Kenji Bunch's Piece for Mass Viola Ensemble
To celebrate the end of the American Viola Society Festival at Oberlin, some 50 violists formed a mass ensemble to show off their deep viola sound on Saturday, performing a piece called "Rise (and Shine)," written especially for the occasion by violist and composer Kenji Bunch. Below is a video of their performance:
Watch in the coming weeks for the many stories I'll be writing about the workshops, master classes and lectures that I saw there, with topics including music memory, top viola teacher panel discussion, practice methods, Karen Tuttle coordination, master classes by Robert Vernon and Peter Slowik, Mozart's chamber music as conversation and more.
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- Our Complete Coverage of the American Viola Society Festival
Replies
Ah, Jean. No real violists dream of being first violinists...or they would be: you can count on it. ;^)
Very beautiful. Is this an annual festival in Oberlin, and if so, do they have evening concerts and events? I wasn't aware of the festival before and live pretty close to Oberlin. It would be great to visit after work if the festival is here again next year.
The American Viola Society Festival actually every two years, and the next one will be in Los Angeles at the Colburn School, in conjunction with the next Primrose Competition.
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June 12, 2016 at 11:46 AM · Beautiful piece! Also funny to see how the "first violists" in the ensemble can finally make their dream true of being something like a first violinist ;-)