The viola ( vee-OH-lə, alsovy-OH-lə, Italian: [ˈvjɔːla, viˈɔːla]) is a string instrument that is bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the violin family, between the violin (which is tuned a perfect fifth above) and the cello (which is tuned an octave below). The strings from low to high are typically tuned to C3, G3, D4, and A4.
James Dillon is a Scottish composer who is often regarded as belonging to the New Complexity school. Dillon studied art and design, linguistics, piano, acoustics, Indian rhythm, mathematics and computer music, but is self-taught in composition.
Antoine Tamestit is a French violist.
Bruce Mather is a Canadian composer, pianist, and writer who is particularly known for his contributions to contemporary classical music. One of the most notable composers of microtonal music, he was awarded the Jules Léger Prize twice, first in 1979 for his Musique pour Champigny and again in 1993 for Yquem. Some of his other awards include the Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada's Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux prize in 1987 for Barbaresco and the Serge Garant Prize from the Émile Nelligan Foundation in 2000.
Édouard Bourdet was a 20th-century French playwright.
Louis-Casimir Escoffier, known primarily as Casimir Ney or L. Casimir-Ney was a French composer and one of the foremost violists of the 19th century.
François de Roubaix was a French film score composer. In a decade, he created a musical style with new sounds, until his accidental death at 36.
The Primrose International Viola Competition (PIVC), also referred to as the Primrose Memorial Scholarship Competition (PMSC), is an international music competition for viola players sponsored by the American Viola Society and named for the 20th-century virtuoso William Primrose.
Maurice Chevit was a French actor.
Maurice Edgard Vieux was a French violist whose teaching at the Conservatoire de Paris plays a key role in the history of the viola in France.
The Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition is an international music competition for viola players established in 1980 to honor the memory of the English viola virtuoso Lionel Tertis. This triennial event is held at the Erin Arts Centre, Port Erin, Isle of Man. Participants are of any nationality and are under 30 years of age.
Théophile Édouard Laforge was a French violist and first professor of viola at the Conservatoire de Paris.
The American Viola Society (AVS) is an organization headquartered in Dallas, Texas that encourages excellence in performance, pedagogy, research, composition, and lutherie by fostering communication and friendship among violists of all skill levels, ages, nationalities, and backgrounds.
Edith Canat de Chizy is a French composer, born in Lyon and now based in Paris. She was the first female composer to be elected a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts.
Serge Collot was a French violist and music educator.
The SPCA Météore 63 was a flying boat built in France in the 1920s for use as an airliner. It was the first product of the SPCA company, founded by Laurent-Dominique Santoni when he left CAMS in 1925. The Météore was a conventional biplane design for its day, with single-bay wings of unequal span braced with struts and wire. The lower wing was mounted to the top of the aircraft's hull, with trusswork above it that carried three engines mounted tractor-fashion in the interplane gap. The lower wing also carried outrigger pontoons near its tips. The empennage was of conventional design, with the stabilizer carried part-way up the fin. The flight deck was open but the separate cabin, with seating for six passengers, was fully enclosed within the hull and electrically heated. The structure was of timber throughout except for the struts that carried the engines, which were steel tube. The wings were covered in fabric.
Krzysztof Aleksander Janczak is a polish composer of film, classical and TV music, sound designer and musicologist.
Emmanuel-Bernard-Philipe Frédéric Delbousquet, French poet and novelist, was born on 27 April 1874 in Sos, Lot-et-Garonne, on the borders of the great Landes de Gascogne and Armagnac, where he died on 20 May 1909. He devoted his short life to his inner passion to go horse riding, a subject which naturally became a recurring theme of his works, both in French and Occitan language.
Sabine Toutain is a contemporary French violist.
Pierre Lénert is a French violist. An international concertist, he is first solo violist of the Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris.
Antoine Tamestit (tie)
Aroa Sorin (tie)
Lawrence Power 
Hiroto Tobisawa
Andrei Gridchuk 
Lars Anders Tomter 
Teodor Coman (tie)
Tabea Zimmermann