Viola Faculty

Violist IVO-JAN VAN DER WERFF has garnered a global reputation as a chamber player, recitalist, guest artist and teacher. From 1983 to its last concert in Vienna in 2014 he was a member of the Medici String Quartet, performing in well over 2000 concerts in more than 50 countries, broadcasting regularly on radio and television. The Medici Quartet made more than 40 recordings for EMI, Nimbus, Koch and Hyperion of works ranging from Haydn, Mozart, Britten, Janacek, Schubert and the complete Beethoven cycle to more eclectic works of Saint-Saens, Wajahat Kahn and Nigel Osborne. The quartet had collaborations with many artists across the musical, literary and theatrical spectrum including the Royal Shakespeare Company, George Martin, Alan Bennett, John Williams, Mitsuko Uchida, Jack Brymer, Dudley Moore, Sir Clifford Curzon amongst others. 

Mr van der Werff has performed as recitalist in New York, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Portugal as well as numerous venues throughout the United Kingdom. His recordings for ASV, Koch and Guild include the sonata by Max Reger, the complete works for viola and piano/harp by Arnold Bax, Britten Lachrymae, Shostakovich Sonata and works by Karim Al-Zand.

Mr van der Werff has collaborated with numerous artists and ensembles including the Alberni, Coull and Bridge String Quartets, Lynn Harrel, Cho-Liang Lin, Kyung-Sun Lee and members of the Tokyo, Jupiter, Ying and Emerson quartets.

Through the 1990’s and 2000’s Mr van der Werff was a Professor of Viola at the Royal College of Music in London before moving to teach full time in 2007 at the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University in Houston, Texas. He has developed a private viola program near London and a Viola retreat in Upstate New York, has taught at many summer festivals in the UK, Sweden, Italy, Canada, Portugal and the USA and given masterclasses in all the major music schools in the UK and many in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and major schools in the USA. 

In 2011, inspired by his viola mentors - Margaret Major, Peter Shidlof and especially Bruno Giuranna, Mr van der Werff self-published ‘A Notebook for Viola Players’ which consists of a series of exercises and explanations on and about viola technique. An expanded version is due for release in the summer of 2022, published by Oxford University Press.