Latest news – Page 217
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ArticleJohnson String Instruments and Carriage House Violins merge
Two US violin shops based in Massachusetts, Johnson String Instruments and Carriage House Violins, have announced that they are to merge. The new company, Carriage House Violins of Johnson String instrument, will operate from the current Carriage House Violins shop premises at Newton Upper Falls. Carriage House ...
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ArticleThe Strad December 2013 issue is on sale now
The December issue of The Strad is now on sale. In this edition the German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter discusses her many-stranded approach to bringing classical music to the new generation, plus there is a chance to win one of ten copies of Mutter’s new Dvorák Violin Concerto ...
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ArticleTop lots from Skinner Auctioneers' November auction
Skinner Auctioneers has released the results of its November auction in Boston, US. Among the top lots for stringed instruments was a Nicolaus Gagliano violin (pictured) from Naples made in 1720, which fetched $168,000 on an estimate of $120,000–$140,000, and a modern violin from the School of ...
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ArticleGothenburg Symphony airport pop-up performance
Travellers passing through Göteborg Landvetter Airport in Sweden got more than surround-sound when they tried out four new ‘music chairs’ installed in the airport’s terminal building. The chairs, which have been commissioned by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (GSO), contain a sound system and screen, allowing passengers to ...
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ArticleDoes violin music help bread to taste better?
A German baker is testing the theory that playing string music while making bread can improve its flavour. Manfred Pilger, who has run his bakery in Passau, Bavaria, for over 25 years, is convinced that playing a CD of violinist David Garrett changes the taste of his ...
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ArticleSpektral Quartet commissions micro-compositions for mobile phones
Chicago’s Spektral Quartet has teamed up with 40 composers in the US on an initiative to replace mobile phone default ringtones and alarms with performances of original contemporary music. The project, called Mobile Miniatures: New Music for Your Phone, was launched through the Kickstarter project funding ...
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ArticleIMG Artists forges new partnership with China Arts and Entertainment Group
IMG Artists performing arts management and China Arts and Entertainment Group have launched a new business venture called Sino America Global Entertainment (SAGE), described by IMG Artists as the largest private performing arts partnership between the US and China. The new US-Sino organisation will invest ‘several hundred million ...
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ArticleSwiss violin maker identifies rare Bergonzi violin
A violin maker and dealer based in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, has identified the only known full-size violin by Zosimo Bergonzi (1724–79). Zosimo was the son of the great Cremonese luthier Carlo Bergonzi, and the brother of Michel Angelo Bergonzi. Up until now the only evidence of Zosimo's ...
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ArticleModel players – how the Aurora Orchestra was made miniature
Not all new season brochures make headlines, but the cover shoot for the Aurora Orchestra’s 2014 booklet is so startlingly original as to deserve not only the attention it has already received, but a bit of further explanation. Tired of the usual aerial shots and action pictures, ...
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ArticleCanadian violinist Mark Fewer joins St. Lawrence String Quartet
Violinist Mark Fewer is to succeed Scott St. John as second violinist of the Canadian chamber ensemble the St. Lawrence String Quartet (SLSQ) from 1 January 2014. Fewer (pictured) has already substituted for St. John and also for first violin and quartet co-founder Geoff Nuttall. He will ...
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ArticleNew competition aims to invigorate interest in the viola
A new competition with a mission to inspire a future generation of viola players will launch at Birmingham Conservatoire, UK, in October 2014. The Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition, named after the 20th century British violist and pedagogue (pictured), is open to players under the age of ...
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ArticleDaniel Müller-Schott stars in new cello documentary
Cellist Daniel Müller-Schott stars in a new documentary film about the cello, directed by Anne Schiltz. The film centres around the story of Pierre Gerbaud's stolen Testore cello, but is really a meditation on stringed instruments in general, and the makers, dealers, collectors and musicians who all ...
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ArticleDa Capo Music Foundation takes Kodály teaching to the Netherlands
The Da Capo Music Foundation, a UK music education charity, has announced a partnership with a Dutch scheme that will bring its Kodály-based teaching method to the Benelux region of Europe. Starting on 26 November, children at 20 primary schools in north Amsterdam will be offered the ...
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ArticleStudy shows listeners engage with classical music more when musicians improvise
A new study conducted by researchers at the UK’s Guildhall School and Imperial College London suggests that introducing elements of improvisation into classical music concerts could increase audience engagement. The researchers asked a chamber trio to play the same piece of music twice – once employing elements ...
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ArticleFive hundred string students attend mass performance in Catalonia
More than 500 young string players from 39 schools across Catalonia attended a mass public lesson and performance at the municipal sports centre in Martorell on 17 November. The event, called Trobada Fiddle (Fiddle Camp), was part of the Barcelona Fiddle Congress, which took place at the ...
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ArticleGuarneri 'del Gesù' violin takes centre stage in new Buenos Aires instrument gallery
A new permanent exhibition hall dedicated to stringed instruments has opened in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The gallery at the Isaac Fernández Blanco Museum of Spanish–American Art features as its centrepiece a 1732 violin by Guarneri 'del Gesù' (pictured). This instrument is displayed along with a portrait of ...
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ArticleOrchestra research explores impact of alternative formats
The Miami-based New World Symphony (NWS) has completed a four-year study tracking the effectiveness of alternative concert formats. The orchestra wanted to see how successful its alternative formats were at attracting new audiences, and how those audiences then engaged with the orchestra. Beginning in 2010, the orchestra ...
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ArticleStrad Fest LA to showcase eight Stradivari violins
Eight of Stradivari’s best known violins are to go on display in Los Angeles as part of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s Strad Fest LA event, which will run from 26–29 March 2014. The eight instruments are the ‘Serdet’ Strad of 1666, the 1708 ‘Ruby’ (pictured), the ...
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ArticleRussian and South Korean share first prize as Jan Rakowski Competition opens up to foreign candidates
Karolina Errera, 20, from Russia, and Sejune Kim, 25, from South Korea have shared first prize at the Jan Rakowski Viola Competition in Poznan, Poland. The two winners also each received a special prize endowed by the Mayor of Poznan. This is the first time in its history that that ...