Nokuthula Ngwenyama
viola

Nokuthula Ngwenyama’s performances as orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician garner great attention. Gramophone proclaimed Ms. Ngwenyama’s playing as providing “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.” Ms. Ngwenyama came to international attention when she won the Primrose Competition and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions at age 17. Plaudits followed her debut recitals in Washington, D.C. at the Kennedy Center and in New York at the 92nd Street ‘Y’, and in 1997 she received the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Ms. Ngwenyama’s 2007-08 engagements included a recital in Oakland, California for the Four Seasons Concert Series and performances with the Charlotte Symphony, Cincinnatti Chamber Orchestra, and the New Jersey Philharmonic at New York’s Avery Fisher Hall. Ms. Ngwenyama’s past seasons include performances with the Charlotte Symphony, the Louisiana Philharmonic, the Austin, Jackson and Memphis Symphonies, and appearances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She also performed with Christopher Seaman and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the KwaZulu Natal Philharmonic Orchestra in Durban, South Africa, as well as Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Additionally, she “fascinated on viola and violin during recital” (Washington Post) at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D. C. and with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.

Ms. Ngwenyama has performed throughout the United States and abroad. Domestic appearances include performances with the Atlanta, Baltimore, and Indianapolis Symphonies as well as 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, and Spoleto USA.

Ms. Ngwenyama is no stranger to television and radio appearances. Her performance at the White House, commemorating the 10th anniversary of NPR’s Performance Today, also featured artists Wynton Marsalis, James Galway, and Murray Perahia. A vivid portrait of Ms. 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 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 May 2008.

In addition to her performance activities Ms. Ngwenyama served as visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame in 2007, where she taught instrumental music and lectured in the areas of African Music and Music and World Religions. She currently serves as director of the prestigious Primrose International Viola Competition.

Born in California of Zimbabwean-Japanese parentage, Ms. Ngwenyama graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1996. 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.