Ashot Vartanian 16" viola, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2016

brilliant, deep sound, sweet

The viola has great projection and a brilliant, contemporary Italian sound. The varnish is a bright, reddish-brown with golden ground. The back is two-piece with luminous flame slanting downwards towards the bouts. This would be a fantastic viola for orchestral or solo playing – a professional, life-long instrument! 

Ashot Vartanian grew up in Yerevan, Armenia, and studied cello. He went to Moscow to study luthierie at the Bolshoi Theater and then studied in Cremona, Italy in the late 1970s. After only a brief time in Cremona, he started teaching at the Scuola Internazionale di Liuteria. He is a master restorer of Old Italian instruments and his violins and violas carry on the Italian sound tradition.

Inside label reads:

ASHOT VARTANIAN

Violin Maker of the Italian Tradition

Fecit Ann Arbor  Anno 2016

(serial number S5289)

Measurements: 

Length: 40.6 cm

Upper bouts: 19.6 cm

Middle bouts: 14.0 cm

Lower bouts: 24.1 cm

Vibrating string length: 37.0 cm