Diana Wade Record Project: Complete Hindemith Viola Sonatas

About Diana Wade

Violist Diana Wade likes to make strange sounds, usually on the viola. In a recent performance of Berio’s Sequenza VI, Diana was praised for playing with “both athletic and operatic ferocity” and “throwing herself into tremolo passages with a physical force that shook her and a sonic one that practically shook the walls” (Mark Swed, LA Times). If none of this is ringing a bell, then you may recognize her for saying “Shia LaBeouf” in that internet video.

Diana enjoys the richly varied musical life that she is cultivating in Los Angeles. Not only can she be heard recording for film and television, but also performing with ensembles such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Master Chorale, wild Up and appearances in series such as Equal Sound, Jacaranda, Tuesdays @ Monk Space, Monday Evening Concerts, and the Hear Now Music Festival.

This season, Diana performed in the electronic, classical and Slovakian-folk-music-based tale of “The Black Queen” with composer Juraj Kojs, pianist Adam Marks, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Beattie which premiered in Miami in the Fall of 2018 with subsequent performances in Copenhagen in 2019. Diana was also principal violist in the world premiere of Ted Hearne’s new work “Place” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Diana and pianist Aron Kallay will be recording the complete viola sonatas of Paul Hindemith throughout 2019.

Recently, Diana has found herself turning to composition. Her bizarre vocal fry extravaganza “Fry on Fry” has been tickling audiences all along the West Coast. Current projects include a new work for solo violin commissioned by Shalini Vijayan, an arrangement of Garth Knox’s “Jonah and the Whale” for her duo Spacepants with mezzo-soprano Jennifer Beattie, and a piece for two performers and one 25 foot long drainage tube. Diana recently attended the retreat Artists at Albatross Reach as a violist and composer where she collaborated with fellow artists on the development of weird, fun new works for voice, piano, electronics, guitar, viola, and film.

Because music is so much more fun when you’re playing with friends, Diana has collaborated with Anthony Dean Griffey, David Shifrin, Peter Salaff, and the Brentano Quartet. Diana is deeply committed to playing the music of our time and has worked with composers such as Christopher Theofanidis, Martin Bresnick, Andrew Norman, Ted Hearne, Kerrith Livengood, and Thomas Kotcheff in the performance of their music.

Diana holds degrees and certificates from Temple University, Cleveland Institute of Music and University of Southern California and she studied with CJ Chang, Jeffrey Irvine, and Donald McInnes. Diana plays on a viola made by Tetsuo Matsuda in 2004 that she’s lovingly named Fernando. In the rare moment that she’s not playing viola, Diana enjoys writing lists, running, and wishing she were an opera singer.

About Aron Kallay

Described as a “modern renaissance man,” (Over the Mountain Journal) Grammy® nominated pianist Aron Kallay‘s playing has been called “exquisite…every sound sounded considered, alive, worthy of our wonder” (LA Times). “Perhaps Los Angeles’ most versatile keyboardist,” (LaOpus) Aron has been praised as possessing “that special blend of intellect, emotion, and overt physicality that makes even the thorniest scores simply leap from the page into the listeners laps.” (KPFK) Aron’s performances often integrate technology, video, and alternate tunings; Fanfare magazine described him as “a multiple threat: a great pianist, brainy tech wizard, and visionary promoter of a new musical practice.”

Aron has performed throughout the United States and abroad and is a fixture on the Los Angeles new-music scene. He is the co-founder and board president of People Inside Electronics (PIE), a concert series dedicated to classical electroacoustic music, the managing director of MicroFest, Los Angeles’ annual festival of microtonal music, and the co-directer of the underground new-music concert series Tuesdays@MONK Space. He is also the co-director of MicroFest Records, whose first release, John Cage: The Ten Thousand Things, was nominated for a Grammy® award for Best Chamber Music Performance. Aron has recorded on MicroFest, Cold Blue, Delos, and Populist records. In addition to his solo work, Aron is currently a member of the Pierrot + percussion ensemble Brightwork newmusic, the Varied Trio, and the Ray-Kallay Duo. He is on the faculty of Pomona College and Chapman University.

EQUAL SOUND IS PROUD TO FISCALLY SPONSOR: