The viola ( vee-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.
Bill Viola is an American contemporary video artist whose artistic expression depends upon electronic, sound, and image technology in new media. His works focus on the ideas behind fundamental human experiences such as birth, death and aspects of consciousness.
Paul Hindemith was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the Neue Sachlichkeit style of music in the 1920s, with compositions such as Kammermusik, including works with viola and viola d'amore as solo instruments in a neo-Bachian spirit. Other notable compositions include his song cycle Das Marienleben (1923), Der Schwanendreher for viola and orchestra (1935), the opera Mathis der Maler (1938), the Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber (1943), and the oratorio When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd (1946), a requiem based on Walt Whitman's poem. Hindemith and his wife emigrated to Switzerland and the United States ahead of World War II, after worsening difficulties with the Nazi German regime. In his later years, he conducted and recorded much of his own music.
William Primrose CBE was a Scottish violist and teacher. He performed with the London String Quartet from 1930 to 1935. He then joined the NBC Symphony Orchestra where he formed the Primrose Quartet. He performed in various countries around the world as a soloist throughout his career. He also taught at several universities and institutions. He authored several books on viola technique.
Frank Martin was a Swiss composer, who spent much of his life in the Netherlands.
In ancient Greek religion, Ananke, from the common noun ἀνάγκη, "force, constraint, necessity") is the personification of inevitability, compulsion and necessity. She is customarily depicted as holding a spindle. One of the Greek primordial deities, the births of Ananke and her brother and consort, Chronos, were thought to mark the division between the eon of Chaos and the beginning of the cosmos. Ananke is considered the most powerful dictator of fate and circumstance. Mortals and gods alike respected her power and paid her homage. Sometimes considered the mother of the Fates, she is thought to be the only being to influence their decisions. According to Daniel Schowalter and Steven Friesen, she and the Fates "are all sufficiently tied to early Greek mythology to make their Greek origins likely."
Henri Marteau was a French violinist and composer, who obtained Swedish citizenship in 1915.
Shlomo Mintz is an Israeli violin virtuoso, violinist and conductor. He regularly appears with orchestras and conductors on the international scene and is heard in recitals and chamber music concerts around the world.
Joseph de Pasquale was an American violist.
The Kopelman Quartet is a Russian string quartet founded in 2002 by Mikhail Kopelman (violin), Boris Kuschnir (violin), Igor Sulyga (viola) and Mikhail Milman (cello). They studied at the Moscow Conservatory in the 1970s, but pursued individual careers for twenty-five years before founding the quartet.
Luca Pianca is a Swiss musician-lutenist whose specialty is archlute. In 1985 he co - founded Il Giardino Armonico., a pioneering Italian early-music ensemble based in Milan. He has premiered works by the contemporary lutenist-composer Roman Turovsky-Savchuk at international festivals, and received numerous international awards for his recordings.
Steven A. Ansell is an American violist whose versatile career involves work as a chamber musician, solo artist, and orchestral musician. Ansell is currently principal violist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held since September 1996. Prior to his appointment, Ansell had already appeared with the orchestra as a guest soloist. Ansell also currently teaches at the Boston University College of Fine Arts and is a member of the Boston Symphony Chamber Players. Ansell is also a founding member of the Muir String Quartet.
Octavio Vázquez Rodríguez is a Galician-American New York-based composer of classical music.
Peter Slowik is an American classical musician and academic working as a professor of viola and head of the string department at Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
David Van Vactor was an American composer of contemporary classical music.
Jeffrey David Bradetich is an American professor and performer of double bass. He currently teaches at the University of North Texas College of Music. Bradetich made his New York City debut at the Carnegie Recital Hall on November 22, 1982. Since then, Bradetich has performed over 800 concerts and given more than 1300 master classes throughout the world, including the continents of South America, Europe, Africa and Asia.
Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf is a German composer, editor and author.
David Johnson Dalton was an American violist, author, and professor emeritus at Brigham Young University (BYU). He graduated from Eastman School of Music in 1961 and received his doctorate in viola performance in 1970 at Indiana University under William Primrose. As a faculty member at BYU, Dalton's main contribution was the establishment of the Primrose International Viola Archive, one of the largest viola archives in the world. Dalton's other significant positions include editor of the Journal of the American Viola Society, president of the American Viola Society, and president of the International Viola Society.
Charles-Valentin Alkan composed his Cello Sonata in Paris in 1856, titled Sonate de concert pour piano et violoncelle, Op. 47. The work in E major is structured in four movements.
