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Paul Coletti performed the Walton Concerto with the Colburn Orchestrain the Alex Theatre in Glendale on Sunday, February 10.

Richard O’Neill gave a  viola master class on February 5th at the USC Thornton School of Music. O’Neill is a frequent performer on the world’s most important musical stages. A recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, one of the few performers of his instrument to ever be given such prestigious distinction, he is also a 2006 GRAMMY nominee. Born to Korean-American parents, Richard Yongjae O’Neill received his training at the USC Thornton School of Music under the tutelage of Donald McInnes and at the Juilliard School with Paul Neubauer before launching on an international career.

Jen Drake (viola) and Aage Nielsen (bass clarinet) gave the Idaho premiere of their all-Icelandic program at the Esther Simplot Performing Arts Academy (516 S. 9th) in Boise on Sunday, 27 January 2008 at 2 PM and at Emerson Hall on the Northwest Nazarene University campus on Saturday, 2 February 2008 at 8 PM.

The idea for an all-Icelandic program began in 2004 when the duo discovered a profoundly beautiful unison work by Icelandic composer Finnur Torfi Stefansson. When Jen and Aage arrived in Iceland in 2005 to perform on several concerts for the 33rd International Viola Congress, the duo contacted the composer and a new friendship began. The concerts will also include a heaping portion of Icelandic pop culture with tunes by Bjork and Sigur Ros, as well as folk, classical, and arrangements from Iceland's national song tradition.

www.darkwoodconsort.com

www.idahoviolasociety.org