ViolaMANIA! August 30th at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley

ViolaMANIA!
8pm August 30
Pre-concert potluck and chamber music in the lobby at 6:30pm.

VIOLA MUSIC * VIOLA JOKES * FOOD * DRINK
GREAT RAFFLE PRIZES * T-SHIRTS
PLAY ALONG!

Opening the 2010-11 season of Classical at the Freight
Presented by the SF Chamber Orchestra

Help launch the new Northern California Viola Society, raise money and set a new world record for the largest viola ensemble: Join in on the final piece of this 'Viola Progressive" recital: an en masse reading of the Telemann G Major Viola Concerto. Enjoy an evening of viola music, viola jokes, good cheer and some truly excellent raffle prizes!

Enter to win the coveted second cadenza solo spot in the Telemann - yes, we're raffling away the opportunity to solo amidst all the other ViolaManiacs! Better get practicing, time's running out!

Other raffle prizes donated from artists and businesses from throughout the region include:
Free tickets to the SF Symphony, SF Performances, SJ Chamber Music Society, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; bow rehairs by San Francisco's John Greenwood; viola or composition lessons or chamber music coachings by any of several of the evening's featured performers; assorted instrument accessories from Bay Area instrument makers and shops like Roland Feller and Joan Balter; tons of sheet music for viola and viola ensembles; a viola case and gift certificate from Southwest Strings; a free Alexander Technique session/lesson with John Baron in Sausalito... the list goes on and on! Thank you to all those new Friends of the NCVS!

Raffle prizes on display in the lobby during the pre-concert chamber music and potluck; bring your axe, some music to read, a music stand if you've got one and some food or drink to share. Extremely hip ViolaMANIA! T-Shirts for the fundraising occasion will be on sale throughout the night, at $15 each.

NCVS/AVS dues-paying members granted FREE ADMISSION to the event; all other viola-wielding audience members get $1 off. SFCO members get their usual 2-for-1 ticket deal. Join online here and get registered in time for the show, OR just find the membership table in the lobby to join up right then and there!

Featured performers to include (also listed at right):
Sharon Wei, Wendy Clymer, Kristine Venstrom, Katrina Wreede, Beeri Moalem, David Cann, Paul Yarbrough, Jodi Levitz, Ethan Filner, Charlton Lee, Daria D'Andrea, Ellen Ruth Rose, Madeline Prager, Charith Premawardhana, Pauline Metzgar, Jason Pyszkowski, Patricia Heller, Thomas Tatton and SFCO's own conductor - and violist - Benjamin Simon...

The ViolaMANIA! program will guide us through several stages of viola ensemble growth from solo Bach to an octet (or multiples thereof) composed by Don Freund for the 1995 Viola Congress in Bloomington, Indiana.

Suite No.3 in C Major - Prelude, by J.S. Bach

Sonata for Two Violas, op.12 no.1 - Allegro assai, by Jean-Marie Leclair

Irish Tunes for three violas, arranged by Deborah Greenblatt

Nocturne, Op.34 for Four Violas, by Max Ritter van Weinzierl

Cassatio in F for Five Violas, by Anton Wrenitzky

Fanfare for 8 (or 16 or 24) Violas, by Don Freund

Viola Concerto in G Major, by Telemann; orchestral parts arranged for Viola Quartet by Katrina Wreede.
**Solo cadenzas performed by Madeline Prager (in the first movement) and YOU! (some lucky raffle winner, in the third movement)

Post-concert drinks at the nearby Jupiter Bar in Berkeley.

For more information, contact Ethan Filner, acting-President of the NCVS, at norcalviola@gmail.com or by calling 415-938-7839.