VIOLA DAY

Guest Artist: Daniel Doña, viola
Hannah Levinson, viola (host of Viola Day)

Saturday, March 22, 2025

10 A.M. Bryan Recital Hall
Moore Musical Arts Center

Program

44 Duos, Sz. 98 | Béla Bartók (1881-1945), arr. William Primrose
     7. Walachian Song
    14. Pillow Dance
    10. Ruthenian Song
    11. Cradle Song
    16. Burlesque
    18. Hungarian March No. 2
    28. Sadness
    32. Dancing Song
     8. Slovakian Song No. 2
     9. Play Song
    15. Soldier’s Song
    13. Wedding Song
    43. Pizzicato
    25. Hungarian Song No. 2
    23. Song of the Bride
    35. Ruthenian Dance

Hannah Levinson, Daniel Doña, violas

Fragility Etude for Viola (2021) |  Susie Ibarra (b. 1970)

Cadenza per viola sola (1984) |  Krzysztof Penderecki (1933-2020)

Five Sketches (1984) | Elizabeth Maconchy (1907-1994)
     I. Molto Moderato
    II. Andantino

The Violist’s Notebook, Book One (2003) | John Harbison (b. 1938)
     I. Andante (Marcus Thompson)
    II. Appassionato (Kim Kashkashian)
   III. Vivace (James Dunham)

Daniel Doña, viola

3 American Folk Hymn Settings (2008) | Kenji Bunch (b. 1973)
     I. Prologue
    II. “What Wondrous Love is This”
   III. “In Lonely Mountain Ways” – “I Come With Joy”

Hannah Levinson, Daniel Doña, violas

dona-headshot

Violist Daniel Doña has distinguished himself as an active international performer and pedagogue. His collaborations with musicians from multiple traditions has led him to explore the beauty of a polystylistic musical space, gaining praise for being “especially at home in this harmonic world” (San Francisco Classical Voice). He serves on the viola faculty of the Boston University School of Music alongside his duties as Director of Undergraduate Studies and Coordinator of String Chamber Music. Daniel is also Co-Director of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute String Quartet Workshop. In addition to his teaching at BU, Dr. Doña serves as Director of Chamber Music of the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras and teaches students in the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra Intensive Community Program. Equally at home as a researcher and scholar he has written program notes for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood, Caramoor Center for the Arts and other concert presenters. His notes have gained praise for being “lucid and erudite” (Boston Musical Intelligencer). An avid chamber musician, he is a member of TriChrome, BiND Ensemble, and the critically acclaimed Arneis Quartet.


Levinson

Violist Hannah Levinson is an in-demand performer of contemporary and classical music. She has recently been featured as a soloist and chamber musician at Carnegie Hall, The Stone, 92Y, Miller Theater, Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival, June in Buffalo, and the Andy Warhol Museum, and at international festivals including the Kroch Festival (Stockholm), Musikprotokol Festival (Graz), Projektgruppe Neue Musik (Bremen), and Festival Musica (Strasbourg). Dedicated to working with living composers, Hannah has commissioned and premiered over 40 chamber and solo works.
 
Hannah is a founding member and Executive Director of the violin/viola duo andPlay, described by I Care If You Listen as “enthusiastic champions for new music and collaboration.” andPlay’s most recent album, Translucent Harmonies (2023), was released in September 2023 on the UK-label, Another Timbre. Featuring works by Catherine Lamb and Kristofer Svensson, the album was included on Bandcamp’s “Best Contemporary Classical: September 2023” and Steve Smith’s “2023, for the record.”
 
Committed to both contemporary and classical repertoire, Hannah is also a member of the Talea Ensemble (“a crucial part of the New York cultural ecosphere” New York Times), Fair Trade Trio, and the Albany Symphony Orchestra, and a former member of the Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra. She frequently performs with NYC ensembles including the International Contemporary Ensemble, either/or, counter)induction, Heartbeat Opera, Cantata Profana, Contemporaneous, and The Rhythm Method Quartet.

A strong believer in sharing her artistic practice with her local community, Hannah is committed to audience engagement events through “andPlay (in) conversation,” a free series in Upper Manhattan that provides opportunities for audiences to look inside the collaborative process of creating music, and through performances with organizations including “Music for Autism.”
 
Before her appointment at BGSU, Hannah was Music Artist Faculty at NYU Steinhardt and at the Manhattan School of Music Precollege. She earned her degrees at Oberlin College and Conservatory (BM in Viola Performance, BA in Russian East European Studies), Manhattan School of Music (MM in Contemporary Performance), and NYU Steinhardt (PhD in Performance). Her primary teachers include Karen Ritscher, Martha Strongin Katz, and Nadia Sirota. Her research explores how interactions between composers and political structures affect the creation of new music.

Updated: 03/20/2025 10:42AM