great violist passes – portland connection

At the time of a Julliard Quartet performance in Portland in the late fifties, Jacob Avshalomov introduced the principal string players of the Portland Junior Symphony, which included me, to the members of the quartet. Bobby Mann is, of course, a Portland native, growing up in the same South Portland neighborhood as a family friend of my parents and me. Mr. Hillyer told me that his first viola experience was to re-string his violin with viola strings, and he was mildly surprised when I told him that I started on the viola at age ten without ever playing the violin!