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Helen Callus Helen Callus has been described by the Seattle Times as “a player with impeccable sensibilities and a beautiful sound, infinitely malleable into all kinds of musical subtleties.” As a recitalist, chamber music collaborator and concerto soloist, Ms. Callus has delighted audiences in major cities around the world including those of Russia, Europe, New Zealand, Australia and Canada and extensively throughout the US. In 2003, whilst a guest at Brigham Young University for the Primrose Memorial Recital, Ms. Callus performed with the world renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City to an audience of 4,000 and broadcast to over 2,000 television stations around the world. A busy chamber music artist, Ms. Callus has performed at many chamber music festivals such as the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, the Palaces of St. Petersburg (Russia) Chamber Music Festival and the Dilijan Chamber Music Series at Zipper Hall, Los Angeles to name a few. Ms. Callus has performed at several major international viola congresses since 2001, including those of New Zealand, Seattle (of which she was the host-chair), Kronberg in Germany and Minnesota and is due to perform at the 35th International Congress in Adelaide, Australia in 2007. Ms. Callus is a regular solo artist on radio and TV and can be heard regularly on such programs as Performance Today and in interviews on National Public Radio, Public Radio International and Radio New Zealand. She was heard for the second time on National Public Radio’s broadcast Saint Paul Sunday in 2005 as solo guest with pianist Phillip Bush in a program called ‘Hidden Treasures’, a compilation of beautiful previously unknown works for viola and piano. The show broadcasts to over 1 million listeners around the globe. Ms. Callus currently serves as Associate Professor of Viola at the University of California, Santa Barbara and is the President of the American Viola Society accepting the honor of being the first women elected to that title. She is also the Viola Forum Editor for the American String Teachers Association Journal and was the founder of the educational outreach organization BRATS (Bratsche Resources And Teaching in the Schools) first brought to national attention in the February 2002 issue of STRAD Magazine. Her first teaching appointment at the age of 26 was to the faculty of The University of Washington where she taught for seven years. Herself a prize winner at several major competitions including the Tertis International Viola Competition, she has adjudicated for ASTA and was Chair of the jury for the Primrose International Viola Competition in 2003. Most recently, Ms. Callus has accepted the position of Artistic Director of the Centrum Chamber Music Festival situated on the Olympic Peninsula in Port Townsend just north of Seattle. She is much in demand across the country as a visiting professor and has taught masterclasses at some of the nation’s leading schools of music as well as for organizations such as the American String Teachers Association National Conference. In 2005 Ms. Callus was invited as the guest of honor for the Australian Teaching Association and Australian National Youth Orchestra’s ‘Year of the Viola’ Festival held outside of Sydney where she performed the opening gala recital and taught a masterclass. A native of Kent, England, Ms. Callus graduated from The Royal Academy of Music in London as a student of Ian Jewel. She was most recently bestowed an Honorary ARAM (Associate of the RAM) for her achievements in the field. She continued her graduate studies at the Peabody Conservatory in Maryland where she was the teaching assistant to Paul Coletti. Ms Callus plays on a viola made by Gabrielle Kundert. For more information please visit www.helencallus.com
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