Sara Levy was the daughter of a wealthy Jewish banking family and was Wilhelm Friedemann Bach's favourite harpsichordist. She was music patron to the most important musicians of the early 19th century, most of whom performed in her Berlin salon.

Her important collection of music was considered lost for a long time after the Second World War and only resurfaced a few years ago. It contains an astonishing number of chamber music works for viola, which prompted the young violist Francesca Venturi Ferriolo to explore this repertoire more closely.

Together with her ensemble Salon Violet she plays works for viola solo with basso continuo, but also for two and three violas by Franz Benda, C.P.E. Bach, Johann Wilhelm Hertel and Johann Gottlieb Graun, mostly as world-premiere recordings.