“It’s a certain kind of friendliness that I find very soothing.” When Nils Mönkemeyer talks about his instrument, it sounds as if he has a good friend in mind. He attributes consistently positive qualities to the viola and even dares to put forward the theory: “Playing the viola makes you nice.” Mönkemeyer himself is the best proof of this hypothesis: an artist rarely meets his audience in such an open, approachable and friendly way. Last year, Nils Mönkemeyer was Artiste étoile at the Mozartfest. In 2026, he returns alongside the London Mozart Players, who are steeped in tradition, and presents two composers who were themselves closely associated with the viola: Carl Stamitz – Mozart’s contemporary and the leading violist of his time. And Benjamin Britten, who in his Lachrymae looks back on the music of the Elizabethan era and his own life in a profound but non-sentimental way.