79e CONCOURS DE GENÈVE 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.
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 When creating this program, it was important times. We often learn more from listening to the to me that each work be written/arranged by a instrument itself rather than what someone is violist. Because who better than our own kind? telling us to do externally. Life is the same way. The next hour of music you will hear is a full fledged 4-course viola party meal- Played, writ- The second main course, Hindemith’s Sonata ten and arranged by violists! Op. 25 No. 1, is bold, independent, determined and yet still vulnerable. It reflects my own jourThe appetizers are the Dvořák and Knox. ney of leaving home alone at a young age to Dvořák’s Dobrú noc, má milá is originally for pursue my dreams. This is the essence of the voice and was arranged by my teacher Hsin-Yun viola itself: determined yet vulnerable. Huang. The last lines of the poem are especially meaningful: The Piazzolla, arranged by Brett Alan and myself, is the dessert. Light, playful, adventurous. It “Dream yourself a dream, please do, represents all of the world, experiences and peoWhen you get up, give the dream credence, ple I have had the privilege of meeting through That I love you, that my heart the viola. But also, all that lies beyond in the I give to you.” future. I feel so lucky to be able to live a life in music every day. I am a dreamer, and have always been. Despite coming from a non-music family and starting I could not be more delighted and humbled playing at a later age than all my string-player to be able to share this next hour with you all, colleagues, I dreamed - and I believe the viola and hope we have a meaningful time together does the same. Its tone is what keeps drawing celebrating the viola. me in - it is always reaching for something, longing to get somewhere and to say something Emad Zolfaghari