Klaus Voigt

Klaus Voigt studied modern viola at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar. Since 1995 he has focused exclusively on historical instruments.

Participation in courses given by Marianne Kubitschek inspired him to search for new works for viola d’amore and to more intensively explore performance of this repertoire. He began transcribing early manuscripts into modern notation. During this process he not only deciphered the tablature notation of composers but also devised new tablature notations for works in common notation which makes reading the music easier for the viola d’amore player.

In 2001 he was co-founder of the Telemannisches Collegium Michaelstein. In addition to the baroque viola, he plays viola d’amore and, since 2012, viola da spalla—a small 18th-century cello held across the player’s chest suspended by a strap over the shoulder [spalla, shoulder].

Photography: Torsten-Pieter Rösler