For the past week, four of the country’s finest instrument makers (William Castle, Helen Michetschläger, Kai-Thomas Roth, Marc Soubeyran) have been busy creating a brand new viola.
Made possible thanks to a generous bequest by Thomas Jellis, the viola is based on an instrument by the 18th century Venetian maker Anselmo Bellosio. It was completed on Friday 13 January – ahead of the RNCM Strings Festival – and performed for the first time by Thomas Riebl, the College’s International Tutor in Viola. Following varnishing, the viola will become part of the RNCM collection for loan to its students.
