The Rodland Duo

The Rodland sisters, Carol, violist, and Catherine, organist, began making music together as children. Their individual careers as award-winning performers and teachers have taken them all over the world, and they began performing together professionally as the Rodland Duo in 2002.

Recent Rodland Duo performances have included residencies and recitals throughout the United States, both in university settings such as the Eastman School of Music, St. Olaf College, Indiana University, the University of Michigan, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and on concert series in various churches and other venues which house organs. They were featured recitalists at both the 2016 American Guild of Organists National Convention in Houston, Texas, and at the 2016 American Viola Society Festival in Oberlin, Ohio. They have also performed at the Luna Nova New Music Festival in Memphis, Tennessee, and at the 38th International Viola Congress in Cincinnati, Ohio, and have been featured on National Public Radio’s "Pipedreams". Critics have called The Rodland Duo’s performances "stunning" and "beyond praise". American Weavings, their acclaimed album on the Crystal Records Label of mostly world-premiere recordings of works written for them, led Gramophone to declare viola and organ "an awesome combination".

The Rodland Duo is actively engaged in commissioning new works for their unusual combination of instruments as well as in creating their own arrangements of existing compositions. Their repertoire spans the gamut from the Baroque to the contemporary. Because organs vary so widely, they adapt their repertoire to each individual venue. When a venue houses a tracker-type organ, the Rodland Duo includes a variety of Baroque-style repertoire, such as the complete sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord of Johann Sebastian Bach, sonatas for viola and harpsichord of Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach, arrangements of Marin Marais French Dances, and Daniel Pinkham’s Sonata Da Chiesa. Some of the works commissioned by the Rodland Duo were written explicitly for a tracker-type organ, including David Liptak’s “Ballast”, composed in 2015. When invited to play on a romantic-style organ with orchestral colors, their programs include their own arrangements of works for viola and orchestra, including Max Bruch’s "Romance", Benjamin Britten’s "Lachrymae", and Alan Shulman’s "Theme and Variations". Their arrangements of chorale preludes by Bach and Brahms are audience favorites. Other original works that have been composed for the Rodland Duo include "Teshuvah" by Christopher Gable, and "Concertpiece" and "Three Chorale Preludes" by John Weaver.

In addition to their active performing careers, both Carol and Catherine are dedicated teachers: Carol is Professor of Viola and Chamber Music at the Juilliard School in New York City and Catherine is Artist in Residence in Organ and Theory at Saint Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Their numerous individual accolades include top prizes at international competitions, such as the Washington International Competition, the Artists International Auditions, the American Guild of Organists National Competition, and the University of Michigan Organ Competition. Their students have been top prizewinners at various competitions and occupy prominent positions in their fields. The Rodland Duo offers individual master classes in addition to concerts, when invited somewhere for a residency.