Tuesday, January 22, 2019 7:30 PM
Ward Hall
Lipscomb University's Faculty & Friends Concert Series presents: Duo Andrea Dawson, violinist, and Ayn Balija, violist, on Jan. 22 at 7:30 p.m. in Ward Hall.
Dawson and Balija will perform works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Robert Fuchs and Mario Castelnuovo.
Andrea Dawson joined the faculty at Middle Tennessee State University in 2007 and Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts in 2008. She is a member and co-coordinator of the Stones River Chamber Players, the faculty chamber series at MTSU, and a member of Music City Baroque. She has been a featured chamber musician on WPLN, Nashville Public Radio on both violin and viola. She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in the United States, China, Brazil, Mexico, Curaçao, and France. She was formerly Associate Concertmaster of the Valley Symphony Orchestra in McAllen, Texas.
Dawson received her Masters in Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the Eastman School of Music, where she was awarded the coveted Performer’s Certificate. She also received a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology, with a minor in French, and a Bachelor of Music in violin Performance from Oberlin College. Her principal teachers include Lynn Blakeslee, Camilla Wicks, Taras Gabora, Kathleen Winkler, Robert Koff, and Janet Packer.
Ayn Balija is currently the Associate Professor of Viola at the University of Virginia, Principal Violist of the Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia, and violist of the Rivanna String Quartet. She has also been on faculty at James Madison University and Lorain County Community College. During the summer she is on faculty at the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts.
As an orchestral musician Ms. Balija has performed in such venues as Heinz Hall and Carnegie Hall with the Pittsburgh Symphony as well as performs with the Richmond Symphony, Williamsburg Symphonia, Charlottesville Opera, Victory Hall Opera, and the Roanoke Symphony. For twelve years she was also a tenured member of ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus helping to promote new music for chamber orchestra through commissions and recordings of new works under the Summit label. Ms. Balija has performed additional chamber works at Yachats Summer Music Festival (OR), North Carolina Chamber Music Festival (NC), and the Staunton Music Festival (VA).
As a soloist, Ms. Balija has performed recitals in New Zealand, Oregon, North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Virginia focusing on promoting the versatility of the viola. She has also been invited to solo with the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts Orchestra and the Charlottesville Symphony.
Ms. Balija has also presented at the American String Teachers Association and been published on the American Viola Society’s Teacher’s Toolbox page. In 2017 she presented a lecture at the 44th International Viola Congress in Wellington, NZ.
Ayn Balija holds a Bachelor of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Masters of Music from The Cleveland Institute of Music and Doctorate of Musical Arts from James Madison University. Her principal mentors have been Peter Slowik, Jeffrey Irvine, and Karen Tuttle.