Chamber Music Society of Southern Utah :: Fine Classical Music for St. George and Cedar City, Utah

Helen Callus Recital and Master Class

On January 23rd at 7:30pm, Tuacahn High School for the Performing arts will be featuring world renowned violist, Helen Callus, in a Saturday evening performance at the Hafen Theater on the Tuacahn Campus with guest pianist, Timothy Lovelace.

Tickets are $15 for adults, $8 for students/seniors.

From her website:

Helen Callus, viola has been described by critics as “a player with impeccable sensibilities and a beautiful sound, infinitely malleable into all kinds of musical subtleties”. The Seattle Times.

Her debut recording for ASV, “Portrait of the Viola” with Robert McDonald – piano released in 2002, was met with the highest of critical acclaim. Strings magazine described Ms. Callus as a “violist of the highest caliber.” The American Record Guide wrote “The night I wrote this review, I found her performance so moving, so addicting, that I kept listening to it over and over before I could bring myself to finish the review. Very rarely have I felt a need to listen to a recording over and over. Only really great artistry can hold a listener in thrall like that, and that is the artistry of Helen Callus.”

Her second recording for ASV “Walton” was released in June 2006 and featured Ms. Callus with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marc Taddei. Gramophone writes “Helen Callus plays with a sumptuous tone matched by flawless intonation to give the most beautiful account I have ever heard of the Walton Concerto” giving the disk it’s highest recommendation. The disc was named “Orchestral Disk of the Month” by the British Classic FM Magazine and most recently named ‘the most beautiful Walton on disc’ by the 2006 Penguin Guide to Compact Discs.

Ms. Callus records solo repertoire exclusively with ASV Sanctuary Classics UK and her latest recording, “Prokofiev” was released in October 2006. She has also released award winning recordings with Boston Records [BR1057CD] and her recording for ECM New Series with the Bridge Ensemble of Giya Kancheli’s Piano Quartet in L’istesso Tempo also featuring Gidon Kremer on the disc [ECM New Series 1767], was chosen as BBC Music Magazine’s Best Choice for Chamber Music Recording in April 2005.

As a recitalist, chamber music collaborator and concerto soloist, Ms. Callus has delighted audiences in major cities around the world including those of Russia, Europe, New Zealand, Australia and Canada and extensively throughout the US. In 2003, whilst a guest at Brigham Young University for the Primrose Memorial Recital, Ms. Callus performed with the world renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City to an audience of 4,000 and broadcast to over 2,000 television stations around the world. A busy chamber music artist, Ms. Callus has performed at many chamber music festivals such as the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, the Palaces of St. Petersburg (Russia) Chamber Music Festival and the Dilijan Chamber Music Series at Zipper Hall, Los Angeles to name a few. Ms. Callus has performed at several major international viola congresses since 2001, including those of New Zealand, Seattle (of which she was the host-chair), Kronberg in Germany and Minnesota.

Ms. Callus is a regular solo artist on radio and TV and can be heard regularly on such programs as Performance Today and in interviews on National Public Radio, Public Radio International and Radio New Zealand. She was heard for the second time on National Public Radio’s broadcast Saint Paul Sunday in 2005 as solo guest with pianist Phillip Bush in a program called ‘Hidden Treasures’, a compilation of beautiful previously unknown works for viola and piano. The show broadcasts to over 1 million listeners around the globe.

Ms. Callus currently serves as Associate Professor of Viola at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her first teaching appointment at the age of 26 was to the faculty of The University of Washington where she taught for seven years. Most recently, Ms. Callus has accepted the position of Artistic Director of the Centrum Chamber Music Festival situated on the Olympic Peninsula in Port Townsend just north of Seattle. This year the festival plays host to the Tokyo String Quartet as ensemble in residence and will collaborate with Ms. Callus in concert.

She is the President of the American Viola Society accepting the honor of being the first women elected to that title and has also served as the Viola Forum Editor for the American String Teachers Association Journal and was the founder of the educational outreach organization BRATS (Bratsche Resources And Teaching in the Schools) first brought to national attention in the February 2002 issue of STRAD Magazine and now an educational program donated to the American Viola Society.

Herself a prize winner at several major competitions including the Tertis International Viola Competition, she has adjudicated for ASTA and was Chair of the jury for the Primrose International Viola Competition in 2003. She is much in demand across the country as a visiting professor and has taught masterclasses and given residencies at some of the nation’s leading schools of music such as Indiana University School of Music, The Cleveland Institute, New England Conservatory, Rice School of Music, Cincinnatti College Conservatory of Music and the University of Michigan as well as for organizations such as the American String Teachers Association National Conference and the Suzuki Association of the America’s. In 2005 Ms. Callus was invited as the guest of honor for the Australian Teaching Association and Australian National Youth Orchestra’s ‘Year of the Viola’ Festival held outside of Sydney.

She has written numerous articles for both the international STRAD magazine and national STRINGS magazine. Herself the subject of numerous feature articles, the STRINGS magazine stated in its 2005 article titled ‘The Advocate’ that Ms. Callus ‘might just be the best friend the viola world ever had’.

A native of Kent, England, Ms. Callus graduated from The Royal Academy of Music in London as a student of Ian Jewel and was bestowed an Honorary ARAM (Associate of the RAM) for her achievements in the field. She continued her graduate studies at the Peabody Conservatory in Maryland where she was the teaching assistant to Paul Coletti. Ms Callus plays on a viola made by Gabrielle Kundert made for her and is a copy of the ex-Primrose Amati.