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CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FOR VIOLA

The viola has become a powerful voice in contemporary classical music, with composers expanding its expressive range through new colors, extended techniques, and intimate lyricism. My works for viola reflect this evolution, offering pieces that explore the instrument’s warm resonance, introspective character, and dramatic potential. The sections below present my contributions to the modern viola repertoire across solo, chamber, vocal, and stage settings.

CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FOR VIOLA

Contemporary Music for Viola

The viola has always felt to me like the inner voice of the ensemble — warm, human, and quietly expressive. Its sound carries a kind of introspective depth, and my contemporary viola music grows from that character: lyrical, understated, and emotionally resonant. For performers seeking new viola repertoire, modern chamber music, or contemporary stage and ensemble works featuring the viola, these pieces offer a wide palette of depth, color, and expressive possibility

SOLO

Unaccompanied Viola Music

Chamber music


Viola Chamber Music


Trios with Viola


Duos with Viola

 

Dripping Minutes - Frozen Years

8' 30" | viola and piano​

 

Frozen Junctions

13' | vibraphone, viola and piano​

 

Veiled Echoes

15' | flute, viola and harp​


Quartets with Viola

 

Voices from India
string quartet no. 1

17' | 2 violins, viola and cello​

 

Hope Cycles

string quartet no. 2

24' | 2 violins, viola and cello​

 

Whispered Questions

string quartet no. 3

17' | 2 violins, viola and cello​

 

Soliloquy 

string quartet no. 4

17' | 2 violins, viola and cello​

 

Little Suite

12' | clarinet, violin, viola and cello​


Quintets with Viola

 

Piano Quintet

18' | piano, 2 violins, viola and cello​

 

V5 – Quintet for Vibraphone and String Quartet

for vibraphone and string quartet

17' | vibraphone, 2 violins, viola and cello​​


Chamber Ensembles with Viola

 

Three Episodes for Chamber Ensemble

for chamber ensemble

12' | flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, percussion (1), piano, violin, viola, cello and double bass​

 

In Memoriam (Yizkor)

4' | solo viola​

 

Nameless Journey
for narrator and piano quartet
13'30" | narrator, violin, viola, cello and piano

VOCAL MUSIC WITH FLUTE


Vocal Music with Viola


Spring Calls

for soprano and ensemble

10' 30" | leggiero soprano, flute, viola, cello and harp​

Stage


Stage Music with Viola


Beauty and the Beast

for narrator and ensemble

31' | actress, violins (2), viola, cello double bass and piano​

 

The Little Mermaid

for actress and chamber ensemble / chamber orchestra

36' | actress, flute/piccolo, clarinet, percussion (1), two pianos and string quintet

OR

actress, flute/piccolo, clarinet, percussion (1), two pianos and string section​

Sheet Music for Viola:

About Contemporary Viola Repertoire

The viola repertoire of the 20th and 21st centuries includes a wide range of solo works, sonatas, chamber pieces, and concert works that have shaped the instrument’s modern identity. The list below highlights influential pieces that are frequently performed, studied, and recorded. This curated selection is offered as a resource for performers and teachers exploring contemporary classical viola music, alongside my own contributions to the repertoire.

Key 20th–21st Century Viola Repertoire

Solo Viola

  • Luciano Berio – Sequenza VI – 1967

  • Elliott Carter – Figment IV – 2007

  • György Ligeti – Sonata for Solo Viola – 1991–1994

  • Paul Hindemith – Sonata for Solo Viola, Op. 25 No. 1 – 1922

  • John Cage – One8 – 1991

  • Toru Takemitsu – A Bird Came Down the Walk – 1994

  • Krzysztof Penderecki – Cadenza – 1984 (Original for viola)

  • Gérard Grisey – Prologue – 1976

  • Igor Stravinsky – Elegy – 1944
     

Viola and Piano

  • Dmitri Shostakovich – Viola Sonata, Op. 147 – 1975

  • Rebecca Clarke – Viola Sonata – 1919

  • Benjamin Britten – Lachrymae, Op. 48 – 1950

  • Ernest Bloch – Suite Hébraïque – 1951

  • Aram Khachaturian – Sonata for Solo Viola – 1976 (Note: This is an unaccompanied solo work)

  • Paul Hindemith – Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 11 No. 4 – 1919

  • George Rochberg – Viola Sonata – 1979

  • Arnold Bax – Viola Sonata – 1922

  • Sergei Prokofiev – Selected Pieces from Romeo and Juliet (arr. Vadim Borisovsky) – 1937
     

Viola Chamber and Multimedia Works

  • Claude Debussy – Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp – 1915

  • Karlheinz Stockhausen – Tierkreis – 1974–1975 (Variable instrumentation)

  • Kaija Saariaho – Vent Nocturne – 2006 (viola and electronics)

  • Garth Knox – Viola Spaces – 2009 (solo viola studies/concert pieces)

  • Morton Feldman – The Viola in My Life (I–IV) – 1970–1971 (viola and ensemble/orchestra)

  • Tristan Murail – C’est un jardin secret, ma sœur... – 1976 (solo viola)

  • Steve Reich – Violin Phase – 1967 (frequently performed as Viola Phase)
     

Viola Concertos

  • Béla Bartók – Viola Concerto – 1945 (Posthumously completed by Tibor Serly)

  • Paul Hindemith – Der Schwanendreher – 1935

  • William Walton – Viola Concerto – 1929 (Revised 1961)

  • Alfred Schnittke – Viola Concerto – 1985

  • Krzysztof Penderecki – Viola Concerto – 1983

  • Bohuslav Martinů – Rhapsody-Concerto – 1952

  • James MacMillan – Viola Concerto – 2013

  • John Adams – The Dharma at Big Sur – 2003 (Written for electric 6-string violin; often adapted for viola)

  • Kaija Saariaho – Graal Théâtre – 1994 (Viola version authorized by composer)

  • Sofia Gubaidulina – Viola Concerto – 1996

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