Laura Vaughan

The Viol Family

Though she studied the piano, Laura Vaughan became smitten with the viola da gamba and also plays the lirone, which a colleague described as “The Goosebump Machine”.

“What instrument do you play?” is the most common question I am asked whenever people discover I’m a musician. “‘Cello!” I’ve been known to cheerfully respond with complete insincerity if I’m lugging one of my odd-sized cases through an airport, but what I really play is the viola da gamba in all its flavours, and the lirone.

While I began my musical life as a pianist, as a high school student I (like many others) came across Jordi Savall’s soundtrack of the 1991 movie Tous les...