Steven Dann Viola

Steven Dann’s career covers the gamut of violistic possibilities.

As principal viola of some of the world’s leading orchestras, as a veteran of the string quartet and chamber music world, as soloist and recitalist and as a dedicated teacher, he enjoys all of what his instrument and his abilities can put in his path.

Mr. Dann was born in Vancouver, Canada, in 1953. His foremost teacher and mentor was the late Lorand Fenyves. In addition he studied with William Primrose, Robert Pikler and Bruno Giuranna. Mr. Dann also spent six summers studying the string quartet repertoire with Zoltan Szekely and members of the Hungarian String Quartet.

Upon graduation from university he was named Principal Viola of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, Canada, a position he has subsequently held with the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, the Vancouver Symphony and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He has also been a guest principal of the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle and, in both performance and recordings, with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Paavo Berglund and Pierre Boulez.

Steven Dann has collaborated as a soloist with such Maestri as Sir Andrew Davis, Rudolph Barshai, Jiri Belohlavek, Sir John Elliott Gardiner, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Since 1990 Mr. Dann has been a member of the Smithsonian Chamber Players in Washington D.C. and was a founding member of the Axelrod String Quartet who are resident at the Smithsonian Institute. Mr. Dann has been a featured performer on the Smithsonian’s series of recordings for the Sony Classical Vivarte label. Two of these recordings have won the Diapasson d’Or in France. Solo recordings include “A Portrait of the Viola”, “Winter Music” for viola and orchestra by Alexina Louie (Written for Mr. Dann and nominated for a Juno award) and “Mega4 Meta4” by Christos Hatzis, all for CBC records and the Sequenza #6 of Luciano Berio for the Naxos label. A recording of the viola music of Brahms with pianist Lambert Orkis and mezzo-soprano Susan Platts for ATMA Classique was released in June ‘06.

In the 05/06 season he performed the concerti of Peter Lieberson, Giya Kancheli, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Alexina Louie. Next season bring performances of concerti by Mark-Anthony Turnage with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Oliver Knussen conducting, and a world premiere of a new concerto of Christos Hatzis. He also performed with the Tokyo String Quartet in Toronto and New York and, as guest principal viola, Wagner’s Ring Cycle with the Canadian Opera Company for the opening of the new opera house in Toronto. Upcoming recording projects include two more CDs for ATMA and the second disc in a series of the complete piano chamber music of Brahms and Schumann with the Smithsonian Chamber Players. Mr. Dann has commissioned many new works from such composers as Alexina Louie, Peter Lieberson, R. Murray Shafer, Frederick Schipitsky and Christos Hatzis.

As both a performer and teacher, Mr. Dann is a regular guest at many international festivals including the National Arts Centre’s Young Artist Program, the Domaine Forget in Charlevois, Québec and the Banff School of Fine Arts. He teaches viola and chamber music at The Glenn Gould School in Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music. Mr. Dann plays a viola of Joseph Gagliano, circa 1780.

2010/11 Concerts
Robert Schumann 1810-2010

2009/10 Concerts
Abbey Road | Shostakovich: A Portrait