Contact: Lillian Matchett
lmatchett@colburnschool.edu
213-621-1064
Colburn School to Honor Violist Nokuthula Ngwenyama at
Taste of Colburn on March 19, 2016
Proceeds from fourth annual event benefit scholarship funds for Colburn
Community School of Performing Arts students
On March 19, 2016, the Colburn School will honor alumna Nokuthula Ngwenyama at Taste of Colburn,
an annual benefit event, held on the school’s Grand Avenue campus, to support scholarship funds for
the Colburn Community School of Performing Arts. Ngwenyama will receive the 2016 Distinguished
Alumni Award presented by 2016 Taste of Colburn co-chairs Sel Kardan and Micah Yui, and Molly and
Brian Kirk.
Ngwenyama, who studied viola at the Community School under the mentorship of Alan de Veritch from
1990 to 1993, is an orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. The Washington Post described
her as a player "with dazzling technique in the virtuoso fast movements and deep expressiveness in the
slow movements."
Colburn School President and CEO Sel Kardan said, “Nokuthula is the perfect example of what a
dedicated student can achieve with access to the excellent faculty, ample performing opportunities, and
supportive musical community we have here at the Colburn School. We’re extremely proud of the multifaceted musical career Nokuthula has forged since leaving us and are pleased to honor her at this year’s
Taste of Colburn.”
“My time at the Colburn School afforded my peers and me a wealth of opportunities, and the support I
received from my mentors, peers, and teachers changed my life forever,” said Ngwenyama. “It is a
tremendous honor to receive this award at Taste of Colburn, an event which ensures future generations
will have access to the same resources and experiences that shaped me as a young musician.”
Taste of Colburn is an annual event that includes dining and drinks from downtown establishments and
a variety of live performances throughout the Colburn School campus. Performances showcase students
from the Community School’s ensembles and programs, including orchestra, jazz, dance, and chamber
music. Proceeds from the event benefit Community School need-based financial aid. The event also
features a silent auction. Full program information will be available at a later date.
Event Time
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Silent auction and food service begins at 5 pm
Showcase performance in Zipper Hall at 7:30
Location
Colburn School Campus
Tickets
Tickets will be available on November 9, 2015. Visit colburnschool.edu/tasteofcolburn for more
information.
Adults: $150
Children: $50
Half of the purchase ticket price is tax deductible.
About Nokuthula Ngwenyama
Recently featured in the Los Angeles Times as a “face to watch,” Nokuthula Ngwenyama’s performances
as orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician garner great attention. Gramophone proclaimed
that Ngwenyama’s playing provides “solidly shaped music of bold, mesmerising character," and the
Washington Post described her as playing "with dazzling technique in the virtuoso fast movements and
deep expressiveness in the slow movements."
Ngwenyama came to international attention when she won the Primrose International Viola
Competition and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions at age 17. Plaudits followed her
debut recitals at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. In
1998, she received the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.
Recent highlights include a performance with the Sinfonieta Cracovia of Penderecki’s Viola Concerto,
and appearances at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia and on the People’s Concert Series in New York
City with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio. She also has completed a recording project of the three
Bach gamba sonatas with keyboardist Eckart Sellheim. She has performed with the Phoenix Symphony
and Maestro Ignat Solzhenitsyn, has given recitals in Los Angeles and Oakland with the world premiere
of Byron Adams’s Sonata for Viola and Piano, and has appeared with Bruno Mars on Saturday Night Live.
Ngwenyama also has appeared throughout the US, Japan and China, including at New York’s Town Hall,
Nexus Hall in Tokyo’s Chanel Tower, and the Xi’an Conservatory of Music.
In recent years, Ngwenyama was chosen for the coveted Duncanson Artist-in-Residence at the Taft
Museum and appeared in Washington, DC, at the Cosmos Club, and at Symphony Space in New York
City. Past seasons also include appearances with the Cincinnati Symphony, the Nurnberg Philharmonie
and world premiere performances of Andrew Norman’s Sabina at the Kennedy Center in Washington,
DC, and Merkin Hall in New York City. She also performed with the Charlotte, Austin, Jackson, and
Memphis symphonies, and with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Additionally, she
“fascinated on viola and violin" (Washington Post) at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington,
DC, and with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.
Ngwenyama has performed throughout the United States and across four continents. US appearances
include performances with the Atlanta, Baltimore, and Indianapolis symphonies, the Los Angeles
Philharmonic, and the National Symphony Orchestra. She has been heard in recital at Tokyo’s Suntory
Hall, the Louvre, the Ford Center in Toronto, and the Maison de Radio France. Summer festival
appearances include Green Music, Vail, San Diego’s Mainly Mozart, Chamber Music Northwest,
Marlboro Music Festival, Spoleto USA, and Burgundy’s Musique et Vin.
Ngwenyama is no stranger to television and radio appearances. Her performance at the White House,
commemorating the 10th anniversary of the radio show Performance Today, also featured artists
Wynton Marsalis, James Galway, and Denyce Graves. A vivid portrait of Ngwenyama was televised
nationally on CBS Sunday Morning with cultural correspondent Eugenia Zukerman. She was featured on
the Emmy Award—nominated PBS program Sound of Strings in the Musical Encounter Series, hosted by
cellist Lynn Harrell. A dedicated advocate for the arts, she has testified before Congress on behalf of the
National Endowment for the Arts. As an artist recording on the EDI label, she has collaborated with
pianist Mihae Lee on Grieg and Debussy and guitarist Michael Long on Bach’s partitas as well as Corella’s
Che! A Musical Biography. Her recent collaboration with pianist Jennifer Lim on the Rubinstein viola and
violin sonatas was released to excellent reviews.
An avid educator, Ngwenyama has served as visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame and at
Indiana University. She has been director of the Primrose International Viola Competition since 2005
and is Past President of the American Viola Society. She spearheaded an award winning string program
for Biltmore Preparatory Academy, a public school in Phoenix, Arizona, and performs with the Japanese
group The Surfing Godzillas as both instrumentalist and vocalist. Born in California of ZimbabweanJapanese parentage, Ms. Ngwenyama studied at the Colburn School’s Community School of Performing
Arts before attending the Curtis Institute of Music. As a Fulbright scholar she attended the Conservatoire
National Superieur de Musique de Paris, and received a Master of Theological Studies degree from
Harvard University.
About the Colburn School
The Colburn School comprises four academic units united by a single philosophy that all who have a
desire to study the performing arts should have the opportunity and access to excellent training. The
degree granting Conservatory of Music, the open enrollment Community School of Performing Arts, the
Music Academy for pre-college musicians, and the pre-professional Dance Academy, a program of the
Colburn School’s Trudl Zipper Dance Institute, provide training to over 2,000 students from the Los
Angeles area and across the world. The renowned teachers, performers, and scholars that make up
Colburn’s dedicated faculty serve as invaluable mentors to guide students’ artistic development.
The Community School of Performing Arts acts as an entry point to performing arts education, offering
beginning to pre-collegiate training in music, dance, and drama to students of all ages and skill levels.
Young musicians from around the world study at the pre-college Music Academy, which features a
rigorous curriculum of conservatory preparatory training to high school aged students. The preprofessional Dance Academy prepares a select class of young dancers for careers in ballet. Dance classes
at the Community School and the Dance Academy are programs of the Trudl Zipper Dance Institute.
Finally, the Conservatory of Music is one of the preeminent training grounds for classical musicians, with
undergraduate and advanced degrees in music performance.
A robust community engagement initiative delivers performing arts education to low-income students in
the surrounding areas through outreach and scholarship programs. Located in downtown Los Angeles,
the Colburn School’s campus boasts state-of-the-art performance and rehearsal spaces. Each season,
the school presents over 300 concerts and performances, many of which are free and open to the
public, at its downtown home and throughout Southern California.
Community School of Performing Arts
With classes taught by highly skilled instructors in music, dance, and early childhood arts education, the
Colburn Community School of Performing Arts has served children of all ages and levels since its
inception in 1950. A member of the National Guild for Community Arts Education, the Community
School is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) and offers music classes in
applied musical instruction, music theory, chamber ensemble and large ensemble. As an openenrollment school, the Community School does not require academic degrees to enroll in its courses,
which cover a broad range of styles, age levels, and degrees of difficulty. Music classes include applied
musical instruction, music theory, chamber ensemble, and large ensemble opportunities.
The Community School offers dance instruction in tap, ballet, jazz, modern, and musical theater.
Community School Dance is a program of the Trudl Zipper Dance Institute, formed in 2006 to provide
the highest quality dance instruction to every student, whether they are coming to experience the pure
enjoyment and artistry of dynamic movement or to prepare for a professional career in dance.
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