The CONCERTO FOR VIOLA and Orchestra by Vaclav Nelhybel (1919-1996) was written in 1962 or 1963 and premiered in 1967 in Zuerich, Switzerland, by the Swiss Radio Orchestra with Jasha Veissi as soloist. (Jasha Veissi was the violist of the first Hungarian String Quartet.)

Subsequently, the work was performed twice, as a recital version with piano at the University of Scranton on March 1, 2002, and with orchestra at Johns Hopkins University on January 26, 2003. The soloist each time was Richard Field, the principal violist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Richard Field rated the Concerto as “one of the four or five best major works written for this instrument”; he puts it on an equal plane with the Bartok and Walton Concertos.

Patricia Sparti, in her doctoral Dissertation “The Orchestral Concertos of Vaclav Nelhybel,” wrote about the Concerto for Viola:
“Nelhybel wrote three types of orchestral concertos–the solo concerto, the concertante and the concerto for orchestra. The Viola Concerto is a wondaful example of both a solo concerto written for professional-level soloist and professional level orchestra, and a concerto written for an instrument lacking in solo repertoire with orchestra. It is in three movements with a modal mixture “panchromatic” first movement and serial second and third movements. It is somewhat reminiscent of the music of Schoenberg, Webern, and Berg; however, there is a palpable Slavic character and rich “Russian bass” sound to the orchestration. At all times there is a tonal center, making the work accessible to both audience and performers. All musical events in this motivically compact work are based on the opening motive E-Bb-F. The Viola Concerto masterfully brings out the melancholy and expressive nature of the viola in a highly expressive, serious work.”