RIVKA GOLANI

Rivka Golani is recognized as one of the most outstanding violists 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 not only to other players but also to the many composers who have been inspired by her mastery to write for the viola. More than 250 works have so far been composed for Rivka, including 65 Concerti: a record matched by no other violist in history.

She has performed as a soloist with many of the world’s most prominent orchestras such as the BBC Symphony, the BBC Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Hallé Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, the Israel Philharmonic, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and countless others and worked with Sir Andrew Davis, Charles Dutoit, Vernon Handley, Eliahu Inbal, Okko Kamu, Diego Masson, Uri Mayer, Kent Nagano, Uriel Segal, Lior Shambadal, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and Stanley Sperber on a regular basis.

Rivka has made innumerable CD recordings with many distinguished orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic, the Toronto Symphony, the Bern Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest Radio Orchestra, the BBC Sinfonietta and others. A landmark among her many recital CDs is a set of the complete Bach Cello Suites which includes also performances of Bach’s Chaconne and Chromatic Fantasy.

An inspiring teacher, Rivka Golani draws students from all over the world to her master classes. She also holds a professorship at London’s Trinity College of Music.

Rivka is also a painter. Exhibitions of her paintings have been held throughout Israel, Canada, the UK, Holland and Germany.

Born in Israel, Rivka Golani was trained at the Music Academy of Tel Aviv with the great violist and composer Oedoen Pártos. At the age of 23, she became a member of the Israel Philharmonic. She moved to Canada in the mid-1970s where she began her solo career and now makes her home in London, England.

She plays a viola made by the renowned maker Otto Erdesz. Rivka Golani is Artistic Director of the Fort Maclaud Music Festival in Alberta, Canada. She was recently honoured by the Canadian Music Centre as an ‘Ambassador of Canadian Music’.

“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.”
LONDON FINANCIAL TIMES

“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
THE 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

“It is a dream... A violist of touching depth, as well as painter and mathematician – altogether a woman of fierce power whose music can fill a whole continent.”
MÜNCHENER ABENDZEITUNG

“Her playing was distinguished above all by its passionate intensity… And, especially by the sonorous richness of her tone.”
John Rockwell
NEW YORK TIMES

“Golani’s stage presence is not one of superficial bravura, but rather of sincerity and compassion.”
THE SINGAPORE BUSINESS TIMES

“Rivka Golani – a phenomena.”
LA PRESSE MONTREAL

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