Rivka Golani (רבקה גולני , born 22 March 1946) is an Israeli-born viola player. She has performed as soloist with many orchestras throughout the world including the Boston Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, BBC Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, Hong Kong Symphony, Singapore Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Tokyo Metropolitan, Montreal Symphony and the Toronto Symphony.
Golani was born in Tel Aviv. Her father Yakov Gulnik was from Warsaw, and had lost his family in the Holocaust. Her mother Liza Goldstein was from Polish Galicia. Golani took up the violin at age 7, while her sister Bela learned the cello. [1] Golani was a mathematics prodigy.
Golani became a pupil of the violinist Alexander Moskowsky at age 18. She switched to viola at age 21 and studied with the violist Oedoen Partos, and became a member of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. She married the Hungarian luthier Otto Erdesz, and in 1974 the couple moved to Canada, where she gave birth to her son Micha Eden Erdesz. She became a citizen of Canada in 1983. Erdesz manufactured for her what has been her preferred instrument throughout her career. After their divorce, Golani married German conductor Thomas Sanderling and moved to London. She later returned to Canada briefly before she married again. She currently resides in London with her husband Jeremy Joseph Fox. Golani is also a painter and has exhibited in America, Canada, Israel and the UK. [2]
Golani's CD recordings include the Elgar Cello Concerto arranged for viola with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bartok Concerto with the Budapest Symphony, Martinu's Rhapsody Concerto with the Bern Symphony, Chaconne by Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Colgrass with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and a three CD set of works by Johann Sebastian Bach arranged for solo viola.
Isaac Stern was an American violinist.
Joseph Joachim was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher who made an international career, based in Hanover and Berlin. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant violinists of the 19th century.
Henryk Bolesław Szeryng was a Polish-Mexican violinist.
Johann Nepomuk David was an Austrian composer.
James Ehnes, is a Canadian concert violinist and violist.
David Geringas is a Lithuanian cellist and conductor who studied under Mstislav Rostropovich. In 1970 he won the gold medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition. He also plays the baryton, a rare instrument associated with music of Joseph Haydn.
Daniel Müller-Schott is a German cellist.
James Zuill Bailey, better known as Zuill Bailey is an American Grammy Award-winning cello soloist, chamber musician, and artistic director. A graduate of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and the Juilliard School, he has appeared in recital and with major orchestras internationally. He is a professor of cello and Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Texas at El Paso. Bailey’s extensive recording catalogue are released on TELARC, Avie, Steinway and Sons, Octave, Delos, Albany, Sono Luminus, Naxos, Azica, Concord, EuroArts, ASV, Oxingale and Zenph Studios.
Josef Suk was a Czech violinist, violist, chamber musician and conductor. In his home country he carried the title of National Artist.
Steven Dann is a Canadian violist.
Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi is a world renowned Japanese cellist. In an international career which began in 1954, Tsutsumi has performed and recorded all of the principal standard works in the cello repertoire, both solo and concerto. He has appeared as soloist with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C..
Laszlo Varga was a Hungarian-born American cellist who had a worldwide status as a soloist, recording artist, and authoritative cello teacher.
Krzysztof Meyer is a Polish composer, pianist, and music scholar, formerly dean of the Department of Music Theory (1972–1975) at the State College of Music, and president of the Polish Composers' Union (1985–1989). Meyer was professor of composition at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne from 1987 to 2008, before his retirement.
Nathan "Tossy" Spivakovsky, a Jewish, Russian Empire-born, German-trained violin virtuoso, was considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century.
The Diapason d'Or is a recommendation of outstanding (mostly) classical music recordings given by reviewers of Diapason magazine in France, broadly equivalent to "Editor's Choice", "Disc of the Month" in the British Gramophone magazine.
Benjamin Yusupov is a classical composer, conductor and pianist.
Yona Ettlinger was a clarinetist who played and taught in Israel, France and England. Ettlinger is considered a prominent classical clarinetist of his generation, and one of Israel's notable instrumentalists. His musicianship and unique sound influenced the art of clarinet playing in Israel and Europe in the second half of the 20th century. Many clarinet soloists and orchestra players of different countries were among his students.
Lawrence Power is a British violist, born 1977, noted both for solo performances and for chamber music with the Nash Ensemble and Leopold String Trio.
Fabian Müller is a Swiss composer.
Rudolf Borisovich Barshai was a Soviet and Russian conductor and violist.