<<  -- 4 --  Thomas Georgi    SYMPATHETIC STRINGS

However, the viola d'amore continued to be heard, sometimes in the most unexpected places. In literature, James Joyce made a marvelous pun on the name viola d'amore on the first page of Finnegans Wake. On TV, and in the movies, the composer Bernard Hermann made use of the viola d'amore a number of times; see the Twilight Zone episode Little Girl Lost, from 1962, which even has its own website. The early 20th century violist, Henri Casadesus toured Europe regularly with an early music group, playing the viola d'amore. And on my tours as a member of the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, I have met d'amore players in Jerusalem, in Mexico City, in Tuscaloosa and in Vancouver.

My website, www.violadamore.com, has put me in touch with professional players and aspiring viola d'amore students from the world over, from Portugal to England, from Australia and Malaysia, from Brazil to the USA. While there is, to the best of my knowledge, only one place where a string player can undertake a 4 year course leading to a diploma in the viola d'amore (Vienna), would be d'amore players are welcome to join me at the Scotia Festival of Music in Halifax next June, where the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra will once again be in residence. I'll be supplying the violas d'amore, so come try them for yourself.