In May, Roberto Díaz performed at the US Library of Congress using a rare viola made by Antonio Stradivari in 1690. Called the Tuscan-Medici viola, it is now valued at $30 million, possibly the ...

At the US Library of Congress in Washington in May, Roberto Díaz was playing on an exceedingly rare viola. What did not cross his mind, he says, is just how much the maple and spruce instrument ...

Silent warrior. Underdog. Middle voice. These are the generous words that describe the viola, the string instrument accustomed to the shadows, and to the relentless jokes. Violists rarely get a chance ...

Between Tuesday, May 21, and Monday, May 27, 2019, a viola inscribed with the initials “IA” made its way from a quaint 1880s carriage house in Little Rock’s Quapaw Quarter to the hands of Japan’s ...

Carlos Tomé became obsessed with going to classical music concerts when he was a young teenager in Madrid learning to play the violin. During the concerts, which he would attend daily, he’d read ...

Garth Knox was born to play the viola. As a youngster, he already had two sisters who played violin and a brother who played cello. "So for the family string quartet," Knox says, "it was very clear ...

There are more jokes about the viola, perhaps, than any other member of the violin family, but there are also exquisitely written pieces of music that in the hands of virtuosos come alive with vivid ...

At the Library of Congress last month, Roberto Díaz was playing on an exceedingly rare viola. What didn’t cross his mind, he says, is just how much the hunk of maple and spruce clutched beneath his ...