Sigma Alpha Iota

12 Summer 2024 • sai-national.org New Rdings By Rebekah Strain I love the sound of the viola; it can be both rich and dark, and soaring and brilliant." Past President Hillary Herndon first joined the board of the American Viola Society (AVS) in 2012. Founded in 1971, the organization is dedicated to, in Herndon's words, "building community and supporting violists, research of the viola and its music, viola education, viola composition, and lutherie of violas." In pursuit of its mission, the American Viola Society has stepped up to create AVS Recordings, a new recording label with the goal of providing recording opportunities for violists. rough this project, the AVS hopes to work with artists in spreading the warm timbre and vibrant diversity of viola music. And their first release reflects this aim — a collection of pieces from underrepresented composers. "Anyone besides white, male, European composers, has historically been underrepresented in the classical music canon," says Mary Moran, a violist from Wisconsin. Her haunting performance of Fantasy for Solo Viola, a piece from SAI Composer's Bureau member Ellen Taaffe Zwillich, is featured on the record. "For viola, the issue is compounded because it doesn't have the depth of repertoire written originally for our instrument the way violin or cello does. Composers generally didn't see viola as a solo instrument or violists as capable solo performers, so they didn't write music for it...Historically, we've played transcriptions of violin pieces to make up for this, but that's still pulling from the same pool of white, male, European composers." Fellow violist and teacher Sheila Browne echoes these sentiments. "Our newly emerging world order post-Covid in the U.S. is giving some people who have had little traction more of a voice, more visibility, and more respect. It's about time." Browne's suspenseful rendition of Convergence by Andrea Clearfield–another member of the SAI Composer's Bureau–is track 5 on the album. "is includes women, people of color, people of different sexual orientations, etc. As a woman performer and professor in Of Pens and Microphones The American Viola Society & Underrepresented Composers

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