Rivka Golani ( , born 22 March 1946) is a world–renowned Israeli-born viola player. She has performed as soloist with many orchestras throughout the world including the Boston Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, BBC Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, Hong Kong Symphony, Singapore Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Tokyo Metropolitan, Montreal Symphony and the Toronto Symphony. Golani has had more repertoire written expressly for her than any violist in the history of classical music. More than 400 pieces have been written for her, including over 90 concertos. The BBC Music Magazine included her in its list of the 200 most important instrumentalists and the five most important violists currently concertizing. In Hungary, she was celebrated as "Musician of the year" by the Artijus Music Foundation in 2011 and awarded the 'Hungarian Classical Disc of the Year', category of the Gramofon Award, in 2013. She was Ambassador of Canadian Music for the Canadian Music Centre in 2009. Golani has been honoured with awards by the Blackfoot First Nations People of Canada. She received The Eagle Feather in 2011 and a Blackfoot appelation: 'Itspankiyakii' - ‘A woman who sings from a high place’ in 2016. As a teacher, Golani draws students from around the world to her master classes. She holds a professorship at Trinity College of Music in London and has also taught at Birmingham Conservatoire, the University of Toronto, and London's Royal Academy of Music. Golani received an honourary Doctor of Fine Arts (2013) from Lethbridge University, Canada, for services to classical music. Biography Golani was born in Tel Aviv. Her father Yakov Gulnik was from Warsaw, and had lost his family in the Holocaust. Her mother Liza Goldstein was from Polish Galicia. Golani took up the violin at age 7, while her sister Bela learned the cello. Golani was a mathematics prodigy. Golani became a pupil of the violinist Alexander Moskowsky at age 18. She switched to viola at age 21 and studied with the violist Oedoen Partos, and became a member of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. She married the Hungarian luthier Otto Erdesz, and in 1974 the couple moved to Canada, where she gave birth to her son Michael. She became a citizen of Canada in 1983. Erdesz manufactured for her what has been her preferred instrument throughout her career. After their divorce, Golani married German conductor Thomas Sanderling and moved to London. She later returned to Canada