Salastina Music Society’s Happy Hour No. 68 will be featuring Polish pianist and composer Sławomir Zubrzycki as he performs on the viola organista, the unique musical instrument that Leonardo Da Vinci designed over 500 years ago but was never built during his lifetime.
In 2012, Zubrzycki built the first concert viola organista and brought it to concert halls and music festivals, gaining wide coverage from Polish and European media.
On Tuesday, Aug. 10, he will be performing on the instrument, and Salastina Music Society brings the performance to you live on YouTube, from noon to 1 p.m.
Da Vinci’s idea was preserved in his notebooks from 1488-1489 and in drawings in the Atlantic Codex. The design involved the use of one or more overlapping gears. Each circle drew a bow located perpendicular to the other strings of the instrument. The strings were directed down towards the bow, as was the movement of the key, causing the bow to shift and thereby making the string sound.
The first instrument that attempted to follow Da Vinci’s concept was the 1575 Geigenwerk designed by the German instrument inventor Hans Haiden. In 2004, a modern reconstruction of the viola organista was built and used by Akio Obuchi at a concert in Genoa, Italy.
Based on Hans Haiden’s solutions, Zubrzycki built his instrument in 2012 and brought it to concert halls and music festivals all over Europe, starting a new chapter of its history.
Happy Hour, which happens every Tuesday, is free to attend.
For more information, call (323) 332-6874 or visit www.salastina.org/concerts.
