Welcome!

Welcome to the website of the Viola Moderna festival at the Folkwang University of the Arts.

This festival will take place from the 25rd to the 30th of March 2019 in Essen-Werden, NRW Germany. The festival is open for all viola players and for those of you who study in Germany, participation is free of charge.

The aim of this festival is to practice and perform contemporary music for the viola with the help of leading experts and performers.

We would very much like you to have fun doing this work and if at the same time we can take prejudice against “modern” music away, we will only be the happier.
Please do join us in Essen-Werden, one of those unique places on this world where, in the 10th century, polyphony started. It is in this wonderfully quiet town of great historical significance, that we would like to help and teach you to prepare a piece of contemporary music for the concert stage. In order to obtain this purpose we will offer you courses in improvisation, singing (also the Mongolian overtone singing!) and ensemble playing. We hope to help you prepare works, if possible in collaboration with the composers,that possibly may have seemed impossible for you to perform.
On the 30th of March we will make a big party concert with as many first performances as possible.
During the whole week there will be a multimedia exposition in the rooms of the old abbey in Werden, that will show you the development of the works composed for our cherished instrument in the last 70 years.
We hope to have publishers to expose the works they have edited recently for the viola as well.

Accommodations in Essen-Werden can be taken care of. There is a youth hostel and many hotels close to the university and Essen-Werden has a great number of good restaurants and bakeries!

In short: feel free to apply for this unique occasion to play real modern music on the viola and enjoy your work.

Emile Cantor