Emanuel Vardi (21 April 1915 – 29 January 2011), an American violist, was considered to have been one of the great viola players of the 20th century.

The family came to the United States in 1920 via Paris, France, aboard a ship called "the Asia" to escape the pogroms in the Middle East.

About age 15, Emanuel dropped out of school for a time as a sort of teenage rebellion and lived with his friend Zack Baratz.

He had the distinction of being asked to perform a solo recital at the White House for President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II.

In 1985, Vardi was featured in a full-length article in The Strad, and in 2003 he was honored with a lengthy interview in the American Viola Society Journal, with his painting “Homage to a Great Violist” appearing on the front cover.