79e CONCOURS DE GENE ` VE
INTERNATIONAL MUSIC COMPETITION Programme note
I honestly can’t imagine what it must be like to sit in a chair all week, observing countless hours of playing and having to judge every note, sound, and gesture. For so long, I’ve tried to perfect my playing - worrying about what others would think, trying to please as many people as possible at every audition, competition, and performance. This led to me being constantly frustrated, feeling that I wasn’t good enough. Getting to choose my own program here allowed me to let all of that go.
I began playing the viola by chance, in my school orchestra when I was ten years old. Over the past decade, I’ve come to know myself through this instrument. The program I’m presenting tonight reflects that journey - each work represents a different facet of myself, and together they reveal the full character of the viola, which I’ve discovered mirrors my own.
When creating this program, it was important to me that each work be written/arranged by a violist. Because who better than our own kind? The next hour of music you will hear is a full fledged 4-course viola party meal- Played, written and arranged by violists!
The appetizers are the Dvořák and Knox. Dvořák’s Dobrú noc, má milá is originally for voice and was arranged by my teacher Hsin-Yun Huang. The last lines of the poem are especially meaningful:
“Dream yourself a dream, please do, When you get up, give the dream credence, That I love you, that my heart I give to you.”
I am a dreamer, and have always been. Despite coming from a non-music family and starting playing at a later age than all my string-player colleagues, I dreamed - and I believe the viola does the same. Its tone is what keeps drawing me in - it is always reaching for something, longing to get somewhere and to say something
despite its flawed size and resonance.
Garth Knox’s Viola Space No. 8, shows my cheeky and humorous side. One of my favorite quotes from my teacher is to “take the music seriously, but not yourself,” and this piece embodies just that. The viola itself is also a humorous instrument. It comes in all different shapes and sizes, in an imperfectly perfect way. And I will play it in all the wrong ways possible in this work.
The first main course is the Vieuxtemps. It represents my emotional side, and how deeply I feel. Although I am often embarrassed to show it, I am a deeply emotional person and experience moments vividly. The viola is the same. Playing it requires the time to listen to what sound it is telling us from within its wooden chamber. We must play in the moment, and react to how the instrument is feeling at all times. We often learn more from listening to the instrument itself rather than what someone is telling us to do externally. Life is the same way.
The second main course, Hindemith’s Sonata Op. 25 No. 1, is bold, independent, determined and yet still vulnerable. It reflects my own journey of leaving home alone at a young age to pursue my dreams. This is the essence of the viola itself: determined yet vulnerable.
The Piazzolla, arranged by Brett Alan and myself, is the dessert. Light, playful, adventurous. It represents all of the world, experiences and people I have had the privilege of meeting through the viola. But also, all that lies beyond in the future. I feel so lucky to be able to live a life in music every day.
I could not be more delighted and humbled to be able to share this next hour with you all, and hope we have a meaningful time together celebrating the viola.
Emad Zolfaghari