Viola in Music Website is All About the Viola

Oxford, United Kingdom, December 20, 2008 --(PR.com)-- The viola was often considered the Cinderella of the string instruments family. Now a new website wants to come to its rescue, it’s www.viola-in-music.com. The website was created to enable all music lovers to know what invaluable treasure this instrument is, with its mellow tone which bewitches many once they hear it. “Not everybody knows how many of the most famous composers played the viola, including Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Dvorak, Hindemith, just to name a few.” Also famous violin players played and play viola: the most famous one was Paganini who also wrote for it and asked Berlioz to write a work for him. More recently, performers such as David Oistrakh, Pinchas Zukermann, Nigel Kennedy and Maxim Vengerov showed their appreciation for the instrument by playing it.

This sort of revelation, even for many violin and viola players, comes from Monica Cuneo, a respected Oxford based viola player, an expert of the viola who has created the www.viola-in-music.com website, appreciated even by the Encyclopaedia Britannica, which links to it from many of its musical entries. The website offers curiosities and a wealth of information about the instrument. It is a website for anyone, not for specialists. The visitors can enjoy themselves watching music videos, reading light-hearted biographies of famous composers, viola and violin players, descriptions of compositions, the history of the viola and admiring photos of some old and rare instruments, built by famous makers such as Stradivari and Amati. Some time ago Monica was granted by the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford the privilege to hold three of these precious violas in her hands.

There are also posters, free sheet music, free Midi & MP3 files and funny viola and music related gifts. All music lovers, enthusiasts, performers, teachers and students should hasten to this website to discover this “Cinderella no more”, as the viola pioneer Lionel Tertis named it. Monica is a powerful, entertaining interview, she’ll tell your audience:

what is the difference between violin and viola
why the viola is less popular (despite its beautiful mellow tone) than the violin
which famous composers wrote for viola
what are the best compositions for viola
who were and are the most famous viola players
how to choose the right viola if you want to play it.

Monica Cuneo, beside being the author of www.viola-in-music.com, is a passionate performer and teacher and has also translated three books on string playing and teaching. To book an interview, call (+44) (0)7985 025129.

###