By Cristina Schreil How often does lightning strike? For violinist Sara Caswell, three times. The first two jolts were upon encountering two violins: a Joseph Collingwood that was the first full-size instrument she purchased, and a Stefano Scarampella, which Caswell…
The Miró Quartet stopped by the Strings studio for a recent Strings Session. Watch the quartet perform two movements from Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 13, Op. 130.
At age 32, violinist Stefan Jackiw has repeatedly impressed audiences with his unique combination of intellect, poetic sensitivity, and taken-for-granted technique.
By Megan Westberg The sun was shining on an unseasonably warm December 10 afternoon in Santa Rosa, California. At the Luther Burbank Center, patrons (many escorting children sporting a vaguely skeptical look) filtered in wearing varying degrees of red and…
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Happy 73rd to Michael Tilson Thomas! Though MTT may be leaving the SFS soon, he also leaves a long legacy behind in his 25-year tenure as musical director. To celebrate his birthday, watch a few of MTT’s greatest hits, starting with his…
By Philip J. Kass In 1772, a young violin maker arrived in London with his family to practice his craft. He was 38 years old and had worked in many cities; his travels had now brought him more than 1,700…
Many string players still tune all their strings in perfect fifths regardless if using perfect fifths for tuning is not necessarily the best choice!
By Brian Wise Not many violinists can claim to have prepared for a performance of J.S. Bach’s complete Sonatas and Partitas by playing Irish jigs and reels. Nor would many admit to watching the fingerings of a banjo player during…
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By Philip J. Kass All Images Courtesy of Tarisio Writing about workmanship is fraught with difficulties, not least because of the chances that language does not always adequately depict the visual, and as a result it is possible to draw…
By Cristina Schreil The San Francisco Bay Area, in desperate need of respite from the wind, received a gentle gust of relief from the Windy City. It was a tense Friday the 13th. Smoke from nearby wine-country wildfires hung heavily…
By Philip J. Kass The most lasting influence of Vincenzo Panormo on the violin world was in his introduction of the Stradivari model into French and English violin making. In this matter he was hardly unique, for there were other…
By Cristina Schreil As if the life of a Grammy Award–winning, world-touring violinist didn’t sound appealing enough, Augustin Hadelich offers a pre-concert ritual I can get behind. Hadelich, born to German parents in Tuscany, is now a New Yorker and…
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Sponsored Story by Luis and Clark I am a professional cellist and teacher near Taos, NM at the Colorado border. My musical travels take me from freezing high-altitude places to hot deserts. I have been playing my L&C cello for years; it is one of the first…
By Stephanie Powell Standing on the balcony of his flat in Copenhagen, composer Bent Sorensen, with a freshly written triple concerto permeating his headspace, watched the bustling city below him. The scene sparked his inspiration for the title of his…
By Gregory Walker The orchestral introduction seems to go on forever, three-and-a-half minutes of some of the noblest music ever written, composed by classical music’s greatest master. Just when things couldn’t get any better, the violas suddenly die away in…
By Cristina Schreil Dvořák: String Quartet, Op. 105, and String Quintet, Op. 97 Takács Quartet; Lawrence Power, viola (Hyperion) Many know that when Dvořák journeyed to the new world, he wrote a symphony. A new recording by the Takács Quartet…
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As part of its STAGED series, Ensemble Dal Niente is presenting the world premiere of Argentine composer Tomas Gueglio’s Proa (“prow”), on December 2 and 3 at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre. Proa features harpist Ben Melsky (of Dal Niente, the Joffrey Ballet) and four dancers…
Violinist Rachel Barton Pine stopped by the Strings studio to perform three pieces from her latest album Bel Canto Paganini. Watch Pine perform Paganini’s Caprice No. 9 in E major, “La chasse” (Allegretto), his Caprice No. 5 in A minor,…
Sponsored by National Symphony Orchestra The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) Summer Music Institute is a four-week summer music program at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, for dedicated student instrumentalists, ages 15-20. July 2 – 30, 2018 Deadline: Jan. 22, 2018…
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