By Miranda Wilson Before we stepped into the hall, Professor Ivashkin handed out a collection of bijou chocolate boxes and instructed us to give them to the maestro, who had a fondness for candy and young people. We must, he…
By Martin Steinberg Matt Haimovitz’s heart broke the moment his 307-year-old cello’s neck broke, but it could have been worse. Haimovitz had just started giving a lesson at his Montreal studio on Feb. 2 to Cameron Crozman, a rising young…
Check your watches: Cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han will be on Facebook Live at 2 pm (EST) for a special Valentine’s Day Q & A, live from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Tune in at facebook.com…
The 59th annual Grammy Awards took place on Sunday, February 12. Here’s a partial list of the string players and ensembles that were honored: Best Bluegrass Album: Coming Home. O’Connor Band with Mark O’Connor (Rounder) Best World Music Album: Sing…
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1. Be patient: “At first it felt so impossible and I was like, ‘there’s a reason no one’s done this before—because it’s impossible!’” 2. Start simple: “My first movements incorporated in a performance were stepping on this beat, looking at…
Text by Sarah Freiberg Photos by Kelly Davidson On a Friday afternoon in late June, I accompanied a friend to hear her son’s performance in a final concert for the Berklee College of Music’s five-day Global String Intensive. I had no…
By Inge Kjemtrup “To play Vivaldi’s music, you must have wings, you have to fly—and if you cannot fly, it’s difficult to play Vivaldi. Nicola can fly very high!” That’s Venice Baroque Orchestra director Andrea Marcon talking about Scottish violinist…
NS Design showed off the versatility of its NXTa electric violin and cello at the 2017 Winter NAMM Show. The NXTa series allows the instrument to hold a charge for up to 16 hours after only plugging it in for…
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By Stephanie Powell The Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition has named its first-place winner: 22-year-old Sirena Huang. The multi-faceted prize includes $30,000; a violin built by luthiers Feng Jiang, Jeffrey Phillips, Andrew Ryan, and John Young; a silver-mounted bow from…
By James N. McKean When I was a violin-making student at a school in Salt Lake City, I had a cat. Even as a kitten, she seemed to want to spend all her time in my shop—which was then just…
By Laurence Vittes There was a time, in the last years of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th, when Victor Herbert (1859–1924) was one of the best-known names in American music. He was lionized in New…
Mark Wood of Wood Violins unveiled two new electric violins at the NAMM Show: the Katana and the Nashville. Wood demonstrates the range of the five-string Katana with a “Fire ‘n Ice” medley. Violinist Martie Maguire, who is currently touring with the Dixie Chicks, plays…
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Watch Ruben Salazar of Eastman Strings introduce the company’s latest electric-acoustic violin: the Tasman EAV4-502, which was designed in the UK, comes in both four- and five-string options, and with a headstock inspired by a Stradivari viola da gamba. The EAV4-502 is…
Violinist and D’Addario & Co. Product Manager Lyris Hung demonstrates the company’s new, innovative set of strings: the Helicore Octave Violin Set. The strings are of medium tension for a full-size violin, and they drop the pitch of the instrument…
By Laurence Vittes The New York Philharmonic may be going through a few changes—with Alan Gilbert’s planned departure, president Matthew VanBesien’s unexpected resignation, and Lincoln Center’s redevelopment—but some things remain unchanged. And one of these things is the occupant of the…
Music for Troubled Times By Thomas May The Seattle Symphony just offered a rare chance to hear all six of Dmitri Shostakovich’s solo instrumental concertos back-to-back in a two-day marathon (January 19–20) featuring three young virtuosos, all led by the…
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Ken Dattmore of Yamaha introduced the company’s latest electric violin at the 2017 Winter NAMM show: the YSV-104 silent violin. The instrument has a similar build and feel to Yamaha’s other silent violins, but the YSV-104 comes with a black…
By Louise Lee Music programs are as varied as the players who flock to them. Some offer instruction suited to the student aiming for a high-flying international career, while others provide a relaxed atmosphere for the enthusiastic hobbyist. You can easily…
Composer Steve Reich’s Three Generations series will illustrate the sea change in compositional language ventured by Reich and his peers and carried forward by younger generations By Thomas May On January 18, 1973, a scene of mayhem overtook Carnegie Hall.…
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