Jossef Trautz (age 90), viola

I'm Jossef Trautz, violist, and blackbearded grumpy old man of the Longbeards. Well, that's not exactly true: I'm not really grumpy. It's just that, at age 90, I'm the Quartet's oldest member, so you have to expect that it is difficult sometimes to find and then perform works for solo viola. Lionel Tertis, probably the greatest violist of his day, did that in abundance; me following in his footsteps is always a dearest wish of mine. Some of my favorite things to do when I'm not fiddling around with the lads include taking stock of my old age, and laughing at everyone else's stories. That, and doing things with a viola you might not expect from other violists --- like sticking a tiny pair of dice inside the instrument, in case the lads and I have to do the more civilized concert halls in Las Vegas (those would be the ones that don't have all that neon lighting on them!).