the meat in the orchestral sandwich

We are happy to announce our next big event: the Portland Viola Day at Lewis & Clark’s Evans Music Center on Saturday April 11th from 12 to 5pm.

We’re planning a masterclass, luthier presentations, demos, play-in and a benefit recital for the family of Kjersten Oquist.

Please contact Miriam if you’d like to donate a raffle item, play in the master class or participate in any way.

We aim to interest a wide variety of skill levels and ages, and hope to see you there.

Thanks so much to all those who made the Viola Day a success:

Professor Dan Rouslin and Willamette University

Dr. Leslie Straka and her studio at University of Oregon

Luthiers Paul Schuback, Jon Franke and David Ravinus.

Weathers Music on SE Commercial in Salem

Our wonderful performers whose level of preparation and joy in playing made the class so worthwhile and enjoyable to the audience… and of course, Mara Gearman, our talented and helpful clinician.

Samuel Zacharia, a student of Cynthia Scott, performs Seitz

Luthier Paul Schuback spoke, brought instruments to demo and adjusted instruments.

Clinician Mara Gearman plays one of Paul's violas. In the foreground are two of David Ravinus' violas and several of Jon Frankes' as well.

There will be signs on campus to help, and feel free to call 503-341-1071 up to 1pm for directions!

1-4pm at Willamette University this Sunday.

THREE luthiers, SIX masterclass performers, TONS of fun and information.

Directions from I-5 to Willamette’s Music Dept.

• Take the first ramp off I-5 at Exit 253 (Mission St., Route 22–Willamette U) which is the 4th Salem exit southbound. This is about 47 miles southwest of Portland.

• Follow Mission street west through 5 traffic lights. The 5th one should be 17th St. after which the road curves left and rises over a street and the train tracks on a bridge. Be in the RIGHT LANE going over this bridge and take the ramp to the right just after the crest of the bridge (follow Willamette U. signs). As you descend the ramp be in the LEFT lane.

• At the bottom of the ramp is a traffic light (12th St.). Proceed through intersection, staying in the RIGHT lane. As soon as you are through the intersection, take your first right, then left into Willamette’s main parking lot. Park as close as you can to the eagle fountain at the far end of the lot.

• Once parked, walk toward the fountain, turning right into the campus and walk past the free-standing clock tower in front of the Hatfield Library. Just past the library is a bridge over the mill stream. As soon as you are over this bridge you will see the Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center on your right. Once inside, Hudson Hall is straight ahead and then on your right (four doors), Rogers Rehearsal Hall is all the way down the hall on the right.

The Salem Viola Day at Willamette University (click there for directions) on Sunday, February 22nd from 1-4pm is shaping up to be a fun and inspiring event. If you have questions or would like more information, contact Miriam.

There will be a masterclass at 1pm with performances from Brahms to Seitz and more, a talk about instrument set-up from Oregon luthier Paul Schuback, some demonstrations of instruments from more luthiers and alternative gear, plus of course a chamber jam-play-in! Rumor has it there will even be door prizes.

We are happy to announce the clinician for our masterclass will be violist Mara Gearman. 

Mara Gearman

While still early in her career, violist Mara Gearman is already an accomplished player with extensive experience in both orchestral and chamber music settings. She regularly performs with the chamber groups American String Project and Seattle Chamber Players, and has collaborated with such prestigious performers as Ani Kavafian, Peter Wiley, Vladimir Feltsman, and Dale Clevenger, the legendary principal horn of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She is also a founding member of the Barston String Quartet as well as Trio Tara with pianist Oksana Ezhokina and Laurie DeLuca, clarinet.

Gearman has held or been awarded a number of orchestral appointments, including principal viola (at age twenty) under maestro Rossen Milanov, and principal viola at the Kansas City Symphony and at the Oregon Symphony under music director James DePriest. Currently she is the second desk violist for the Seattle Symphony Orchestra under maestro Gerard Schwarz.

As a solo performer Gearman has won awards at the Primrose and Tertis International Viola Competitions, performing viola solos ranging from American composers Alan Shulman and Derek Bermel to Hungarian composer Miklos Rozca.

A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, her primary teachers included Roberto Diaz, Pinchas Zukerman, and Karen Tuttle, as well as additional study in Canada, Germany, Holland, and Switzerland with Nobuko Imai, Barbara Westphal, and Gerard Causse.

Gearman has just been appointed to the faculty at Cornish College of the Arts, in Seattle.

Hello Folks!

We’re coming up on our excellent Salem Viola Day at Willamette University from 1-4pm.

There will be luthiers, demos, a masterclass and more!

Save the date and email Miriam if you’d like to play in the class. Plan to participate in the play-in, and bring all your violist friends!

Looking forward to seeing all our Southern viola comrades!

We'll even have snacks!

Thanks to all who came to the Play-In this afternoon- it was a lot of fun. Fruit, cheese, tea, chamber music- it was just about perfect!

Mattie, Dorianne, Chris and Miriam

The get-together and play-in this Saturday from 1-3pm will be held at the Viola Society Presidential Residence (i.e. my place!). Please come by for some snacks, violist cameraderie and chamber reading.

**IF you are coming, please do let us know! 503-341-1071 or email Miriam.**

You are welcome to decide at the last minute- no worries and everybody’s welcome, we just want to know how many stands to break out!
To get there: 7905 SW Matheny Dr., Beaverton 97008
So from the Washington Square Mall/217 area, take Hall Boulevard toward Beaverton. (That’s northwest-ish.)

About a mile up Hall you’ll go through the intersectionwith a light for Greenway Boulevard. Stay straight on Hall and you’ll go over a hill. At the bottom of that hill you’ll see some cream colored townhomes on the left. That’s us.

Turn left on Green Lane (no light here). Take the second entrance to the complex- we are the home on the right of that as you enter. Park in any open spot or along Green Lane.

This is traditionally a wild and busy time of year for musicians and music lovers, so we are not scheduling much.

If you are interested in playing carols (or anything else) for a retirement home or children’s hospital in December, let me know and I’d be happy to set something up and join you.

Otherwise our next event is a play-in on January 10th. We’re doing it a little differently this time, and asking you to contact me if you are planning to come play with us. **Note that we are not playing at Lewis & Clark that day.** There’s room for everybody and all levels are welcome. We’ll provide sheet music and snacks- you bring your viola and violist friends.

Our next big shebang is February 22nd in Salem at Willamette University. This is just before some of the state school competitions and we are happy to present a masterclass for all levels. There will be a play-in, a short demo-recital of lesser known works worth knowing and more! We hope to see all you southern Oregon violists come, connect and play.

Stay tuned for more info here, including the details for a benefit viola recital on February 27th that you won’t want to miss.

November is the new December around here- hope you all have a great and busy month!

Hey all!

Just a friendly reminder that OVS has an event this Saturday November 8th at 1pm at Lewis & Clark College in Portland. The class portion has dissolved, but we will still host a play-in and would love to see you there.

There is also a viola-heavy concert this Friday night the 7th at 8pm featuring Fragile Horizon: for viola, speaking voice, computer and video by Robert Coburn and Milton Barnes’ Lamentations of Jeremiah for solo viola. You can find more info here.

This Saturday the 8th at 7:30 pm the Portland Youth Philharmonic will perform.

This Sunday the 9th at 2pm the Oregon Symphony will play Brahms 1. Let’s face it: pretty much anything by Brahms + the kick-butt OSO viola section= sweet!

I’m sure there are more- just let us know and we’ll be happy to post your event.

We had an excellent time last week at the Portland Cello Project’s Demo and Class at Lewis & Clark College.

Sorry we had no real camera that night- here’s what an older semi-crummy cell phone will get you:

Performance

Class

After treating the audience (73% of whom were also cellists) to a performance of several of his electronically enhanced pieces, Skip VonKuske moved on to explain how he approaches improvisatory playing. He finished by inviting all to the stage and led us in an impromptu reworking of a basic chord progression accompanied by some beats from his computer. Our groove inspired him to vamp on both Mission Impossible and Also Sprach Zarathustra- something for everyone in the mix.

If you missed the evening, you can find CDs from both Portland Cello Project and Skip VonKuske. They’re excellent local low-string talent!