Marlow Fisher studied the viola at the California Institute of the Arts with Alan deVeritch and Cesare Pascarella. Later, after a year as Principal Violist of the Mexico City Philharmonic at age 20, he studied viola privately for one year with William Primrose in Provo, Utah. Afterward he studied chamber music with members of the Hungarian String Quartet in Banff, Alberta (Canada) and played several times privately for Lillian Fuchs.
In 1986 he made his recital debut at Carnegie Recital Hall in a program of unaccompanied 20th century works of which Bernard Holland wrote in The New York Times “he is a proselytizer for his instrument… obviously believed in all these pieces and helped us to do likewise.”
Mr. Fisher founded Viola Plus!, which presents occasional concerts and commissions new works. As a chamber music artist, he has played with Zara Nelsova, Paula Robison, Anton Kuerti and William Primrose. Summer festival appearances have included Tsuyama (Japan), Cervantino (Mexico), Banff (Canada), OK Mozart (Oklahoma), Ojai (California), Ernest Bloch (Oregon), Grand Tetons (Wyoming), Banff (Canada) and Craftsbury (Vermont). Mr. Fisher has also been associated with the New York Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra, Santa Fe Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra and Serenata of Santa Fe.
Recently he formed a partnership with Kathleen McIntosh to commission new works for the viola and harpsichord and the duo has performed the new works at concerts in New York City, Santa Fe, Berkeley and Havana, Cuba.
Kathleen McIntosh performs regularly with Santa Fe (NM) Pro Musica, Serenata de Santa Fe and the Taos Chamber Music Group. She has appeared as soloist with the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin in Moscow, the National Symphony Orchestra of Vietnam in Hanoi, the Sinfonica de Santiago in Santiago de Cuba, the New American Chamber Orchestra in Spain, the Camerata de la Casa del Lago in Mexico City, and with chamber orchestras throughout the western United States. She is the frequent guest of Conjunto Ars Longa in Havana, and of the Deya International Festival in Mallorca.
Ms. McIntosh has played regularly in the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival since 1996, and in the Bravo! Vail Valley Festival since 1999. She has also been featured in the Tsuyama All-Round International Festival (Japan), LaJolla Summerfest (California) San Anselmo Organ Festival (California), New Texas Festival and Music from Angel Fire (NM) among others.
An exponent of contemporary music, Ms. McIntosh appeared regularly on the series 20th Century Unlimited, and has been a guest of John Kennedy’s Santa Fe New Music. She has premiered works by Alex Shapiro, Tomiko Kohjiba and many others, with violinist Robin Lorentz, and of course, with Marlow Fisher. In summer 2005 she played the first performance of a work by Melinda Wagner (commissioned by the Bravo Festival) with the Rossetti String Quartet.
The Los Angeles Reader wrote of her performance of the J.S.Bach “Goldberg Variations” that “her nearly flawless technique” and “understated eloquence. . . produced revelatory results”. Of her recording of the complete keyboard works of Boismortier, Continuo Magazine said “A breathtakingly beautiful performance.” Heard frequently on NPR’s”Performance Today”, she records for Gasparo CDs on harpsichords by John Phillips.
photos: Sam Adams