Ellis Jackson

Originally a violinist (but having to quit for medical reasons), I have started playing the viola and have grown fond of it enough to desire virtuosity. My first encounter with string instruments took place in my mid-teens and, after finding them quite comfortable and expressive after a short time, I purchased a violin about 3 years later and started taking accelerated lessons.

The violinists I enjoy are too many to name, but Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein, David Oistrakh, Franco Gulli, Efrem Zimbalist, Ginette Neveu, Mischa Elman, and Yehudi Menuhin are just a handful.

Some of my long term goals in terms of music are to play Primrose's many transcriptions of pieces, Wienawski Viola transcriptions, Bach Cello and Violin transcriptions for Viola, and hopefully a few Viola versions of major concertos such as Tchaikovsky's D Major and the Mendelssohn E minor.

Of course I would like to play the staples of the Viola repertoire such as the Walton, Hindemith, Bartok, et al.

I have some sonatas I would like to compose, as well as a "wordly" music project that involves cadenzas that I'd like to work on.