Viola history was made in 1964 when Alan de Veritch made his professional solo debut in a pair of back-to-back solo recitals at the famed Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

Sponsored by Community Concerts/Columbia Artists Management the two day attendance was in excess of 12,000 people! Alan was 16 years old at the time and instantly became the very first teenager to ever launch a career as a solo violist.

Alan de Veritch’s legendary career has consisted of many historical moments. While still a teenager he had chamber music collaborations with such artists as Josef Gingold, Ralph Berkowitz, Jascha Heifetz, Gregor Piatigorsky, Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman and had performed as soloist with many major orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Washington National Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

At the age of 18 Maestro Zubin Mehta hired  the young deVeritch as his Assistant Principal Violist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Shortly thereafter he became the Principal Violist of that organization a position he held for almost a decade.

Alan de Veritch became a student of William Primrose at the age of 12. Primrose was heard on many occasions expressing his delight that in Alan he had finally found someone to carry on his work of promoting the viola as a true solo instrument.

Alan has indeed done a great deal for the viola and violists over the past 40 years. Whether as a soloist, a chamber collaborator, an orchestral principal, National President of the American Viola Society or as a pedagogue he has been a strong inspiration and influence  for several generations. His list of students include such artists as Paul Neubauer, Nokuthula Ngwenyama and James Dunham to name a few.

In 1994 Alan de Veritch became Professor of Music at Indiana University, a position held for a number of years by none other than William Primrose. Viola history is about to be made once again as Indiana University and Alan de Veritch offer for the very first time a one-week workshop focused on the Art of Orchestral Audition Preparation for Violists!

Website: http://mypage.iu.edu/~averitch