Violoncello (piccolo) da spalla

Sigiswald Kuijken

Reintroduction of the cello piccolo da spalla on the Early Music stage is one of the notable events taking place right now. I made several baroque violoncellos piccolo da spalla for such performers as Sigiswald Kuijken and Ryo Terakado. You can subscribe to download my academic article written for the Galpin Society Journal No.60 (&61), 2007. The sound of the violoncello piccolo da spalla can be heard on this website, on my youTube channel, and on these CDs: by D.Badiarov, by Sigiswald Kuijken and by Ryo Terakado.

"Amazing, how well it works!" - Sigiswald Kuijken

Ryo Terakado

The history of my reconstruction goes back to the concert tour of La Petite Bande in 2003 when Sigiswald Kuijken, the conductor, asked me if such an instrument - a viola pomposa as we called it then - could be made. After a moment of reflection I told that theoretically it must be possible.

"It is such a fun!" -- Ryo Terakado

I worked on several instruments simultaneously: one for Sigiswald Kuijken and one for Samantha Montgomery. The next instrument was made for Ryo Terakado.

I was assisted by the string-maker Mimmo Peruffo, whose knowledge, intuition, original ideas and impressive craftsmanship allowed to re-construct the presumably impossible strings for this violoncello.

Thanks to the musicianship and enthusiasm of the performers, researchers such as Lambert Smit and string-makers such as Mimmo Peruffo the instrument returned to life. Its sound can be heard on a number of CDs.

"El chelo es precioso y maravilloso. Tiene un sonido increible. Todo el mundo que lo ha visto se ha enamorado de él" -- Carlos Albuisech

Modern strings for this instrument, called Chin-Cello or Octave Viola, were developed upon our request by John Cavanaugh of SuperSensitive.

Affordable - Soloist-grade
You can buy a violoncello da spalla alone: it is affordable. If you are not sure about how much this instrument can help your career and not feeling like taking risks or simply short of funds, you can share the bill with 10 friends-performers and co-own a soloist-grade innovative instrument without particular effort. Contact me now for more information.

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