 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject.(August 2019) |
Rita Porfiris | |
|---|---|
| Genres | Classical |
| Instrument(s) | Viola |
| A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject.(August 2019) |
Rita Porfiris | |
|---|---|
| Genres | Classical |
| Instrument(s) | Viola |
The early career of Rita Porfiris started as a member and rotating principal violist of the New World Symphony [1] under Michael Tilson Thomas, [2] where she also performed as soloist. While there she formed the Plymouth Quartet, which went on to win a prize at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition [3] and receive Austria’s Prix Mercure. With the quartet she toured South America and Europe, and was in-residence at Florida International University. At the age of 24 she joined the Houston Symphony. In 1997 she won second prize at the Primrose International Viola Competition [4] [5] and joined the faculty at the University of Houston Moores School of Music. She remained at the Houston Symphony and Moores School until 2009, when she joined the faculty of The Hartt School at the University of Hartford, [6] where she now serves as Associate Professor of Viola and Chair of Chamber Music. [7] She has also been on the faculty of New York University.
Her articles on physical fitness and the viola and on related topics have been published in the Journal of the American Viola Society [8] [9] and she was featured on the July–August 1998 cover of Symphony Magazine for playing an ergonomic viola. [10]
She has served on the jury for the Washington International Competition for Strings [11] and was a selection committee member for the United States Fulbright Scholar Program.
She performs regularly as a soloist [12] and chamber musician. [13] She is the violist in the Miller-Porfiris Duo with her husband, violinist Anton Miller. [14]
Rita Porfiris has commissioned and performed the world premiere or U.S. premiere of many solo and chamber works for the viola. Composers she has premiered and/or commissioned include Errollyn Wallen, [15] Max Lifchitz, [16] [17] Frank Wallace, [18] Peter Aviss, Ken Steen, [19] Mario Diaz Gavier, David Ashley White, [20] Robert Avalon, and others.
She has recorded (as well as commissioning and premiering) the Lifchitz Confrontaçion for Viola and Chamber Orchestra with the North/South Ensemble; [21] Errollyn Wallen’s Five Postcards; [22] a chamber version of Strauss’ Don Quixote by and with cellist Laszlo Varga; and recorded the first complete collection of Robert Fuchs’ Twelve Duets. [23]
Partial list of recorded works for solo viola or chamber:
She has also arranged many works for viola and orchestra, violin and viola, and viola ensemble. [28]
The viola ( vee-OH-lə, Italian:[ˈvjɔːla,viˈɔːla]) is a string instrument that is bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the violin family, between the violin (which is tuned a perfect fifth higher) and the cello (which is tuned an octave lower). The strings from low to high are typically tuned to C3, G3, D4, and A4.
John Harris Harbison is an American composer, known for his symphonies, operas, and large choral works.
Suna Kan was a Turkish violinist who studied in France and appeared internationally. She was a soloist and concert master of the Presidential Symphony Orchestra for 44 years. She was professor of violin at the Music and Performing Arts Department of Bilkent University in Ankara.
Errollyn Wallen is a Belize-born British composer and musician.
Nigel Keay is a New Zealand composer. He has been a freelance musician since 1983 working as a composer, violist, and violin teacher. Nigel Keay has held the following composer residencies: Mozart Fellowship, University of Otago 1986 and 1987, Nelson School of Music 1988 and 89, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra 1995.
Sarah Frances Beamish is a British composer and violist. Her works include chamber, vocal, choral and orchestral music. She has also worked in the field of music, theatre, film and television, as well as composing for children and for her local community.
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Sirena Huang is an American concert violinist. She has received numerous awards, including First Prize at the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, First Prize at the Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition, First Place at the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians, and Third Place at the Singapore International Violin Competition and the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition. She has performed with orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. Huang was appointed as the first Artist-in-Residence of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra in 2011.
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Geraldine Lamboley Walther is an American violist. From 2005 to May 2020 she was a member of the Takács Quartet. During this time she also taught at the University of Colorado Boulder. She was also the principal violist of the San Francisco Symphony, a role she held from 1976 through 2005. Previously, she was assistant principal viola of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Miami Philharmonic. In 1979, she won the First Prize at the Primrose International Viola Competition.
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Cynthia Phelps is an American violist whose versatile career involves work as a chamber musician, solo artist, and orchestral musician. Phelps is currently the Principal Violist of the New York Philharmonic, a position to which she was appointed in 1992.
Andor John Toth was an American classical violinist, conductor and educator with a musical career spanning over six decades. Toth played his violin on the World War II battlefields of Aachen, Germany; performed with the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini in 1943 at age 18; and formed several chamber music ensembles, including the Oberlin String Quartet, the New Hungarian Quartet, and the Stanford String Quartet. For 15 years he was the violinist in the Alma Trio. Toth conducted orchestras in Cleveland, Denver and Houston. In 1969, he was the founding concertmaster of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra under Neville Marriner. Toth taught at five important colleges and universities, and recorded for Vox, Decca Records and Eclectra Records.
William Jay Sydeman was a prolific American composer. He was born in New York. He studied at Duke University, and received a B.S. degree in 1955 from the Mannes School of Music, having studied with Felix Salzer, Roy Travis, and Roger Sessions. He received his master's in music from the Hartt School in 1958, studying under Arnold Franchetti and Goffredo Petrassi. From 1959 to 1970 he joined the composition faculty at his alma mater Mannes School of Music.
Lawrence Power is a British violist, born 1977, noted both for solo performances and for chamber music with the Nash Ensemble and Leopold String Trio.
Scott Slapin is an American composer and violist.
Teng Li is a Chinese-Canadian violist. She is currently the principal violist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. From 2004 to 2018, she was the principal violist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. She is also the Artistic Director of Morningside Music Bridge and is a member of the Rosamunde String Quartet, led by Noah Bendix-Balgley.
Brett Deubner is an American violist. He has performed as concerto soloist with over 70 orchestras on four continents.
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