By Melia Watras I owe a lot to Atar Arad. My beloved viola teacher when I was a student at Indiana University, Atar has had a profound influence on me, as a musician and as a person. He always pushed…
By Inge Kjemtrup The dominance of instruments by Antonio Stradivari in the auction world was challenged in May 2016 with the record-breaking sale of the 1743 “ex-Havemeyer” Guadagnini cello for $1.5 million through Tarisio Auctions. Not only was it the…
The San Francisco Symphony programmed a holiday-concert series that packs both season’s greetings and rings in the New Year just right. With guests like actress/vocalist Jane Krakowski, of 30 Rock fame, to megawatt-soul-singer-songwriter Gladys Knight, this year’s holiday lineup is not to be missed. Review the…
Sponsored by the Kennedy Center The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) Summer Music Institute is a four-week summer music program at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, for serious student instrumentalists, ages 15-20. June 26 – July 24, 2017 Deadline: Jan.…
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Over time, the authentication process becomes very much driven by instinct. To explain it I will go through the process of elimination that happens in my mind.
The 2017 Grammy nominees have been announced, and there are, of course, a number of string players in the mix. Here are some highlights: Best Orchestral Performance Bates: Works for Orchestra. San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas, cond. (SFS Media)…
Multi-instrumentalist Sara Watkins stopped by the Strings studio to showcase her fiddling for a recent Strings Session. Watch Watkins perform John Harford’s “A Long Hot Summer Day,” and her own tune “The Foothills.”
Sponsored by Interlochen Center for the Arts Interested in attending Interlochen Center for the Arts? Here is a great opportunity to audition in a city near you! In January 2017, Interlochen Arts Camp and Arts Academy will be holding dance,…
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By Cristina Schreil “We’re looking for the event in the crypt,” I announced. “Where is the crypt?” Four alarmed eyeballs stared back at me. It was the second day of autumn and I was in a centuries-old New York City…
By Emily Wright The rare violins exhibit at this year’s VSA conference was held in a small, nondescript room down a corridor across from several other nondescript rooms, not too far from an escalator whose laboring machinery churned out a…
Composer Andrew Norman is the winner of the 2017 Grawemeyer Award, a weighty prize of $100,000, for music composition. The Los Angeles–based composer was recognized for his 47-minute, three-part orchestral work “Play,” inspired by “how technology has rewired our brains…
By Philip J. Kass Ever since old violins first became cherished, we have formed romantic ideas about them and their makers. The truth of the matter is far more prosaic. While violin making, as practiced by a small number of…
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Arnaud Sussmann took time out of his Music@Menlo schedule to stop by the Strings studio this summer. Watch the violinist perform Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Sonata in D major, Op. 115.
By Cristina Schreil “Do some futuristic stuff. Do something we haven’t seen before.” I’ve asked the Brooklyn-based violin-viola duo Chargaux what advice they offer younger players. This guidance from Jasmin “Charly” Charles, the violinist of the pair, seems a tall…
For all the talk about the world of classical music collapsing under the weight of fickle modernity, there was little evidence of it at the Violin Society of America conference and competition in Cleveland, Ohio. In a contest where no…
Anne Akiko Meyers called her new CD Fantasia after the transcendent 15-minute-long concerto that Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara wrote for her, which turned out to be the last music he composed before his death in July 2016 at the age…
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The Sphinx Organization was recognized by First Lady Michelle Obama on Nov. 15. The Detroit-based organization, which strives to “transform lives through the power of diversity in the arts,” was awarded the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award at…
By Caeli Smith Here’s an unpleasant scenario that every musician is familiar with: You sit down to listen to a recording of a recent concert, expecting the tape to recreate your performance as you remember it. But while listening, you…
The Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition has announced that the second iteration will take place at the Birmingham Conservatoire from November 18–24, 2017. The competition, named after famed South African violist Cecil Aronowitz, is held in conjunction with the British…
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