Michelle LaCourse & Martin Amlin - An American Menagerie - New Music for Viola and Piano (2019)

AN AMERICAN MENAGERIE: I have had the pleasure of playing recitals in Boston with Martin Amlin at the piano for many years. He is not only a remarkable pianist and collaborator and a wonderful colleague easy to work with and indulgent of my (often fanciful) ideas for thematic recitals but he is also a composer of compelling voice whose writing is rich in emotion and color as well as originality, wit, and intelligence. At about the same time I became determined to record his Violetta (which he had written for us to play together) and his Sonata for viola and piano, I also started looking for viola-piano duos inspired by animals. (I have shared most of my life with a cat and/or a dog from an animal shelter, and have always loved and been fascinated by animals.) Martin went with the idea, and wrote Kennel for me, offering seven miniatures each featuring a breed from one of the seven breed groups recognized by the American Kennel Club. He followed this with his Lullaby for viola and piano. Robert Merfeld, another pianist colleague at Boston University, created Animal Miniatures for me, and went with a whimsical visit to some farm animals and the sounds of a rural evening. I learned about Monica Houghton's Whalefall in a format for viola and organ (which was a re-scoring of its original setting for voice and piano), and received permission from the composer to perform a viola-piano version of this hauntingly beautiful work. All of this combined has resulted in a wonderful collection of pieces by American composers, including several inspired by a variety of animals, so combining some popular definitions for the word Menagerie (a gathering of animals, or a diverse collection of people or things), we thus have An American Menagerie! And where else could I get to bark, growl, bray, moo, and make cricket noises on the viola? [Michelle LaCourse, December 2014]

American violist Michelle LaCourse has appeared as soloist and chamber musician on four continents, including performances in France, Italy, Spain, Brazil, and South Korea. LaCourse was formerly a member of the Lehigh Quartet, the Delphic String Trio, and the Aeolian Trio. Her numerous festival appearances have included Aspen, Bowdoin, Eastern, Interlochen, Skaneateles, Musicorda, and the Heifetz Institute. Internationally, she has participated in festivals in Brazil at Campos do Jordao, in Italy at Positano, and in Luxembourg at Vianden. LaCourse holds degrees from the Peabody Conservatory, where she studied with and was for many years teaching assistant to renowned pedagogue Karen Tuttle. LaCourse currently teaches viola and chairs the String Department at Boston University's School of Music, where in 2009 she was awarded the Metcalf Cup and Prize, the university's highest honor for excellence in teaching. She performs on a viola made for her in 2000 by Steven Keller of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with bows made by Michael Hattala of Fabius, New York.

American composer and pianist Martin Amlin has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Tanglewood Music Center, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Artists Foundation, and Council for the Arts. Amlin is also a recipient of an ASCAP Grant to Young Composers, several ASCAPlus Awards, and Boston University's Kahn Award. He has been a resident at Yaddo, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the MacDowell Colony, where he was named a Norlin Fellow. A composer whose compositions have been performed around the world, Amlin has received commissions from the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Seattle Flute Society, Pacific Serenades, and Chicago Flute Club, among others. As a performer, he has appeared as soloist with the Boston Pops, and has performed on the Boston Symphony Orchestra's Prelude Concerts at both Symphony Hall and Tanglewood.