RIVKA GOLANI

Rivka Golani is one of the great virtuoso violists and musicians of modern times.  Her contributions to the advancement of viola technique have already given her a place in the history of the instrument and have been a source of inspiration to many players and composers.  More than 250 pieces have been written for her, including 58  concertos to date - with several more in progress.

She has performed as soloist throughout the world with orchestras such as  the Boston Symphony,  Royal Concertgebouw,  BBC Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, Hong Kong Symphony, Singapore Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Tokyo Metropolitan, Montreal Symphony, 
Singapore Symphony, Hong Kong Symphony, Toronto Symphony,  and countless others.                                                  

Several of Golani's many CD recordings have achieved landmark status, among them the  Elgar Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic,  the Bartok Concerto with the Budapest Symphony, Martinu's Rhapsody Concerto with the Bern Symphony, Chaconne by US Pulitzer prizewinner Michael Colgrass with Toronto Symphony, and   a 3-CD set of works for solo viola by Johann Sebastian Bach.  Her latest CD, Hidden Treasure - Viola Masterpieces, was released by Hungaroton in late 2012. 

Golani's dedication to contempory composers is legendendary. Her  2006 season included no less than four world premicres of concertos. Two more are scheduled for 2007.

An inspiring teacher, Golani draws students from around the world to her master classes. She is Professor of Viola Trinity-Laban College of Music and Dance, London and was recently awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Lethbridge, Canada.

Born in Tel Aviv, Rivka Golani trained at the Rubin Music Academy in Tel Aviv under the celebrated violist and composer Professor Oedoen Partos.  A citizen of  Israel, Canada, and Great Britain, she currently resides in London, UK.

What the critics say...

She stands at the head of today’s supreme viola virtuosi - white-hot in delivery, kaleidoscopic in tone colours, electrifying in rhythmic attack, an obvious inspiration to composers.
Financial Times - London 

...technical wizardry...nothing less than a musical dynamo...
Musical America

...an artist wholly at one with her instrument, producing rich, singing tone, and displaying an immaculate technique.
Music & Musicians

Rivka Golani is a magnificent violist, with impeccable technique and both taste and power...she may be carving out a place of her own that no other performer on the instrument can reach.
James North/Fanfare Magazine

...riveting, intensely physical stage presence....hurtling momentum, constant risk-taking, complete technical assurance...One can only be glad she dedicated herself to art rather than warfare, for she would be an awesome adversary.
The Boston Herald

..I don’t think I have ever heard the viola more brilliantly exploited as a virtuoso instrument or more brilliantly played...
William Littler/Toronto Star

No nobler music-making could be imagined than this eloquent performance. I hope aspirant violists observe Golani’s immaculate bowing, the grand tradition brought to the service of inspired musical insight.
Geoffrey Crankshaw/Musical Opinion

Where there can be no argument is over the superb playing of Rivka Golani . . . some company must lock Miss Golani into a studio and not let her out until she has recorded Walton's Viola Concerto.
Gramophone

Consummate mastery of modern solo scores - her Shostakovich towered as a masterly interpretation that demands a recording, totally idiomatic and full of the biting satire and agony of the suffering artist.
Daily Telegraph