Another Round of Applause For the Arts: Viva La Viola

Donald Dal Maso and David Lantz performed on Sunday Photo Credit / Jamie Reese
Donald Dal Maso and David Lantz performed on Sunday Photo Credit / Jamie Reese
Donald Dal Maso and David Lantz performed on Sunday
Photo Credit / Jamie Reese

By Janice Tieperman
SC Staff Writer

East Stroudsburg University has been continuing its string of beautiful presentations of professional recitals of classical arrangements, ranging from the flute to the violoncello.

This past Sunday, a new instrument was added to the concert’s repertoire as Donald Dal Maso took the stage with viola, one of the musical world’s lesser-known orchestral instruments.

Accompanied by the talented pianist David Lantz, string music as we assumed it to be took on a whole new level.

Dal Maso’s studies in the musical arts were present during the concert on October 5, which was hosted in Celia S. Cohen Hall.

The Haverford College and Curtis Institute of Music graduate shined onstage as he played music of various style and mood, appealing to all of the audience’s senses, including my own.

The viola’s tone is often described as one of sadness and melancholy, but Dal Maso gave the instrument and its notes an entirely new personality of its own, bringing both music aficionados and casual listeners to a sense of auditory unity as they silently listened to the concert.

Despite its similarity in spelling to its cousin the violin, the viola has some significant differences, starting with its size. Noticeably larger than a violin, the viola plays on a whole different clef, the visual transposition of notes than most other instruments.

While most people familiar with choir and band have probably heard of the treble and bass clef, the viola can only be played on the unique and fairly uncommon alto clef, which is almost solely used for just the viola.

Keeping this background in mind, the viola as an instrument is arguably one of the trickiest to play in the orchestra due to its difference in musical structure and is even more uncommonly seen in solo acts and recitals.

The entire campus shows thanks for Dal Maso and Lantz for stopping by and sharing with the community their love of music and performance.

Stay tuned for future musical events to occur at ESU.

Email Janice at:
jtieperman@live.esu.edu