The Ergonomic Edge to Playing!

Using only the highest quality of materials, each Performa features a wider surface area to distribute the instrument’s weight and player’s pressure evenly on the shoulder just as when one plays without a shoulder rest. Its patented design provides comfort never before experienced, resulting in a miraculous relief from tension and pain.  
 

The Performa Shoulder Rest is completely customizable. It includes three feet that are different heights to be adjusted to the desired height. One is 11mm in length, one is 17mm, and one is 25mm. When when the two shorter feet are at their lowest settings, Performa becomes the lowest shoulder rest - as if one is playing without one. The tall 25mm foot is for those who require an even higher elevation on one or both sides. All three are available for purchase separately. The soft foam pad that comes on the shoulder rest is 5mm in thickness. (Pads are reusable)
 

The remaining challenge to completing the task lay in the development of perfect feet for the Performa. The design, material selection, and gripping integrity were critical requirements. The inventors would seek out a soft rubber compound that would not damage the varnish, provide a strong grip so as to stay in place and provide minimal contact so that there be no muffling of the sound.
 

The Performa is an exciting choice for any player, and most especially one who currently does not use a shoulder rest but would like to. Playing will feel more organic while the head, neck, arms, and hands find restrictions and discomfort eliminated.  The Performa Shoulder Rest allows viola playing to feel more organic. Performa allows the head, neck, arms, and hands to function without restrictions and discomfort when placed properly on the instrument.

The Performa Shoulder Rest for viola is available in two sizes: Large and Small.  The large size is designed for 15.5-17" violas.  The small size is designed for 15-16.5" violas.

• Performa shoulder rest in Padauk wood
• 11mm foot
• 17mm foot
• 25mm foot
• 5mm foam pad (installed on shoulder rest)

1-Year Limited Warranty
This item comes with Shar's 1 year warranty covering defects of workmanship or materials. General wear and tear or mis-use are not covered. Non-transferable.

30-Day No Hassle Return Policy
If you are not satisfied with this item for any reason, you may return it for a full refund within 30 days of purchase.

If you have any questions about this product's warranty or to make a return, please contact our Customer Service Department at 800.793.4334 or email us at cc@sharmusic.com

About Cyrus Forough, founder of Cyrus Creations

Noted for the “fiery intensity” and “poetic vision” of his playing, Cyrus Forough's reviews comprise a lexicon of superlatives in more than a dozen languages. Critic Donald Isler lauded his performance of Beethoven Sonata No. 7 in August 2016 as “a very fine performance of a great work,” saying he “played with great flair and stylistic understanding.” Of his July 2015 performance of Debussy’s Violin Sonata, Jim Lowe wrote, “With a warm sound and deft technique, Forough was an expert musician, utilizing skilled articulations and a broad palette of tonal colors, in delivering Debussy’s unique mix of Romanticism and Impressionism.”

Cyrus Forough is a laureate of the Tchaikovsky International Competition, first prizewinner of the Milwaukee Symphony Violin Competition, and finalist in the Munich International Violin Competition. He has performed on radio and television internationally and given command performances for international dignitaries. He and his wife Steinway Artist Carolyn McCracken won the United States Artistic Ambassador Program's National Duo Competition, representing the United States in the Far East and South America. They gave performances in many concert venues including the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Phillips Collection, and the Kennedy Center. Mr. Forough also holds the World Academy of Arts, Literature, and Media Award in recognition of his contributions to classical music and education.

An active performer of contemporary music throughout his career, Mr. Forough gave the Milwaukee Symphony’s premiere of the Shostakovich First Violin Concerto with Paul Polivnick conducting. In 2010, he performed Lutosławski's Chain 2 with the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic under Ronald Zollman. Mr. Forough recorded Alireza Mashayekhi’s fourth violin concerto in September 2016 with the Ukraine National Symphony, Vladimir Sirenko conducting. Mashayekhi's fourth and fifth violin concertos and his fourth Violin/Piano Sonata are dedicated to Cyrus Forough. He will premiere the sonata along with other Mashayekhi compositions in a November 2017 recital at the ISSUE Project Room in Brooklyn, NY. Other composers who have dedicated works to him are Reza Vali and Alan Fletcher.

Mr. Forough's unique succession of studies, in three major international cultural centers with three of the twentieth century’s legendary violin masters, has made him a prominent representative of the Franco-Belgian school of violin playing. Beginning his studies with his mother, herself a violinist and graduate of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, he became the youngest student ever to attend that same conservatory when he was admitted at age nine to the class of Arthur Grumiaux. He later studied with David Oistrakh and Josef Gingold.

Mr. Forough's dedication to teaching and his skill at communicating his art have earned him a reputation as a sought-after and effective violin pedagogue. At present he is a Professor of Violin at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and was a visiting professor at the Eastman School of Music in 2009, 2010, and 2015. He has performed and taught at festivals in over twenty countries, and his students are prizewinners of national and international competitions and members of professional orchestras worldwide. Cyrus Forough performs on the 1718 “Wilmotte” Antonius Stradivarius