Hello, I`mBasil Vendryes
Basil Vendryes is the Principal Violist of the Colorado Symphony, and is a former member of the San Francisco Symphony, the New York Philharmonic and Rochester Philharmonic orchestras. He currently serves on the faculty of the Lamont School of Music of the University of Denver. As a member of the Aurora String Quartet (1986-95) Mr. Vendryes performed recitals in New York, London and Tokyo as well as west coast premieres of works by John Harbison, George Perle, Richard Danielpour, Benjamin Lees and many others. From 2000-2018 Basil directed the Colorado Young Sinfonia (which he also founded), comprised of some of the best young talent in the Denver area.
Basil Vendryes was born in 1961 to West Indian parents, and began his musical training in the public schools of New York City at the age of eleven. He received scholarships to the Manhattan School of Music and the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Sally O’Reilly, Francis Tursi and Heidi Castleman. Basil joined the San Francisco Symphony in 1982 at the age of 21 and the New York Philharmonic two years later. Basil joined the Colorado Symphony as Principal Viola in 1993. He has also served as guest principal violist for the Western Australia Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Vendryes has appeared in many festivals, including Colour of Music, Spoleto, Buzzards Bay, Sunflower, Midsummer Mozart, Interharmony, Green Mountain, Taconic and the Grand Tetons. Working with promising talent is one of his passions, and Basil has given classes in viola and chamber music in Europe and throughout the United States. Mr. Vendryes has served as a juror for the Sphinx Competition for African American and Latino string players and the Hong Kong International Music Festival. In June of 2023 Basil premiered the Concerto for Viola by American composer William Hill.
The 2023-24 season includes the release of a recording an all-American music for Toccata Next (his third recording for the Toccata label), performances in Charleston SC, Sacramento CA, and master classes in New York, Texas, Nevada and Arizona. Festivals will include Sunflower (Kansas), Interharmony and Taconic Padua (Italy). In September 2024 Mr. Vendryes will be a resident artist at Javierana University in Bogota, Colombia.
Basil Vendryes has recorded for the Albany, Ariel, Cadenza Music, Centaur, CRI, Naxos and Toccata/Toccata Next labels in addition to his contributions as an orchestral violist for RCA, Decca, Nonesuch, Telarc, Columbia, BIS and Hyperion. His solo recordings of Russian sonatas and music of Paul Juon have received fine reviews from Fanfare and Strad magazines, as well as the Journal of the American Viola Society. His newest disc of American Viola Sonatas will be released in January 2024 on the Toccata Next label. Mr. Vendryes plays on a fine viola made in 2023 by Alexander Tzankow.
