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The viola is a complex instrument that involves years of mastering the craft. The viola, similar to the violin, is a member of the string family and is played with a bow. However, it is larger than a violin, and has a deeper sound as a result. The viola is essential to any orchestra, the middle voice between the violin and the cello. Who are the best violists in the world?The musicians on this list are considered the best viola players today.&nbsp;Whether you recognize these musicians or not, they've all carved out a place out for themselves in the music business and have become influential and prominent figures in the industry and are among the many <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/notable-violist_s)/reference">famous violists</a> in the world of classical music. If you love geeking out on music, we definitely recommend finding some of their music.&nbsp;&nbsp;This list features the world’s best violists, and is waiting to be voted on and reranked by you. Vote up the best viola players below or add a musician you think is great on the viola, if he or she isn't already on the list.

Best Violists in the World | List of the Greatest Current Viola Players

The Best Violists in the World

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David Garrett

David Christian Bongartz (born 4 September 1980), better known by his stage name David Garrett, is a German pop and crossover violinist and recording artist.

Daniil Bessonov (Saint Petersburg)

mann11118

Tabea Zimmermann

Tabea Zimmermann, born on 8 October 1966 in Lahr, is a German violist.
She began learning to play the viola at the age of three, and commenced piano studies at age five. At the age of 13, she studied viola with Ulrich Koch at the Conservatory of Freiburg and progressed to study with Sándor Végh at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg. She soon gained notice in international competitions, winning first prizes in Genève, Budapest, and the Maurice Vieux International Viola Competition in Paris for which she was awarded a superb instrument made by contemporary luthier Étienne Vatelot which she has played in her worldwide concert tours ever since.
As a soloist she has performed with numerous major orchestras, including the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, under the baton of noted conductors including Kurt Masur, Bernard Haitink, Christoph Eschenbach, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and others.
Tabea Zimmermann is likewise actively involved in chamber music, having performed with Gidon Kremer, Heinz Holliger, Hartmut Höll, Steven Isserlis, and Pamela Frank at numerous festivals.

dtolli

Pinchas Zukerman

Pinchas Zukerman  (Hebrew: פנחס צוקרמן‎, born 16 July 1948) is an Israeli-American violinist, violist and conductor.

Itzhak Perlman

Itzhak Perlman (Hebrew: יצחק פרלמן‎; born 31 August 1945) is an Israeli-American violinist, conductor, and music teacher. Over the course of his career, Perlman has performed worldwide, and throughout the United States, in venues that have included a State Dinner at the White House honoring Queen Elizabeth II, and at the Presidential Inauguration of President Obama, and he has conducted the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the Westchester Philharmonic. In 2015, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.



Kim Kashkashian

Kim Kashkashian (Armenian: Քիմ Քաշքաշյան), born August 31, 1952 in Detroit, Michigan, is a Grammy-award winning Armenian-American violist.

Amy Edmonds

Nobuko Imai

Nobuko Imai (今井 信子, Imai Nobuko, born March 18, 1943 in Tokyo), is a Japanese classical violist with an extensive career as soloist and chamber musician. Since 1988 she has played a 1690 Andrea Guarneri instrument.

Yuri Bashmet

Yuri Abramovich Bashmet (Russian: Юрий Абрамович Башмет; born 24 January 1953) is a Russian conductor, violinist, and violist.

Lawrence Power

Lawrence Power is a British violist, born 1977, noted both for solo performances and for chamber music with the Nash Ensemble and Leopold String Trio.

David Aaron Carpenter

David Aaron Carpenter (born April 5, 1986 in Great Neck, New York) is an American violist and was the first Prize Winner of the 2006 Walter W. Naumburg Viola Competition.

meepboop121

Vadim Repin

Vadim Viktorovich Repin (Russian: Вади́м Ви́кторович Ре́пин; [vɐˈdʲim ˈvʲiktərəvʲɪtɕ ˈrʲepʲɪn]; born 31 August 1971) is a Russian and Belgian violinist who lives in Vienna.After hearing one of Repin's performances, violinist Yehudi Menuhin said: "Vadim Repin is simply the best and most perfect violinist that I have ever had the chance to hear."

Karen Dreyfus

Karen Dreyfus is a violist who currently teaches at the USC Thornton School of Music. Ms. Dreyfus has distinguished herself as a recipient of many prizes, including the Naumburg Viola Competition (1982), the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition (1980), the Washington International Competition (1979), and the Hudson Valley Competition (1978). Ms. Dreyfus has concertized extensively in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and South America.
Some of her musical collaborations have been with Musicians From Marlboro, New York Philomusica, Theater Chamber Players of the Kennedy Center, the New York Philharmonic, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. She has performed in recital with Yehudi Menuhin at Carnegie Hall and has also collaborated with such artists as Rudolf Serkin; Alexander Schneider; Leon Fleisher; Chick Corea; and her husband, Glenn Dicterow.

Shlomo Mintz

Shlomo Mintz (Hebrew: שלמה מינץ) (born 30 October 1957) is an Israeli violin virtuoso, violist and conductor. He regularly appears with orchestras and conductors on the international scene and is heard in recitals and chamber music concerts around the world.

Roberto Diaz

Paul Neubauer

Paul Neubauer (born in Encino, California, in 1962) is an American violist.  Neubauer was a student of Paul Doktor, Alan de Veritch and William Primrose. He attended the Juilliard School, where he received his B.M. in 1982, and his M.M. in 1983. In 1984, at age 21, Neubauer became the principal violist with the New York Philharmonic the youngest principal string player in the philharmonic's history, a position he held for six years. He became an Artist Member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in 1989.
Neubauer has appeared as soloist with orchestras throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia. He has been featured on Live from Lincoln Center, CBS's Sunday Morning, Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion, and in Strad, Strings, and People magazines. He has been heard on St. Paul Sunday Morning, Morning Edition and Performance Today and appeared in Dark Side, a film starring Edoardo Ballerini and Ali Ahn. In 1989 he became the first violist to receive an Avery Fisher Career Grant. He was the first prize winner of the Whitaker, D'Angelo, and the 1980 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition.Neubauer teaches at the Juilliard School, and Mannes School of Music. Among his students are Richard O’Neill, Gilad Karni, Scott Lee and Che-Yen Chen. His students have become members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Miami, Formosa, Ehnes and Calder quartets, the New York Philharmonic, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has edited works for Boosey & Hawkes, Universal Edition and International Music Company. Neubauer is the Artistic Director of the Mostly Music Series and has been Music Director of the OK Mozart Festival, the Chamber Music Extravaganza in Curaçao and at Bargemusic.

Atar Arad

Atar Arad (Hebrew: עתר ארד; born 8 March 1945) is an Israeli American violist, professor of music, essayist and composer.

Lars Anders Tomter

Lars Anders Tomter is a Norwegian viola player.

J Dybwad

Katrin Meidell

Rachel Barton

Rachel Barton Pine (born Rachel Elizabeth Barton, October 11, 1974) is an American violinist. She debuted with the Chicago Symphony at age 10, and was the first American and youngest ever gold medal winner of the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition. The Washington Post wrote that she "displays a power and confidence that puts her in the top echelon."Pine tours worldwide as a soloist with prestigious orchestras, has an active recording career, and has run The Rachel Barton Pine Foundation since 2001 which provides services and funding to promote classical music education and performances.

Maxim Rysanov

Maxim Rysanov is a violist and conductor.

Cynthia Phelps

Cynthia Phelps (born 1961 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California) is an American violist whose versatile career involves work as a chamber musician, solo artist, and orchestral musician. Phelps is currently the Principal Violist of the New York Philharmonic, a position to which she was appointed in 1992. She is a former faculty member of the Manhattan School of Music and is currently a faculty member at the Juilliard School. She has appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras throughout the world including the Minnesota Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica de Bilbao, and Hong Kong Philharmonic. As a chamber musician, Ms. Phelps performs regularly with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Bargemusic, the Boston Chamber Music Society, the Chicago Chamber Musicians, La Musica, Seattle Chamber Music Society, and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival. Phelps has performed with some of the world's greatest musicians including Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Yo-Yo Ma, Lynn Harrell, and Yefim Bronfman, among many others. She has toured internationally as a member of the Zukerman and Friends Ensemble, appeared with the Guarneri String Quartet, and performed in recital in Paris, Rome, London, and Cardiff, Wales, as well as in Boston, Los Angeles, New York and Washington. Ms. Phelps is a recipient of the Pro Musicis International Award, and a top prize winner at both the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and the Washington International String Competition. She has recorded for the Marlboro Recording Society, and the Covenant, Nuova Era, Polyvideo, Virgin Classics labels, and most recently Cala Records where her first solo CD was released. Her appearances on television and radio have included Live from Lincoln Center on PBS, National Public Radio, Radio France, and RAI in Italy.Phelps began her musical training on the violin at age four. She didn't like the sound of the violin, so she satisfied herself by switching to viola at age eleven. She studied with Sven Reher before college. She then studied at the USC Thornton School of Music and in 1994 received the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the school as "a Thornton graduate whose artistic or scholarly accomplishments both reflect the ideals of the school and have furthered the art of music." She is a faculty member at Mannes School of Music.Phelps is married to cellist Ronald Thomas and they live just outside New York City in Leonia, N.J. They have three daughters: Lili (by Thomas' marriage to Mihae Lee), Christina (by Phelps' marriage to baritone David Malis), and Caitlin.

Brad Vanfleet

Hilary Hahn

Hilary Hahn (born November 27, 1979) is an American violinist. She has performed throughout the world both as a soloist with leading orchestras and conductors and as a recitalist. She has also built a reputation as a champion of contemporary music. Several composers have written works for her, including concerti by Edgar Meyer and Jennifer Higdon, partitas by Antón García Abril, and a violin and piano sonata by Lera Auerbach.

Jennifer Stumm

Rivka Golani

gnicholls

The viola is a complex instrument that involves years of mastering the craft. The viola, similar to the violin, is a member of the string family and is played ...

A peek at the toys you kept safely stored on the highest shelf in the original packaging you never dared let yourself open—which ones are total garbage and which could pay off your student loans if only you hadn't tossed them the last time you moved.

Collectors' Items

The best, cutest, rarest, most expensive, and most unique Funko POP! figures and bobbleheads—perfect to start or add to any pop culture junkie's collection. 

Funko POP!

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The Funko POP!&nbsp;toy line has become one of the most popular and accessible series of pop culture-related collectibles around nowadays. Because of how many figures are put out by Funko every year&nbsp;there have been an increasingly high number of collectors starting to pay attention to uncommon and rare Funko POPs or figures that are hard to get, before then turning them into some of the most expensive Funko POP! toys of all time.This is common with any kind of collectible that consumers can get their hands on, and thanks to the seemingly endless number of brands and franchises that Funko figures are released in conjunction with, they have a broad appeal. However, even the most avid of Funko POP! collectors may be surprised to hear what the price points are for the rarest Funko POPs.So whether it be a Funko POP! that only ran for a short period during the start of the company's run, or extremely rare convention-only exclusives, here are some of the super expensive Funko POPs that consumers have been paying obscenely high amounts of money for in order to add them to their collections.