The American Viola Society (AVS) is an organization headquartered in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

that encourages excellence in performance, pedagogy, research, composition, and lutherie by fostering communication and friendship among violists of all skill levels, ages, nationalities, and backgrounds. The American Viola Society offers a variety of services to its members and violists worldwide, including the

Primrose International Viola Competition The Primrose International Viola Competition (PIVC), also referred to as the Primrose Memorial Scholarship Competition (PMSC), is an international music competition for viola players sponsored by the American Viola Society and named for the 20th-cen ...

, the Gardner Composition Competition, and the Dalton Research Competition; publications, including the ''Journal of the American Viola Society'', the AVS Studio Blog, Teacher's Toolbox, and score downloads; a Viola Bank offering loans of instruments; and a National Teacher Directory. The society has regularly hosted International Viola Congresses as well as American Viola Society Festivals.

History

In 1971, Myron Rosenblum founded the American Viola Research Society, a subset of the Viola-Forschungsgellschaft, now the

International Viola Society The International Viola Society, also called the "IVS" or "the Society," is an international organization dedicated to players of the viola. It is currently based in Dordrecht, the Netherlands, and sponsors annual International Viola Congresses. T ...

(IVS). The organization changed its name in 1978 to the American Viola Society to better reflect the interests of its members. In 1979, David Dalton founded the

in honor of the great Scottish-American violist

William Primrose William Primrose CBE (23 August 19041 May 1982) was a Scottish violist and teacher. He performed with the London String Quartet from 1930 to 1935. He then joined the NBC Symphony Orchestra where he formed the Primrose Quartet. He performed i ...

. That same year, the American Viola Society co-commissioned

George Rochberg George Rochberg (July 5, 1918May 29, 2005) was an American composer of contemporary classical music. Long a serial composer, Rochberg abandoned the practice following the death of his teenage son in 1964; he claimed this compositional techniqu ...

's Viola Sonata in celebration of Primrose's seventy-fifth birthday. In 1985, the AVS began publishing the ''Journal of the American Viola Society'' (''JAVS''), an outgrowth of the ''AVS Newsletter'' that it had previously produced. The ''JAVS'' has been a leading source of viola research; notably publishing several articles on the genesis and revision of Béla Bartók's Viola Concerto. Upon retirement of David Dalton as longtime editor in 1999, ''JAVS'' established the David Dalton Viola Research Competition for student members of the society.

Primrose International Viola Competition

The

(PIVC) is an international music competition for viola players sponsored by the American Viola Society and named for the 20th-century virtuoso William Primrose. The PIVC has been held regularly since 1987, often in conjunction with biennial meetings of the North American Viola Congress. Eligible participants are 29 years and younger of any nationality. The competition involves three rounds during a week-long festival in which entrants perform a required work as well as several choices from a viola repertoire list that includes solo works, sonatas, concertos and transcriptions by Primrose.

Maurice Gardner Composition Competition

The AVS inaugurated the biennial Maurice Gardner Composition Competition in 2009. The first winner was pianist/composer Rachel Matthews, whose work ''Dreams for Viola and Piano'' was premiered by violist

Scott Slapin Scott Slapin (born 1974) is an American composer and violist. Career Slapin has written more than sixty viola-centric chamber works and was commissioned to write the required piece for the 2008 Primrose International Viola Competition. He ser ...

and the composer at the 2010 International Viola Congress. ;Maurice Gardner Composition Competition laureates * 2010 – Rachel Matthews: ''Dreams'' for viola and piano (2008); Ourtext Edition * 2012 –

Michael Djupstrom Michael Djupstrom (born 1980) is an American composer. Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, he grew up in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. After completing undergraduate and graduate studies in composition at the University of Michigan, Djupstrom moved to Phil ...

: ''Walimai'' for alto saxophone (or viola) and piano (2005); Bright Press * 2014 – Matthew Browne: ''Exit, Pursued by a Bear'' for viola solo (2012); Maestoso Music * 2016 – Qi Jing: Sonata for solo viola, ''Threnody'' (2013) * 2022 – Daniel Reza Sabzghabaei: ''...under this blue of my land (زیر همین آبی وطنم...)'' for viola and voice (2019)

AVS Publications

In 2010 the American Viola Society began digital publication of sheet music under the AVS Publications name. The largest selection of scores to date are works by American composers as part of the "American Viola Project," which aims to "collect, publish, and preserve viola music from the United States."David M. Bynog, "The Viola in America: Two Centuries of Progress," ''Notes'' 68, no. 4 (June 2012): 729. Works by such noted composers as

Quincy Porter William Quincy Porter (February 7, 1897 – November 12, 1966) was an American composer and teacher of classical music. Biography Born in New Haven, Connecticut, he went to Yale University where his teachers included Horatio Parker and David St ...

Arthur Foote Arthur William Foote (March 5, 1853 in Salem, Massachusetts – April 8, 1937 in Boston, Massachusetts) was an American classical composer, and a member of the "Boston Six." The other five were George Whitefield Chadwick, Amy Beach, Edward Mac ...

, and

Michael Colgrass Michael Charles Colgrass (April 22, 1932 – July 2, 2019) was an American-born Canada-based musician, composer, and educator. Life and career Colgrass was born in Brookfield, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. His musical career began in Chicag ...

have been published as well as contributions by less well-known composers. Other publishing priorities include works for multiple violas and movements from the cantatas of

J. S. Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

that prominently feature the viola.

AVS Presidents

* 1971–1981 Myron Rosenblum, Founder * 1981–1986 Maurice Riley * 1986–1990 David Dalton * 1990–1994

Alan de Veritch Alan de Veritch (born July 18, 1947) is an American violist and viola teacher. He studied with William Primrose and performed in the Los Angeles Philharmonic for at least ten years. He has taught viola in various universities and was the president ...

* 1994–1998 Thomas Tatton * 1998–2002

Peter Slowik Peter Slowik (born 1957) is an American classical musician and academic working as a professor of viola and head of the string department at Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Early life and education Slowik was born in Oak Park, Illinois. He earne ...

* 2002–2005 Ralph Fielding * 2005–2008

Helen Callus Helen Callus is a British violist who teaches at Northwestern University. Callus studied with Ian Jewel at the Royal Academy of Music in London, earning an Honorary ARAM (Associate of the RAM). She then continued her studies at the Peabody Co ...

* 2008–2011 Juliet White-Smith * 2011–2014

Nokuthula Ngwenyama Nokuthula Ngwenyama (born June 16, 1976) is an American solo violist and composer of Ndebele and Japanese descent. She is a recording artist under EDI Records, and has taught at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. Background Si ...

* 2014–2017 Kathryn Steely * 2017–2020 Michael Palumbo * 2020– Hillary Herndon

References

* Pounds, Dwight R. ''The American Viola Society: A History and Reference''. Provo, Utah: American Viola Society, 1993. * Riley, Maurice W. ''The History of the Viola''. 2 Vols. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Braun-Brumfield, 1980–1991.

External links

Official websiteOfficial Facebook Page
{{Authority control Viola organizations Music organizations based in the United States