Hey everyone!!
I think its really interesting that Jimi Hendrix started out as a violist! Who else played viola that was famous??

Wow. where did you hear that? I read a biography of him and don`t remember any mention of viola. I think his dad said he used to play the broom until he got his 1st guitar. Are you sure? I`d love to hear what that sounded like.

Just did a search for "hendrix viola" and came up with this: http://www.viola.com/famousnames.html
It`s a list of famous viola players.

yea!! wow i did not know that either. but i know another kewl violist! einstein was not just a violinest but he also from time to time had brought out his viola aND PRACTICED IT.

i am very interested in famous violist because i play the viola to

Yes! Hendrix! And guess who else? MOZART! He was a violist first! He is the one that piqued my interest. The viola is the voice of love.....play it....live it.....love it!!

Re: "Jimi Hendrix, rock guitarist, started his musical career at an early age on the viola according to leaflet in `Jimi Hendrix: The Ultimate Collection.` "

Somebody here must own this recording. What else does the "leaflet" say?

According to viola.com some others who played viola:

Bach, composer
Britten, composer
Sally Beamish, composer
Beethoven, composer
York Bowen, composer
Frank Bridge composer
Sten Broman, composer
John Cale, Rock star - ex-Velvet Underground member
April Cantelo, soprano
Rebecca Clarke, composer
Eric Coates, composer
Dvorak, composer
John Harbison, composer
Haydn, composer
Jimi Hendrix, rock guitarist
Dudley Herschbach Baird Professor of Science, Harvard University. Linus Pauling Medal; Nobel prize for Chemistry, 1986.
Hindemith, composer
Rae Jenkins, conductor
Christa Ludwig, singer
Felix Mendelssohn, composer
Darius Milhaud, composer
Anna Moffo, singer
Pierre Monteux, conductor
Monteverdi, composer
John Montgomery - Ford Foundation Professor of International Relations, emeritus, Harvard University. Director of the Pacific Basin Research Center. Was the Allied officer in charge of the reconstruction of Hiroshima.
Mozart
Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan
Paganini, composer,
Allan Pettersson, swedish composer and violist
Schubert, composer
Rudolf Schwarz, conductor
Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Singer
Hans Sitt - composer
Leonard Slatkin, conductor
Stamitz, composer
Bruno Walter, conductor
Ralph Vaughan Williams, composer

I think Tania Davis is a great viola player, she was the one that made me choose viola. Her song Odyssey is amazing, I love it! That girl is really talented and so sweet!

Hello viola friends,

Might it be that one reason so many composers played and preferred viola was that they were thus able to devote more time to composition? W. A. Mozart loved the voluptuous mellow timbre of instruments like the viola, basset horn, clarinet, especially in pairs at thirds.

Greetings,

lux

no one mentioned PRIMROSE!!!!!