The most important composers, starting with Johann Sebastian Bach, loved the viola as an instrument of the harmonic center: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Dvořák, Hindemith and others. Georg Philipp Telemann wrote the first viola concerto, and the violinist of all violinists, Niccolò Paganini, played the viola in a string quartet after his virtuoso days. And today we celebrate top viola stars from Tabea Zimmermann to Kim Kashkashian, Lars Anders Tomter, Aaron Carpenter, Tatjana Masurenko, Lawrence Power, Nobuko Imai, Antoine Tamestit, Nils Mönkemeyer, Diyang Mei and Timothy Ridout – the list of names is by no means complete. All of these musicians play the viola so magnificently and individually, so virtuosically and characteristically, that it is not surprising that composers from the 1920s up to the present day have been and continue to be inspired by such masterful viola playing to create many brilliant pieces.