Eastman School of Music's Viola Faculty

Pictured: Carol Rodland

Julia Figueras welcomes nationally acclaimed violist Kim Kashkashian and members of the Eastman School of Music's Viola faculty, including Carol Rodland to Backstage Pass. Watch online. Tune in for an hour of performance and conversation about the upcoming 40th Annual International Viola Congress, airing Tuesday, May 29 at 1 p.m. on Classical 91.5/FM-HD 91.5-1.

The 40th International Viola Congress will be held May 30th through June 3rd at the Eastman School of Music. Artists from all over the world will participate in the Congress, with a range of music from works for Baroque viola da gamba to newly-minted compositions. Concerts and present master classes will be presented by world renowned violists, including Atar Arad, Wolfram Christ, Karen Dreyfus, Jeffrey Irvine, and Kim Kashkashian.

Kashkashian, who will be in studio for Backstage Pass, has been hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as "an artist who combines a probing, restless musical intellect with enormous beauty of tone." She has appeared as soloist with the major orchestras including those in New York, Berlin, Vienna, London, Milan, Munich, and Tokyo.

Rodland made her solo debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of seventeen. She subsequently won first prizes at the Washington International Competition, the Artists’ International Auditions, and the Juilliard Concerto Competition, as well as the Universal Editions Prize at the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition. Ms. Rodland currently enjoys a multi-faceted international career as a concert and recording artist and pedagogue. Ms. Rodland holds degrees from the Juilliard School, where she studied with Karen Tuttle, and from the Musikhochschule Freiburg, where as a Fulbright Scholar she studied with Kim Kashkashian. She has held professorships at New England Conservatory, where she was recognized in 2005 with the Krasner Award for Excellence in Teaching, at the Musikhochschule “Hanns Eisler” Berlin, at Arizona State University, and as guest faculty at the Juilliard School. In 2008, Ms. Rodland was appointed to a tenured professorship at the Eastman School of Music.

Backstage Pass is a live, hour-long radio series that is committed to highlighting performing artists – giving Classical 91.5/90.3/FM-HD 91.5-1 listeners the opportunity to hear local and visiting musicians performing live. The series is made possible in part by a grant from the Gouvernet Arts Fund at Rochester Area Community Foundation. The program will repeat Sunday, June 3 at 2 p.m.on Classical 91.5.