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Nick Laham DMA Viola Recital

Nick Laham, viola
Kate Zhu, piano
Lillian Li, piano

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Program

Appassionato, Op. 34       Henri Büsser (1872-1973)

Lachrymae: Reflections on a Song of Dowland, Op. 48       Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)

Londonderry Air     Folk song/arr. Lionel Tertis (1918)

24 Preludes for Solo Viola, Op. 22      Casimir Ney (1801-1877)
VIII. Prelude in F-Sharp Minor

Melody for the G String, Op. 47      York Bowen (1884-1961)

Chromatic Fantasy, BWV 903       J.S. Bach/arr. Zoltan Kodaly (1685-1750)

Drift Off to Sleep (to Igor Stravinsky)     Michael Tilson Thomas/arr. Nick Laham (1944-2026)

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Violist Nick Laham is currently a fourth year doctoral candidate in Viola Performance at University of Wisconsin–Madison and a Teaching Assistant for the Music Theory department. A former alumnus of Meadows School of the Arts and Texas Tech University, Nick left a mark on the classical music scenes in Dallas and Lubbock, Texas. Nick performed as a substitute violist with the Allen Philharmonic and Lubbock Symphony Orchestra and presented concerts at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, the Winspear Opera House, Dallas City Performance Hall, the Lubbock Civic Center, and the Festival Concert Hall in Round Top, Texas.

As a former Teaching Assistant and J.T. and Margaret Talkington Fellow at Texas Tech, he performed as the Violist for LSO’s Educational String Quartet—the Kimikala Quartet. Prior to his Masters degree, Nick taught Viola students privately in the Dallas and Houston areas. Nick’s students were admitted to local region and youth orchestras and achieved superior ratings in their local solo and ensemble contests.

Nick attended the Round Top Festival Institute in 2013 where his performance of the Shostakovich Piano Quintet streamed on WQXR’s McGraw Hill Financial Young Artists Showcase. Nick performed with violist Nadia Sirota and the Grammy-award winning ensemble eighth blackbird during his undergraduate studies. Nick proudly performed Rochberg’s String Quartet No. 3 with Aaron Boyd, a violinist with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center as part of his Performers Diploma program at Meadows School of the Arts.

Nick has been fortunate enough to participate in masterclasses and take lessons with Roberto Diaz, Nadia Sirota, Paul Neubauer, Donald McInnes, Susan Dubois, and Caroline Coade. Nick’s chamber music coaches include the Marmen Quartet, Parry Karp, Aaron Boyd, James Dunham, Gloria Chang, Mike Block, the Shanghai Quartet, eighth blackbird, Chee-Yun Kim, Andres Diaz, Emmanuel Borok, John Owings, Eteri Andjaparidze, Brian Connelly, Erin Hannigan, and Matt Albert.

Outside of music, Nick loves exploring coffee shops, hiking, cooking, petting dogs and cats, and reading. Nick plans to teach Viola and Chamber Music at an established university and pass down the legacies he inherited from his mentors. Nick’s primary teachers include Barbara Sudweeks, former Assistant Principal Violist of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and Sally Chisholm, Violist of the Pro Arte Quartet.