Composition

Notes

Violaria 2017 Cynthia Fogg has been a friend and colleague for many years. For as long as we have known each other, she has (privately) on occasions like after-concert receptions or family meals burst into vibrant operatic bel canto song, always embellished with appropriately grand gestures,
attesting to her secret dream of being an operatic diva!
In an attempt to divert those aspirations into a more practical medium, I composed for her in the year
2000 a Caprice for viola and piano, in which she could “sing” with operatic drama and lyrical abandon. I called that piece Violaria.
   
Two years ago, after a concert by the Pomona College Band she confessed that she wished she and her viola could play with a band! I accepted that challenge! Violaria 2016, was performed in April 2017 by her and the Band, with Graydon Beeks conducting. This version for viola and piano was made earlier this year and it is a pleasure for me to be able to play it with her today.