Primrose Competition and AVS Viola Festival Begin This Week

By Laurie Niles: It's a big week in the viola world! The 2024 Primrose International Viola Competition begins Monday at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. Click here for the schedule and livestream link, or come back later and watch right here: And starting Wednesday also at Colburn, the American Viola Society will host its 2024 Viola Festival, with lectures, presentations, masterclasses, youth competitions, recital performances and exhibits will be scheduled around the competition's Semi-Final and Final rounds. Click here for more information. I will be there to cover both events for Violinist.com, so be sure to say hello if you are at Colburn! The 21 violists competing in the competition 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:

• Leslie Ashworth, 27, of Canada (The Juilliard School)
• Keoni Bolding, 26, of United States (Curtis Institute of Music)
• Hsiang-Hsin Ching, 23, Taiwan (Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University)
• Toby Cook, 26, of United Kingdom (Zurich University of the Arts)
• Andjela Josifoski, 17, of Serbia (International Menuhin Music Academy)
• Yong Ha Jung, 24, of South Korea (The Juilliard School)
• Mao Konishi, 28, of Japan (University of the Arts Berlin)
• Katie Liu, 25, of United States (Yale School of Music)
• Laura Liu, 23, of United States (The Juilliard School)
• Wilhelm Magner, 24, of Canada (Yale School of Music)
• David Montreuil, 28, of Canada (McGill University)
• Andy Park, 22, of United States (Yale University)
• Haneul Park, 23, of South Korea (Curtis Institute of Music)
• Karolina Errera Pavon, 30, of Russia (Kronberg Academy)
• JungAhn Shin, 24, of South Korea (Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin)
• Otoha Tabata, 24, of Japan (The Royal College of Music)
• Guohan Tang, 23, of China (Universität der Künste Berlin)
• Duleen Van Gunsteren, 28, of Netherlands (Conservatory of Amsterdam)
• Kinga Wojdalska, 25, of Poland (Zurcher Hochschule der Kunste)
• Xunyu Zhou, 16, of China (Shanghai Conservatory of Music Affiliated Middle School)
• Emad Zolfaghari, 19, of Canada (Curtis Institute of Music)

(Note: violists Yunji Jang, Annariina Jokela and Riko Eto, who were previously scheduled to compete, have withdrawn.) Each of the 21 violists will compete in the Quarter-Final Round Monday and Tuesday. 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. 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. This year's Primrose competition is dedicated to his memory. 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 Friday. on Saturday, 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 Saturday. 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 Ayane Kozasa (Jury Chair), Atar Arad, Cathy Basrak, Ensik Choi, Steven Dann, and Geraldine Walther. During the week there will also be performances by violists Jessica Meyer, Tatjana Masurenko, and Primrose Jury Members Atar Arad, Steven Dann, and Ayane Kozasa. For a schedule and to purchase tickets to individual events, click here. You might also like:

• Interview with Violist Natalie Loughran, Winner of the 2021 Primrose Competition
• Remembering Violist Dr. David Dalton (1934-2022)
• Interview with Violist and Composer Nokuthula Ngwenyama

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