Sheila Browne [1] is an American-Irish concert violist from Gladwyne, Pennsylvania with dual citizenship. She is a concert and recording artist and Associate Professor at the University of Delaware. For ten years she was on faculty and Associate Professor of Viola at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. [2] Named the William Primrose Recitalist of 2016 in conjunction with the Primrose International Viola Archive (PIVA), Ms. Browne has played solo, concerto and chamber music concerts and has played principal of orchestras on six continents, performing in major venues in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, Australia, and the Middle East. She is in the Fire Pink Trio and principal of the New York Women's Philharmonic, making her Carnegie- Stern Hall concerto debut in 2011 (formerly NYWE). Browne is the Director and faculty member of the January Karen Tuttle Viola Workshop, founder in 2015 and faculty member of the first European Karen Tuttle Viola Workshop at NYU- Prague 2016, and has served on the Executive Board of the American Viola Society [3] Ms. Browne was the violist of the Gotham, Arianna, Pelligrini and Serafin string quartets. She has served on the faculties of Duke and New York universities, University of Missouri- St. Louis and of Tennessee- Knoxville, and Juilliard's Music Advancement Program.
During the summer of 2009 Sheila Browne became the first viola professor ever to teach in Iraqi Kurdistan for the inaugural year of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq.
She has recorded CDs on the Albany Records, Bridge, Centaur, [4] ERM, MSR and Nonesuch Records labels, and has premiered many new works by composers including Dan Coleman, Lawrence Dillon, and Kenneth Jacobs, and has recorded Cds with Natalie Cole, Paula Cole, Lisa Loeb, Audra MacDonald, and Carol Wincenc, and on major motion picture soundtracks such as Any Given Sunday.
She has made television appearances on the David Letterman Show with Aretha Franklin, and on Good Morning America with Barry Manilow at Lincoln Center.
Browne has played principal and soloed under conductors Michael Tilson Thomas, Leonard Slatkin, JoAnn Falletta, as well as under Eiji Oue, Pierre Boulez, Michael Gielen, Robert Spano, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Plácido Domingo, Paavo Jarvi. She has played in the St. Louis Symphony as well as in the Southwest Radio Symphony Orchestra in Baden - Wurttemberg, Germany.
She has performed with members of the Amernet, Audubon, Borromeo, Brentano, Calidore, Cleveland, Guarneri and Vermeer string quartets, Diaz Trio, Ruth Laredo, Gil Kalish, Anton Kuerti, Eugenia Zuckerman, Carol Wincenc, David Krakauer, Richard Stolzman, Joseph Robinson.
Browne has been featured in several books: The Musician's Way by Gerald Klickstein and UPBEAT: The Story of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq, and has been featured in the PBS Documentary with Michael Tilson Thomas, "Beethoven Alive!"
Sheila Browne studied with Karen Tuttle and the Juilliard String Quartet at the Juilliard School, where Ms. Browne was Tuttle's teaching assistant for four years, earning a Bachelor of Music degree. She later studied in Germany with soloist Kim Kashkashian after being awarded a DAAD grant for an Aufbaustudium degree at the Hochschule fuer Musik in Freiburg. She was Karen Ritscher's teaching assistant at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music, where the Gotham Quartet was in Paul Katz's String Quartet Residency Program (M.M.). She also studied with the principal violist of Philadelphia Opera Company, Evelyn Jacobs- Luise. Sheila Browne is a pedagogical descendant of William Primrose and Eugene Ysaye as well as Max Aronoff and Carl Flesch.
She was twice co- principal of Alexander Schneider's String Orchestra Seminar at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, as well as principal violist for New World Symphony's Tenth Anniversary European Tour under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas with soloist Barbara Hendricks. She was once the youngest member of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, playing in programs at the New School of Music, Temple University's Preparatory Division, Delaware County Youth Orchestra, Settlement Music School Chamber Orchestra, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Evian, Great Lakes Festival, Banff Centre for the Arts Solo Residency, Jeunesses Musicales, Music Academy of the West, Luzerne Music Center. She has been on faculties of California Summer Music, Montecito, Innsbruck, Luzerne Music Center, Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, Summer Strings at UNCSA. She is a prizewinner of the 2000 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.
William Primrose CBE 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 in various countries around the world as a soloist throughout his career. He also taught at several universities and institutions. He authored several books on viola technique.
Walter Trampler was a German musician and teacher of the viola and viola d'amore.
Milton Katims was an American violist and conductor. He was music director of the Seattle Symphony for 22 years (1954–76). In that time he added more than 75 works, made recordings, premiered new pieces and led the orchestra on several tours. He expanded the orchestra's series of family and suburban outreach concerts. He is also known for his numerous transcriptions and arrangements for viola.
Karen Ritscher is an American violist and academic.
Jennifer Stumm is a concert violist, professor of viola at the University of Music and Arts of the City of Vienna and director of the Ilumina Festival in São Paulo.
Karen Tuttle was an American viola teacher, most famous for developing the Karen Tuttle Coordination Technique, which emphasizes being comfortable while playing the instrument. She began performing on violin at the age of sixteen before switching to viola in 1941. Tuttle actively performed and taught at a number of institutions until her retirement in 2005.
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.
Steven A. Ansell is an American violist whose career involves work as a chamber musician, solo artist, and orchestral musician. He is the principal violist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held since September 1996. Prior to his appointment, Ansell had already appeared with the orchestra as a guest soloist. He also teaches at the Boston University College of Fine Arts and is a member of the Boston Symphony Chamber Players. He is a founding member of the Muir String Quartet.
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.
Marcus Thompson is a violist and viola d'amore player known for his work as a recitalist, orchestral soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and educator. Thompson is a founding member and is currently artistic director of the Boston Chamber Music Society, and is Institute Professor at MIT and a faculty member at the New England Conservatory of Music.
Martha Strongin Katz is a violist and member of the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) in Boston, Massachusetts, where she teaches viola and chamber music. She was a founding member of the Cleveland Quartet, along with her former husband, Paul Katz (cellist), and Peter Salaff and Donald Weilerstein (violinists). From 1969 until her departure from the group in 1980, she performed more than 1,000 concerts, including appearances at the White House, the Grammy Awards, on the NBC Today Show, and in the major concert halls of five continents.
Raphael Hillyer was a Jewish American viola soloist, teacher. Born Raphael Silverman in Ithaca, New York, his career included playing in the Boston Symphony Orchestra and co-founding the Juilliard String Quartet. Hillyer was still lecturing and teaching viola at Boston University during the final month of his life.
Michelle LaCourse is a viola player and string department chair on the faculty of the Boston University College of Fine Arts.
David Schwartz was an American violist and music instructor. Schwartz's career spanned orchestral music, chamber music, and studio recording, but he is most recognized for his chamber music performances and recordings with the Yale and Paganini Quartets.
Richard Fleischman is an American violist and viola d'amore player, conductor and pedagogue.
Janice LaMarre is a Canadian concert 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.
David Johnson Dalton was an American violist, author, and professor emeritus at Brigham Young University (BYU). He graduated from Eastman School of Music in 1961 and received his doctorate in viola performance in 1970 at Indiana University School of Music under William Primrose. As a faculty member at BYU, Dalton's main contribution was the establishment of the Primrose International Viola Archive, one of the largest viola archives in the world. Dalton's other significant positions include editor of the Journal of the American Viola Society, president of the American Viola Society, and president of the International Viola Society.
Brett Deubner is an American violist. He has performed as concerto soloist with over 70 orchestras on four continents.
Rita Porfiris is an American violist and arranger.
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