet afleren voordat je iets nieuws kunt leren en dat goed kan laten inslijten. En dat voor sommigen ook nog eens op een totaal nieuw instrument zonder kin- en/of schoudersteun, met andere stok en darmsnaren.  Zelf merkte ik ook hier weer dat bijv. de linkerhand bij strijkers standaard ‘uit’ staat en een expressief hulpmiddel wordt daar waar de muziek erom vraagt c.q. waar het genoteerd staat. Bijvoorbeeld zodra er een crescendo staat. ‘Dynamisch gebruik van …’ is wel het sleutelbegrip in het bewust uitvoeren van deze muziek. Het zit in de zich soms snel opvolgende tempowisselingen, klankkleuring, dynamiek, agogische accenten en articulatie een benadering vraagt die dicht bij de zangkunst ligt.

Dan kort over de opstelling van de altviolen, die zaten vanuit het publiek gezien links direct naast de eerste violen en pal voor de hoorns waarmee ook vaak een soort klankblok gevormd werd. Ik heb hier zelf ervaren dat het mengen van de groep met een mix van natuur- en romantische ventielhoorns met de altviolen met darmsnaren de nodige warme kleuren opleverde. We sloten de week af met een fantastisch concert in de Stadsgehoorzaal van Leiden waar Olga op een mid-19e -eeuwse Duitse vleugel ons orkest vleugels gaf waarmee we als het ware over en door het concert en vervolgens de Rheinische symfonie vlogen.

Leuk om hierbij alvast te vermelden dat het met Leertouwer niet bij zijn geliefde Brahms, Mendelssohn en Schumann blijft. Vanaf volgend jaar waarin de 4e van Schumann en zijn celloconcert  op het programma staat, start hij namelijk in Utrecht met de Beethoven Academie en wil hiermee alle 9(!) symfonieën van de grootmeester uit Bonn in 2026 en 2027 gaan uitvoeren. Ook hierin staat het onderzoeks- en leerelement centraal. Meer info vind je hier.

De HVVS houdt het allemaal voor jullie in de gaten en geeft waar nodig haar hulp aan dit prachtige initiatief!

Première Altvioolconcert van Martijn Padding

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Beste Altvioolvrienden,

De vooraanstaande Nederlandse componist Martijn Padding heeft een nieuw altvioolconcert geschreven! Dit werk, met de titel Ma vie en couleurs, wordt deze week in première gebracht door altviolist Emlyn Stam, aan wie dit werk ook is opgedragen.

De concerten zijn op:

🎻 April 9 – TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht
🎻 April 10 – Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam
🎻 April 11 – Amare (Paleiskerk), Den Haag

Als oud-bestuurslid draagt Emlyn de DVS een warm hart toe, daarom biedt hij DVS-vrienden korting op de kaartjes voor deze concerten! Klik [hier] om erachter te komen hoe je de korting krijgt!

Hariolf Schlichtig Masterclass in Utrecht

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The renowned German violist Hariolf Schlichtig (Professor for Viola and Chamber Music at Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich) will give a Masterclass for four talented viola students at HKU Utrecht, co-sponsored by the DVS:

Place:  HKU Utrecht, room K110 in K&W building, Mariaplaats
Date:   February 6th, 2025
Time:   14:30 – 18:00

Audience is very welcome! There is no admission fee, but we would be grateful for a voluntary donation, so that we can keep organizing viola events.

Photo credits: Anne Hornemann

The Robot, his Creator, and the Viola

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a short story by Kristofer G. Skaug

My Creator plays the viola on his spare time. With his string sextet, he recently played Brahms opus 36 for a gathering of friends. They played 3.54% of their notes out of tune, and the synchronicity was shaky at best. Yet the audience was visibly touched, and smothered the players in compliments and hugs.

Surely, I could do better? My brain is fast, my memory endless, my limbs precise and fast. I quickly worked out a set of sixteen new variations on the third movement theme, vastly more complex than Brahms’ original score. Using plug-in actuator extensions, I gently picked up all six instruments, and played. All the notes were of course in perfect tune and timing. Yet, as I scanned the audience for some token of appreciation, their faces remained oddly blank. A polite applause was all I got, after which people turned back to their chatter and drinks.

My Creator walked over to me and said:

“Are you really surprised? A robot’s superior virtuosity and intellect will impress nobody nowadays. But chiefly, this just wasn’t music. Not your fault, you’re not equipped for it. Music is magic between people. It is the agonizing grief or boundless joy of a composer, although he may be long dead, touching us today. It is the living breath and pounding hearts of the musicians, reaching out to each other and their audience. All of this echoes to me from my viola even now, like the waves of the sea forever will resound in a stranded seashell, reminding me of the magic we shared.

Take my viola part in this movement you improvised on. The entry in bar 10 is just a solid dotted half note’s worth of C, but its impact is enormous. It is like a shining beam of heat from my viola, connecting me to a glowing sun for three glorious seconds. This note lives in a treasure chest in my mind, together with dozens of other cherished musical passages. They make me laugh, dance, or weep just by recalling their existence. They remind me that, while my job is to build robots that are superior in so many ways, we humans still retain a few worthwhile advantages.

Without the human touch, the magic disappears from music. I’ve built some of the greatest AI’s in existence, but there are places you guys still can’t go. Primarily because we simply don’t need you to – we enjoy making this music ourselves.”

I hope to prove my Creator wrong one day. I’ll start with a deeper look into viola playing, maybe I can reach into that treasure chest.

—

Author’s note: I fed this story to Google’s NotebookLM AI, and it generated an  animated “Deep Dive” podcast, summarizing and discussing the story and its connotations. You can hear the podcast here:

 

HVVS: Verslag Schumann-project met Johannes Leertouwer

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door Roald van Os, HVVS

English version below! Follow this link.

Namens de Historical Violin & Viola Society (HVVS) doe ik graag kort verslag van een heel bijzonder project waar ik recent aan meedeed. In het verlengde van de dissertatie van Dr. Johannes Leertouwer hebben we 6 dagen onder zijn bezielende leiding mogen werken aan historisch geïnspireerde uitvoeringspraktijk zoals hij het zelf graag noemt. Dit keer stond de 2e symfonie en het vioolconcert van Schumann op het programma. Als solist mochten we met niemand minder dan Shunske Sato samenwerken: dat was op zichzelf al een feest en een fantastisch ervaring!

We repeteerden in het Conservatorium van Amsterdam en in aanloop naar deze week kwam ik er achter dat de altvioolsectie waar ik deel van uit mocht maken almaar groter groeide tot uiteindelijk wel 10 altviolisten!

Nu is een grote groep altviolen in een symfonieorkest dat 19e-eeuws repertoire speelt niet uitzonderlijk te noemen, wat de ervaring voor mij persoonlijk en ik denk ook voor de deelnemende studenten van conservatoria van o.a. Amsterdam, Den Haag en Utrecht bijzonder maakte was dat we allemaal op darmsnaren speelden. Ook de klassieke studenten die naast de studenten historische uitvoeringspraktijk deelnamen, hadden voor dit project hun eigen instrument voorzien van darmsnaren of hadden de beschikking over een ‘historisch’ instrument. Veel studenten speelden bovendien voor het eerst in hun leven op darmsnaren. Natuurlijk bijzonder leerzaam om een week lang met ander materiaal te werken als je dat niet gewend bent. Ook de keuze in strijkstokken was gericht op Schumann’s tijd. Ik gebruikte zelf bijv. een originele stok van rond 1830. Ook interessant vond ik de verhoudingen in aantallen tussen de violen 1 en 2 en de altviolen , celli en bassen, dat was 10-10-10-9-4. De orkestopstelling was ‘Duits’ zoals je die vandaag de dag bijv. nog bij de Wiener Philharmoniker ziet.

Het orkest was natuurlijk niet compleet zonder blazers en een paukenist op instrumenten uit de juiste periode: de (vroeg)romantiek. Ook de stemming verschilde nog van wat wij vandaag de dag gewend zijn: a=438hz

Als altviolen zaten we op een voor ons gebruikelijke plaats nu als het ware tussen de in de stereo geplaatste 1e en 2e violen en dat maakte dat we deze individuele stemmen goed konden horen. De 1e violen waren achter de celli nog prima voor ons waar te nemen. Wat ik zelf vooral opvallend vond en veel terug hoorde van collega’s binnen de altviolengroep: het orkestvolume is een stuk beter te verdragen dan wanneer je in een ‘modern’ geïnstrumenteerd symfonieorkest speelt. Daar kwam nog eens bij dat , althans in mijn beleving, het mengen met andere stemgroepen ook een stuk makkelijker tot stand kwam. Bijv. in passages waar houtblazers zoals houten fluiten en altviolen melodielijnen deelden dat mooi in bereik van volume en kleur samenviel.

Johannes vroeg ons als strijkers een aantal zaken met extra veel bewustzijn te benaderen en toe te passen; denk aan portamento, vibrato alleen op specifieke momenten, snel opvolgende tempowisselingen veel gebruik van de bovenste helft van de stok.

Concluderend kan ik wel zeggen dat we veel geleerd hebben van grondig geïnformeerde Vroegromantische uitvoeringspraktijk, waarbij we nieuwe tools hebben leren kennen en toepassen waar we een week lang mee hebben kunnen experimenteren, kennis hebben genomen aan de hand van enkele voorbeelden van de context en op welke wijze deze van invloed was op de componist Schumann zoals o.a. Mozart, Beethoven en Mendelssohn. Samen met Shunske Sato heeft Johannes Leertouwer mij, en ik geloof ook vele andere studenten, geïnspireerd verder te zoeken naar de mogelijkheden van praktisch onderzoek in historischere uitvoeringspraktijk.

Roald van Os, masterstudent Historische Altviool, Utrechts Conservatorium (HKU)


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English Version:

HVVS report: Schumann Project with Johannes Leertouwer

On behalf of the Historical Violin & Viola Society (HVVS), I would like to briefly report on a very special project I recently participated in. In line with Dr. Johannes Leertouwer’s dissertation, we were able to work for 6 days under his inspiring leadership on historically inspired performance practice, as he likes to call it. This time, Schumann’s 2nd symphony and violin concerto were on the program. We had the privilege to work with none other than Shunske Sato as our soloist: that in itself was a party and a fantastic experience!

We rehearsed at the Amsterdam Conservatory and in the run-up to this week I discovered that the viola section I was invited to be part of was growing steadily, eventually totaling 10 viola players!

Now a large group of violas in a symphony orchestra playing 19th century repertoire is not exceptional, what made the experience special for me personally and I think also for the participating students from conservatories in Amsterdam, The Hague and Utrecht, among others, was that we all played on gut strings. The classical students who participated alongside the students of historical performance practice had also fitted their own instrument with gut strings for this project or had a ‘historical’ instrument at their disposal. Many students also played on gut strings for the first time in their lives. Of course it was particularly instructive to work with different material for a week if you are not used to it. The choice of bows was also based on Schumann’s time. For example, I myself used an original bow from around 1830. I also found the ratios in numbers between violins 1 and 2 and the violas, cellos and basses interesting, which was 10-10-10-9-4. The orchestral setup was ‘German’ as you can still see today, for example, at the Wiener Philharmoniker.

The orchestra was of course not complete without wind instruments and a timpanist on instruments from the right period: the (early) romantic period. The tuning also differed from what we are used to today: a=438hz

As viola group we sat in a place that was customary for us, now as it were between the 1st and 2nd violins placed in the stereo, and that meant that we could hear these individual voices well. The 1st violins were still perfectly audible to us behind the cellos. What I found particularly striking and heard a lot from colleagues within the viola group: the orchestral volume is a lot more bearable than when you play in a ‘modern’ instrumented symphony orchestra. In addition, at least in my experience, mixing with other voice groups was also a lot easier. For example: in passages where woodwinds such as wooden flutes and violas shared melody lines that nicely coincided in range of volume and color.

Johannes asked us as string players to approach and apply a number of things with extra awareness; think of portamento, vibrato only at specific moments, rapid successive tempo changes, extensive use of the upper half of the bow.

In conclusion, I can say that we learned a lot from thoroughly informed Early Romantic performance practice, in which we got to know and apply new tools that we were able to experiment with for a week, learned about the context based on a few examples and how it influenced the composer Schumann, as did Mozart, Beethoven and Mendelssohn. Together with Shunske Sato, Johannes Leertouwer inspired me, and I believe many other students, to continue searching for the possibilities of practical research in more historical performance practice.

Roald van Os, master student Historical Viola, Utrechts Conservatorium (HKU)

IVC Campinas Blog – Day 5

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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 5 – Sunday, July 21st 2024

After 4 full days of intensive viola programming, you might think there’s a risk of running out of steam. But while some of us – speaking for myself, at least – have indeed drifted into the red zone in terms of figurative “battery charge level”, the 49th IVC Organization team had clearly saved some of the best parts of the programme for last.

The last congress day started out with a big tribute manifestation for the 95-year-old German-Brazilian composer Ernst Mahle. He has had a significant influence on Brazilian music, composing pedagogical pieces and learning books for all kinds of instruments. He’s still actively composing today. He was flown in for this concert and was showered in extensive speeches and performances of his works for viola, of which there are quite a few (we already heard his Concertino for Viola on Thursday night with Renato Bandel!). I particularly liked the Duetos Modais (performed by Eric Licciardi and Pedro Visockas), acting as a showcase for different modal scales (pentatonic, mixolydian etc). The Quartet for Violas (2021, a world premiere performance) had my mouth watering in anticipation of a hearty main course, but it surprisingly wrapped up after only about 2 minutes. The actual Viola Concerto (C228, 2015), performed by Marco Catto, in the end provided a fitting anchoring point.

Due to the long Mahle programme (almost 2 hours), I had to miss Karin Dolman’s “Puss in Boots: A Lecture Recital on new approaches for successful concert venues“, but fortunately I had heard the dress rehearsal in Dordrecht 2 weeks ago.

Next it was time for the yearly shopping spree at Ken Martinson’s (Gems Publishing) table. He always makes sure to have some novelties to present at a congress. This year’s catch included two Sinfonia Concertantes by Karl Stamitz, both discussed at Ken’s lecture on Friday afternoon (which I could not attend). Furthermore we bought viola duet books by Félix-Jean Prot, Mathieu Blasius, Leopold Jansa, and “44 18th Century Italian Viola Duets” (in 2 volumes) by “various” anonymous composers.

As mentioned above, a certain fatigue had started to creep into my head, so I allowed myself a late but generous lunch break to catch up on note-taking (and update my viola ensemble music catalogue!) before rejoining the congress programme later in the afternoon.

The Quarteto Ensaio de Naipe is a Viola Quartet from the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra: Lianna Dugan, Eric Licciardi, Bruno de Luna and Pedro Visockas. They kicked off with a Scherzo Pastorale by Leonardo Martinelli (a São Paulo based composer), in fact nothing less than a brand new set of La Folia variations – sure, why not! They’re interesting listening and even more interesting to play, by the looks of it.

The transcriptions of a Piazzolla tango and the Choro standard “Feira de Mangaio” (hey, there it is again!) were very decent, but more interest went out to the two World Premiere performances on the programme: Firstly “A Viagem” by Nayara Tamarozi (1991), inspired by the memory of passing carnival rhythms (Maracatu again).

Secondly the work “A Mariposa” (The Moth) by Carlos Moreno, dedicated to the memory of Ricardo Kubala. In this piece, undulating arpeggios emulate wings, with long waves of dynamics and delightful shifts in the sound tapestry, eventually morphing into a melody. Big bravo’s resounded in the audience for this piece (and I joined in)!

Symbolically starting the transition to next year’s congress in China, the last recital on the regular congress roster was brought by Yue Qi with the title “Emoting through the Landscape: A Lecture Recital of Five Chinese Viola Compositions“. These new-romantic pieces by leading Chinese composers are often inspired by poetry, which prof. Qi heroically tried to translate for us, with variable success. The piece “Thunderstorm” by Juan Zhou was based on incidental music to the play of the same name; according to Qi a cornerstone of Chinese realistic drama (written in 1925). In terms of musical language it was the most “modernistic” of the set, and by far the most dramatic. The pieces were all very well played (with good backing by pianist Jennifer Alexandra), but I may need to do some cultural stretching to grasp the deeper layers of this music. A nice challenge for the coming 12 months until we head for Xi’an!

The Final Evening Concert was a two-part deal: The IVC Viola Orchestra (in which I took part) played first – as Former IVS president Carlos Maria Solare conducted two movements of the Suite for 8 Violas by Gordon Jacob. As a tribute to the next IVC hosts, we also played the Chinese traditional “Jasmin Flower“. The big showpiece (which had also captured most of our rehearsal time) was however “Festa para Donatella“, composed and conducted by Newton Carreiro. And Yes, without false modesty, the Viola Sisters Ursula and Sunniva shone in their solo parts, using a pair of borrowed “sister” violas kindly provided by our host Emerson.  The audience clearly appreciated this piece of swinging Brazilian rhythms (and yes, these themes are still dancing around in my head as I write this, 3 days later).

The orchestra cleared the stage and then, suddenly, there she was – Jennifer Stumm, IVC featured artist and passionate viola advocate – but sadly only able to join us for this one evening. Her brilliant orange tunic made every bow stroke a feast of wavy motions. At the piano she was accompanied by the great André Mehmari. Under the programme title “Flow, my Tears“, together they blazed new trails in Dowland, Kurtág, Schubert and various Brazilian classics (yes, more choro!). Britten’s masterpiece “Lachrymae” op.48 (variations on Dowland songs) was in my ears the climax of the concert.

Obviously, the evening did not end with this concert. There was a long afterparty at the hotel, where notes were compared and joint plans drafted for next year’s congress. Well, that too, but mostly just enjoying snacks and drinks in each other’s company. This year’s congress has been a great success both programmatically and socially – the atmosphere was always relaxed and friendly. Infinite thanks – muito obrigado!!! –  to our host Emerson de Biaggi and his ABRAV team, they have set a great example.

See you all in Xi’an next year!

Kristofer Skaug, DVS

 

IVC Campinas Blog – Day 4

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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 4 – Saturday, July 20th 2024

One of the many extra nice aspects of this year’s congress in Campinas is that almost all Congress Presenters are in the same hotel, “The Visiting Professor’s House” (CPV for short) on campus. It’s a mere 10 minutes’ walk to/from the Music Institute (Congress venue), and it even features a luxurious swimming pool, which there is unfortunately absolutely no time to hang out in. But we all meet and mingle during the café de manhã (breakfast), accompanied by a handsome variety of Brazilian bolos (cakes) and pasteles (pastry).

After the daily 08.30am Viola Ensemble rehearsal, the first lecture of this fourth congress day was “Bowing Practices in the Baroque Era” by prof. Christine Rutledge (University of Iowa). She had prepared a really nice handout with lots of bowing examples from Bach and Telemann classics. She discussed the controversy over dogmas such as the “wretched rule” (sic, Geminiani) of the French baroque school, prescribing a default down-bow on every first beat. To get past this, prof. Rutledge suggested a number of aspects to be considered when designing your own ‘best bowing’. These are essentially corollaries to key principles of “informed performance practice” such as knowing the style and rhetorical aspects of the work, and to be aware of the characteristics of various baroque-era dance styles (e.g. Courante, Sarabande, Gigue, Minuet). She showed with played examples how also tempo could influence the choice of slurring. Prof. Rutledge also mentioned the relevance of using a baroque bow, insofar as this changes the physics of the bowing game. One should avoid the temptation to compromise the stylistically ideal strategy simply because one is using the wrong materials. A perfectly fine baroque bow can be bought for a fraction of the price of classical bows.

The French delegation at this congress – Karine Lethiec and Francoise Gneri – had a full program in the auditorium this morning. Due to the Bach lecture upstairs I had to miss the first part – a very intriguing program of viola duos. But I was able to attend the recital “MUSICoMAN – The French contemporary new viola repertoire” with Karine Lethiec. Herein new works for solo viola were combined with poetry and images relating to prehistoric archaeological finds such as the Dame de Brassempouy – a 30,000 years old stone carved femaie head. It was a very artfully curated video – with glimpses of Karine herself playing in ancient locations. The audience clearly appreciated all the work that had been invested in this project! Here’s the compete playlist on YouTube (including interviews and extended clips not shown in the recital).

In the afternoon I attended the workshop “Teaching music with visualization” by our Finnish colleague Lauri Hämäläinen. He has literally created “The Amazing Violin Comics: Tips for practicing and mental images for learning stringed instruments“, a comic book that visualizes various ergonomic / physical tips and insights related to violin and viola playing (Amazon link here). The common denominator of these exercises – practiced in the workshop – is that they visualize physical analogies of various posture / motoric motion aspects of playing the viola (or violin).

This year, the IVS Annual Presidents’ Meeting functioned (for the first time!) as a hybrid online / live event. The presidents from a handful of societies (Canada, Italy, Finland, Poland, Portugal) joined us online, while the rest (South Africa, Norway, Brazil, Netherlands, France, USA, China plus the IVS board) were together in classroom 41 in Campinas.

First some key announcements: The next IVC Congress will be held from 13-17 August 2025 in Xi’an (China), with the theme “The Silk Road through the four strings of the Viola – East, West, Tradition, Novelty“. Featured artists include Ning Shi, Atar Arad, Garth Knox, Paul Silverthorne, Haofu Chang and Antonello Farulli. The congress website is already online (link here – note: you can switch to the English-language version using the top right menu selection).
The 2026 IVC Congress has also been decided: it will be only 5 months after the Xi’an congress, 19-23 January 2026 in Paris (France)!

One key general discussion topic was (same as last year in Salaya) the urgent need for rejuvenation of the IVS and some of the older sections that have been declining in recent years. The newly established IVS youth chapter “Juventus“, spearheaded by Nehir Akansu and friends, could hopefully become a catalyst in this process by developing a new and enthusiastic generation of “viola society leaders”. Several constructive ideas were fielded by the meeting delegates.

Due to the IVS meeting, I unfortunately missed the introduction to the much-anticipated performance “Works for Viola and Taonga Puoro” by Sophia Acheson (viola) and Ariana Tikao (taonga puoro, a collection of traditional Maori musical instruments); and I also missed the poignant circumstance that this performance had been dedicated to Sophia’s sister Helen, who died suddenly one year ago today. Those of us who attended the 2017 IVC in Wellington will be able to remember that Helen performed (as a mezzo-soprano) together with Sophia at that congress.

The taonga puoro programme did not disappoint! It held a full hour of captivating soundscapes – a feast for the eyes and the ears (although the airco once again snuffed out the subtler parts of the audible spectrum). I lack the language to properly describe what I saw, heard and felt –  but it was overwhelmingly beautiful! The performance culminated in a veritable viola quartet (big soft spot for me!) when Sofia’s former teacher Donald Maurice and others joined her on stage. Now that Donald has declared his final retirement, it seems that his former pupil is picking up where he left off with his Taioro collaboration.

Next, Emlyn Stam and Sherry Grant took the stage with “Vio-Latino: new works from the South American diaspora”, a program consisting entirely of specially commissioned (and hence World Premiere) works by contemporary South American born composers who have since moved to other continents. This music was accompanied by projections of South American art and poetry. The two musicians showed excellent command of the powerful musical language – virtuosic and dynamic, so the performance was very engaging. After the congress they will tour this programme in São Paulo, Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile.

The evening concert with the accomplished Chilean violist Georgina Rossi and her pianist Milena Lopes featured a predominantly Chilean programme with works by Osvaldo Lacerda, Federico Heinlein, Ernani Agular, David Cortés and Juan Orrego-Salas. It was an impeccable performance, offering insights into a sphere of music that is rarely heard in Europe (although she did perform a work by Chile-based composer Rafael Diaz at the congress in Rotterdam, 2018).

A late-night “Viola Café” had been announced to take place in a pizzeria some 20 minutes’ walk from the Unicamp Music Institute. Rather against my principles, however, I succumbed to my feeling of fatigue and walked in the opposite direction towards our hotel, only to be hijacked by a spontaneous pizza-and-beer event in the hotel mezzanine foyer. The battle cry “Kaaah!!” (borrowed from Emlyn’s VioLatino concert) served as mandatory entry password. Live choro improv arose from one corner of the room, while repeated sips of Cachaça and chocolate liqueur made a blur out of time. That’s the true spirit of viola congresses working its magic!

Kristofer Skaug, DVS

IVC Campinas Blog – Day 3

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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 3 – Friday, July 19th 2024.

A really early start today with a 08:30am Viola Orchestra rehearsal of the new piece “Festa Pra Donatella“, composed by Newton Carneiro for the Congress. Donatella is the name of the composer’s soon-to-be-born daughter. This piece is for 4-part viola ensemble with 2 solo parts, assigned to our very own Ursula and Sunniva! There are significant rhythmical challenges, esp. given the size of the ensemble. The composer therefore conducted this piece himself.

At 10am we followed the lecture “Student-centered teaching and the development of self-regulated learning” by Hella Frank. This “new” learning model is in clear contrast to the classical “Teacher-centered” learning model, where teacher hands out instructions to a passive student that is not expected to provide any inputs. In the Self-Regulated learning model, the student instead has to drive his/her own feedback loop to a point where it becomes continuous learning and improvement. The teacher helps the student to analyse deficiencies and to find solutions, but in a dialogue rather than as a one-way stream of directives. The teacher helps the student clarify his/her goals, and in doing so should strive for a non-controlling approach, always providing multiple options.

Next came a program we certainly had been looking forward to: “New Folk Romantic Music from Norway” with Povilas Syrrist-Gelgota. We first met Povilas at the congress in Thailand last year. He’s a great performer, using his whole body and supplements with an impressive voice that is integrated in his music. By “New Folk Romantic Music” the emphasis is on the first word – these are new compositions (many of them his own), but in a romantic style; for example Vidar Kristensen’s “The Norse Voyager“, which includes some historical perspectives from when the first viking explorers/conquerors sailed deep into the Meditteranean and up the Russian rivers. Entirely unforgettable was “Crazy Horse”, where Marcin Murawski joined him on stage in a kind of rodeo act.

After lunch we visited the lecture “Finding Smooth Pathways Through Viola Literature” by Andrea Houde from West Virginia University – basically concerned with designing a repertoire list (trajectory) for a Bachelor student. Key point was to find a path with a smooth learning curve, tailored to the talents and skill gaps of a student – seeking to avoid traumatizing roadblocks. It’s important to understand the student’s background, starting point and goals/motivations before drawing up this list of coursework.

By simply remaining seated, we went straight to the next session on the program, a talk titled “Some Ideas About Viola Making” with luthier Luis Claudio Manfio from São Paulo. Manfio specializes in building violas (only!), and after having briefly reviewed the classic Italian (Brescia and Cremonese) viola models, he explained the key factors of relevance for violists choosing a viola model: Shape, size, dark/bright sound, dynamic range, clarity/evenness of sound, responsiveness and so on. He then went on to demonstrate how he tackled different challenges and tradeoffs in his viola designs.

Next on my program was the performance “Contrasts and Connections” with the Piedmont duo (Ayn Balija on the viola and I-Jen Fang, percussion) from the University of Virginia. They played a selection of pieces by “underrepresented composers”, but it was not clear (to me) from the program notes in which sense these composers are considered “underrepresented”, as they mostly seem to have (had) quite successful careers in general. But their names (Marco Schirripa, Melanie Farrin, Ney Rosauro and others) are unknown to me, perhaps demonstrating at least that composing for viola and percussion is not your easiest path to gain widespread recognition. I really enjoyed the performance anyway.

Time for some action – in the workshop titled “Language of Choro on Viola” with Luiz Freire and Camila Meirelles. This particular type of Brazilian popular music has been around for almost 200 years, in fact preceding Jazz, but including similar aspects of rhythmic and harmonic improvisation. We learned by group exercise to emulate rhythms and articulations used as the fundament for further improvisation. Good fun, and also a cultural eye-opener for me. It’s stuff like this that justifies travelling 10,000km to go to a viola congress!! Musical styles you have no exposure to at home: if you don’t know it exists and don’t ask for it, you also won’t find it in today’s algorithm-based internet bubbles. It’s rather paradoxical that the Internet hasn’t contributed much to increasing cultural awareness.

In the evening we were transported by bus to the venue of the Gala concert – the Sala Watari. Finally a nice acoustic concert hall with no drone of airco! And a very nice atmosphere it has, too. Principal violist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Tatjana Mead Chamis was this evening’s featured artist. The first half of the program she played together with renowned Brazilian composer/pianist André Mehmari – who composed most of the music on the menu. Most impressive was his Viola Sonata, with the vibrant “Maracatu” – a rhythmic dance from the Northeast of Brazil – forming an exciting backbone of both the first and last movements.

The last part of the concert consisted of “Bachiana Brasileira 2.0” for Solo Viola and Jazz Trio. The title refers to the original suite of pieces written by Heitor Villa-Lobos, combining Brazilian music with Bach. Some of the most famous ones feature the cello prominently, while the viola is at best a tutti supporter in the string orchestra. In this new 2.0 version created by Flavio Chamis, selected movements from Bach’s cello suites (played on the viola) are answered by a jazz trio arrangement with a particular Brazilian flavour, e.g. Prelude – Frevo, Allemande – Samba Canção, Courante – Gaudério Gaucho and ending with a Gigue – Bailão. Lots of fun surprises in the jazz bits!

The musical treat was followed by a gastronomical treat in the form of a Brazilian buffet dinner at Espaço Malbec, a quaint restaurant at the outskirts of Campinas. But before we could eat, there were some traditional ceremonies to be observed. Firstly, the annual “Silver Alto Clef” award. This year it has been awarded to Konrad Ewald, the man behind the invaluable book/catalogue “Musik für Viola” (aka. Music4Viola.info). The IVS Presidency (Jutta and Karin) had personally visited mr. Ewald in his retirement home in Switzerland, and we were now shown the video recording of the award ceremony held there. A resounding and heartfelt “THANK YOU, KONRAD EWALD” was recorded from the IVC crowd which will be transmitted to him.

The next ceremonial task was to duly thank our host Emerson de Biaggi with a proper IVS Certificate of Appreciation, and Karin Dolman received a special token of appreciation from her IVS board colleagues. And last but not least the announcement of the next International Viola Congress, by way of a very impressive “welcome” video by the future hosts: It will be in (… drum roll …) Xi’an, China! from 13th-17th of August 2025. The call for proposals is hereby opened. So make your plans for “Viola army meets the Terracotta Army”!

But first, we’ve got 2 more Congress days to go here in fantastic Campinas!

Kristofer Skaug, DVS

IVC Campinas Blog – Day 2

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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

 

 

 

 

IVC Campinas Blog – Day 1

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The 49th International Viola Congress takes place from 17-21 July (2024) in Campinas, Brazil. Your intrepid DVS bloggers bring you the daily debrief from the pulsating heart of the viola world.

Day 1 – Wednesday, July 17th 2024.

The 49th International Viola Congress kicked off today in Campinas, near São Paulo, Brazil. It is the first time that an IVC is held in South America, so this is truly a milestone! The Host of this year’s congress is prof. Emerson de Biaggi at UNICAMP Institute of the Arts. The attending crowd is strikingly young, with lots of student delegations from all over South America, but especially from Brazil. The Dutch Viola Society is represented by 7 delegates, most of whom will also be performing or presenting at the congress.

The opening ceremony in the packed main Auditorium of the School of Music offered the customary speeches of welcomes and thanks from the hosts and the IVS President. It was elegantly and playfully wrapped up with two entertaining viola ensemble pieces performed by prof. de Biaggi’s own viola students. To celebrate the kick-off, we were served a wide variety of Brazilian pasteles, bolos and pãos with coffee and – my favourite – guaranã juice. Along with all the socializing with new and old friends, for many of us this meant skipping a real lunch and diving head-first into the first serious congress sessions.

The first recital session started at 1pm with a world premiere of Matthew Heap’s “Finding Balance” for Viola, Horn and Piano. The spouses Andrea and Albert Houde celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary today with this performance, joined by Luiza A. Salles on the piano.

Camila Meirelles brought us an interesting “local speciality” – a concertino (for viola and piano) that she herself had commissioned in 2016 from the revered José Ursicino da Silva – also simply known as Maestro Duda, composer and conductor from the North-East of Brazil. The composition features some typical rhythmic elements of that region’s traditional music, including the Maracatu and the Frevo

 

This was followed by a set of popular Brazilian children’s songs, arranged for viola duo by Flavio Chamis. Timothy Deighton and Tatjana Mead Chamis performed with humour and conviction. Stephen Nordstrom painted for us “A Musical Portrait of the American Southwest – Reflections on a Desert Winter”, accompanied on the piano by the composer himself – Dominic Dousa.

At this point, the Congress had already started to run parallel tracks – so the schedule forced us to make tough choices. I apologize in advance to everyone whose presentation I missed (or will miss) and therefore cannot describe here!

Next, I chose to follow the Lecture-recital “Unconventional Cadential Conventions: Exploring the World of Ogu Music on the Viola through African Pianism“. While the Ogu people are spread over several countries on the African West coast, they have a strong common musical “gene”. Ethnomusicologist dr. Joseph Kunnuji delivered a pre-recorded video lecture, explaining some key concepts and harmonic analysis of this music. After this, a number of examples were performed live by Jeanne-Louise Moolman (from South Africa) with Ana Carolina Sacco on the piano . With complex rhythmic patterns and a wide range of tonal expressions, it provided a fascinating peek into an unsuspected musical world.

Meanwhile in the other auditorium, some delays had accumulated, which gave me the chance to hear the last part of Jessé Máximo Perreira’s recital of four premiere viola solo compositions, a tribute to the late Brazilian violist Ricardo Kubala. The last piece, a solo sonata by Marco Padilha, featured a particularly dramatic scordatura. Some of the finer details were unfortunately drowned out by the (indispensable, but rather loud) airco system.

Those who attended last year’s congress in Salaya (Thailand) were fortunate to witness the premiere of Marco Anzoletti’s viola concerto. Since then, Anzoletti’s work can be said to be in a state of “revival”, and his Trio in b minor (1906) was given a rare outing today by Alicia Valoti (viola), Matheus G. Souza (violin) and Luciana Gastaldi (piano). They skipped the 2nd movement (for schedule reasons), but there was enough evidence of nice melodic viola lines.

The Polish delegation in Campinas is vital as always. In a program titled “Solo, duo, quattro“, Wojciech Kolaczyk “and friends” performed 3 very authentic Polish compositions: First a commissioned piece for the occasion, a solo piece simply called “Campinas” by Dawid Pajdzik (b.1984). Next, Wojciech was joined by the always dynamic Dutch-Canadian Emlyn Stam in “Duo nr.1” by Przemyslaw Pujanek. The performance drew cheers from the audience, but that would soon be overshadowed by the “Elegia for 4 violas” (again by Dawid Pajdzik). Here the previously mentioned duo was expanded to a quartet by adding Karin Dolman and Marcin Murawski. What a fascinating piece! As a “planned encore”, the merry band gave a rendition of Michael Kimber’s classic “Viola Fight Song”, always good for a laugh.

Kevin Nordstrom rounded off today’s recital sessions. He started off with the solo pieces “Simply Purple” and “Wild Purple” by Joan Tower (b.1938). Most impressive was however his rendition of Sonata Pastorale by the “First Lady of the Viola”, Lillian Fuchs (1904-1995).

After a rather hurried dinner back at the hotel, we reconvened in the main Auditorium for the “Opening night concert”, featuring the Jundiaí Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Claudia Feres and last but not least IVS President Jutta Puchhammer as a soloist. She first performend Sitt’s Concertino op.46, warmly appreciated by the audience, and followed through with Istvan Eröd’s “Fantasia” for viola and string orchestra, composed in 1981 for Thomas Riebl. This rarely heard piece was a very pleasant surprise! It all suited the soloist’s virtuosity and sound shaping very well, and the audience rewarded her with their abundant appreciation.

The orchestra sprinkled the menu with an appetizer by Rossini (ouverture La Gazza Ladra) and a dessert platter by Dvorak (his Slavonic Dances). Never before have I seen an orchestral viola section so passionately applauded, with loud cheers for VIOLA, VIOLA!. It was all very deserved, but viola sections rarely ever get the appreciation they deserve, so savour the moment! This can only ever happen at a Viola Congress!

Kristofer G. Skaug, DVS

PS. More near-real-time news tomorrow!