Polish pianist, claviolinist, composer, and instrument builder Slawomir Zubrzycki announces the release of his new album Viola Organista: Monologues and Dialogues, a landmark recording that brings to life one of the most enigmatic inventions in the history of music: the viola organista, a long-forgotten bowed keyboard instrument originally sketched by Leonardo da Vinci. Produced by Nils Frahm and featuring works by Dowland, Marais, J.S. Bach, and others.

Da Vinci’s cryptic drawings from the Codice Atlantico depict a keyboard instrument whose strings are bowed by a continuous wheel system. The viola organista is not an imitation of the organ, nor a surrogate for the viola da gamba. Its sound hovers in a liminal sonic zone: a bridge between the tactile intimacy of string instruments and the structural elegance of keyboards. The instrument was never built by Leonardo, but the idea proved curiously immortal, inspiring some 200 iterations over the centuries under names such as Geigenwerk, Bogenklavier, Lyrichord, and Clavier-gamba.

Only in 2013, after years of historical research and planning, did Zubrzycki succeed in building a fully functional viola organista. Unlike conventional instrument makers, who follow centuries-old traditions, Zubrzycki built his first version with little more than Renaissance sketches and a fierce belief in artistic autonomy. “If you're a violin or piano maker, you follow the laws of violin or piano making. But I needed to be somewhere in between. I had to follow my own imagination.

That same imagination guided Zubrzycki from the practical task of restoring his student piano in 1980s Kraków to building the clavichord, a similarly overlooked instrument, in the 1990s. As of today, he has completed three viola organistas, each one unique, adorned with visual emblems inspired by Florentine grotesques, Leonardo’s sepia-toned sketches, and papyrus-like textures. His journey has now culminated in a collaboration with visionary producer Nils Frahm at Leiter’s Funkhaus studio in Berlin, a recording space rich in both historical resonance and sonic subtlety. “Nils doesn’t rush,” says Zubrzycki. “There’s time for everything. He listens deeply. This instrument needs that kind of space.” The result is Viola Organista: Monologues and Dialogues, an album as rare and compelling as the instrument itself.