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24 Competitors Announced in 2024 Primrose International Viola Competition

April 19, 2024, 1:23 PM · The Colburn School and the American Viola Society today announced the 24 violists who will compete in the 2024 Primrose International Viola Competition, which will take place June 17-22 at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. (Click here for the schedule and livestream link.)

Primrose competition competitors 2024
Violists who will compete in the 2024 Primrose International Viola Competition, live at the Colburn School.

The 24 violists were chosen from 156 applications received during a pre-screening round that closed in January. They include musicians representing 12 countries, with participants ranging in age from 16 to 30, with an average age of 24.

They include:

Each of the 24 violists will compete in the Quarter-Final Round June 17-18. Eight will advance to the Semi-Final Round, in which competitors will perform any two contrasting movements of a solo work by Johann Sebastian Bach, a complete major work for viola and piano, and a commissioned work for viola and piano by Nokuthula Ngwenyama written in memory of Dr. David Dalton.

During the first of two Final Rounds, the final three competitors will perform Claude Debussy’s Trio for Flute, Viola and Pedal Harp (1915) on June 21. The following day, June 22, the competitors will perform either Bela Bartók’s Viola Concerto (ed. Serly) or William Walton’s Viola Concerto with orchestra led by Elias Peter Brown, a Salonen Fellow in the Negaunee Conducting Program at the Colburn Conservatory. Winners will be announced June 22.

Prizes include a $15,000 first prize; $10,000 second prize; $5,000 third prize. There is also a $1,000 Transcriptions Prize and a $1,000 Illumination Prize, for best performance of a work by an underrepresented composer demographic. The first-prize winner will perform at the 2026 American Viola Society Festival and receive an invitation to the semi-finals of the Concert Artists Guild Competition.

The jury for the 2024 competition will include Tim Frederiksen (Jury Chairman), Atar Arad, Cathy Basrak, Ensik Choi, Steven Dann, Ayane Kozasa, and Geraldine Walther.

The 2024 competition is dedicated to the memory of Dr. David Dalton, a former student and friend of William Primrose. Dalton was professor emeritus of viola at Brigham Young University, and earned his B.M. and M.M. degrees in violin at the Eastman School of Music.
He earned his doctorate in viola performance at Indiana University. Dalton collaborated with Primrose in writing his memoir, "Walk on the North Side and Playing the Viola: Conversations with William Primrose" and produced two documentaries, "A Violist’s Legacy," and
William Primrose, Violist."

In conjunction with the Primrose International Viola Competition, the American Viola Society will host its 2024 Festival taking place at the Colburn School on June 19-22. Recital performances, lectures, presentations, masterclasses, youth competitions, and exhibits will be scheduled around the competition Semi-Final and Final rounds. Click here for more information.

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Replies

April 20, 2024 at 08:07 PM · Let's not forget that the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels is for violin this year! They have 69 candidates selected for the first round. First round starts on May 6.

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