Viola Day

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Join us for the 1st annual WKU Viola Day on Saturday, October 1st from 10:00am to 5:00pm!  This viola-centric event is open to all ages and skill levels, from beginners to advanced students. The event will feature guest faculty member Kathryn Plummer, Professor of Viola at Vanderbilt University. Events will include masterclasses, technique classes, and a viola ensemble reading sessions.

Attendance is free but registration is required.  Please fill out this registration and return it to: strings@wku.edu

Registration Form 

If you would like to perform in a masterclass, please return the registration form by September 15th.

 

Schedule of events:

Pre-College Masterclass/Technique Classes: 10:00am to 12:00PM

College Masterclass from 1:30PM to 3:30PM

Viola Ensemble Readings: 3:45M to 4:30PM

 

Questions can be directed to Andy Braddock:

Email: andrew.braddock@wku.edu

Phone: (270) 745-5939

 

Faculty Information

Kathryn Plummer, viola recitalist and chamber musician, is Professor of Viola at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School. As a soloist, she has performed at the National Gallery of Art, Alice Tully Hall, on National Public Radio, and at several International Viola Congresses, presenting the world premiere of Alan Shulman’s Variations for Viola, Harp and Strings at the XIV International Viola Congress. She has appeared as soloist with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, the Festival der Zukunft Orchestra (Switzerland), the Anchorage Symphony Festival Orchestra, the Peninsula Festival Orchestra, the Aspen Festival Student Orchestra and the Indiana University Orchestra.

As a former violist with the Blair String Quartet, she presented several world premieres and gave a New York debut in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. For more than two decades, Plummer performed with the Festival der Zukunft and also performed frequently with the Sitka (Alaska) Summer Festival and the festival’s Winter and Fall Classics. Other appearances have been with the Smithsonian Chamber Players, the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, the Sedona Music Festival, the Notre Dame Chamber Players, the St. Cere Festival (France), the Craftsbury Chamber Players and with the Trio de Barcelona (Spain).

Over the span of her long career critics have praised her for her artistry. New York Times: “an especially vibrant and sonorous viola.” The Anchorage Times: “played with eloquence and persuasive authority.” The Strad: “a highlight of the Congress.”Cincinnati Enquirer: “she played with lovely artistry.” Musical America: “stellar.”

In addition to her active performing career, Plummer has taught at the Aspen Music Festival, Rocky Ridge Music Center and the Curs Internacional de Musica de Vic (Spain). Formerly Associate Professor of Viola at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, she began her career as assistant principal violist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and during six consecutive summers was principal violist of the Aspen Chamber Orchestra. She was principal violist with the Peninsula Festival Orchestra, and in 1996 she served as interim principal violist with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra.

A frequent adjudicator and guest clinician throughout the United States, Plummer has served many years as a national board member of the American Viola Society and served from 2011-13 as the viola forum editor with the American String Teachers Association. She was educated at Indiana University and the Juilliard School, and her mentors include violists David Dawson, Walter Trampler, William Primrose, Samuel Rhodes, Martha Katz and pianist György Sebők.

 

Violist Andrew Braddock is currently on the faculty of Western Kentucky University (WKU) and the WKU Pre-College Strings Program.  He teaches viola at the university and maintains a full pre-college studio of young violinists and violists. Andrew has given masterclasses throughout the United States and abroad, including classes at the Xi’an Conservatory (China), the Da’an School (Taiwan), the Indiana University Summer String Academy, and Oklahoma University. He has presented pedagogy sessions at the Kentucky and Tennessee Music Educators Association conferences (KMEA and TMEA), and serves as the New Music Editor for the Journal of the American Viola Society. In addition to his many recital performances in the Kentucky area, Andrew has performed in Israel, Austria, Indiana and Colorado.  He currently serves as the principal violist of the Paducah Symphony Orchestra, and he has been as a member of the Evansville Philharmonic and Owensboro Symphony Orchestras. Andrew has studied violin and viola pedagogy with Mimi Zweig at Indiana University and has taught in the IU String Academy.  He holds a Masters in Viola performance from Indiana University, under the tutelage of Atar Arad, and a Bachelors of Music (summa cum laude) from Vanderbilt University, where he was awarded the Jean Keller Heard Prize for Excellence in string performance.  His principal teachers are Atar Arad, Kathryn Plummer, and John Graham.