Latest news – Page 231
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Los Angeles Philharmonic appoints Robert deMaine as principal cellist
Cellist Robert deMaine has accepted the job of principal cellist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The latter's music director, Gustavo Dudamel, offered deMaine the position after the cellist completed a trial week with the orchestra earlier this year. DeMaine, who has been principal cellist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra ...
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Jazz bassist Charlie Haden to receive Lifetime Achievement Award at Grammys
Jazz bassist and composer Charlie Haden has been named as one of the recipients of this year's Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards. Haden was honoured for his work with artists including Ornette Coleman, Chet Baker, John Coltrane and Dexter Gordon. The award citation described the 75-year-old as 'an all-American jazz ...
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Cremonese violin making recognised by UNESCO
UNESCO has placed Cremonese violin making on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Lutherie in the Italian city was one of 27 activities and traditions that were added to the list after a UNESCO committee meeting in Paris this month. Others include traditional straw-hat weaving ...
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Cellist Han-Na Chang appointed music director of Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra
The South Korean cellist and conductor Han-Na Chang has been named as the new music director of the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra. The 29-year-old will begin her new position in September 2013, taking over from Michalis Economou. Chang, who won first prize at the Rostropovich International Cello Competition in Paris ...
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Kim Kashkashian and Antonio Meneses among artists up for 2013 Grammy awards
The nominees for the 2013 Grammy Awards have been announced, with a scattering of top string players in the mix. Kim Kashkashian is nominated in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo category for her ECM recording Kurtág/Ligeti: Viola Music. Antonio Meneses features in the same category for his disc of cello ...
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Pioneering violin teacher Eta Cohen dies at 96
Violin pedagogue Eta Cohen, who developed a pioneering teaching method for beginners, has died at the age of 96. Born in Sunderland, UK, to Jewish immigrant parents from Lithuania, Cohen studied the violin locally and began teaching after leaving school at the age of 17. She taught privately and ...
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Baltimore Symphony to develop amateur musicians programme
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has received $950,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support the growth of its BSO Academy programme for adult amateur musicians. The BSO Academy began in June 2010 as a week-long immersive programme giving amateurs the opportunity to learn from and play alongside members ...
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Adès, Birtwistle, Larcher receive prizes at British Composer Awards
Three of the winners at this year's British Composer Awards received their prizes for string compositions. The 2012 awards, given by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, were announced at a ceremony in London's Goldsmiths' Hall on 3 December. Harrison Birtwistle, who has previously been recognised three ...
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Violinist James Dong takes first prize at Gisborne International Music Competition
Violinist James Dong has won first prize at the Gisborne International Music Competition in New Zealand. The 19-year-old, who studies with Ole Bohn at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, received NZ$8,000. Second prize went to New Zealand trumpeter Thomas Eves. Cellist Minjin Lee, from Singapore, took third prize. Dong ...
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Osvaldo Golijov Violin Concerto delayed again
Leonidas Kavakos will have to continue his wait to premiere Osvaldo Golijov's Violin Concerto, after the composer said the work would not be ready in time for performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra in January. Kavakos will instead perform Szymanowski's Violin Concerto no.2 at concerts in Philadelphia and New York. ...
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The Rest Is Noise festival of 20th-century music launches in London
London's Southbank Centre has announced highlights of an ambitious, year-long festival of 20th-century music. 'The Rest Is Noise', named after the book by Alex Ross, features 93 concerts and over 100 related events, tracing the music of the century chronologically. Among the performances in the first half of 2013 ...
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Composer Michel van der Aa receives Grawemeyer award for cello concerto
Dutch composer Michel van der Aa has won the 2013 Grawemeyer Award for his multimedia cello concerto Up-close. Worth $100,000, the Grawemeyer is currently the most lucrative award for composition in the world. In its citation, the Grawemeyer jury praised the 30-minute work as ‘a highly innovative fusion of ...
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Brodskys recover 40 scores stolen in Netherlands
Dutch police have recovered the 40 scores that were stolen from the Brodsky Quartet on 15 November. The concert clothes and passports that were taken from the group's car were also recovered. According to Constance Deelen, the Brodskys' manager in the Netherlands, the scores were retrieved by police officers ...
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Funding announced for Sistema Scotland's second 'Big Noise' orchestra
The Scottish government has awarded £1.325m to Sistema Scotland, the social and music education programme inspired by Venezuela's El Sistema. The money will be used to establish a children’s orchestra in Govanhill, one of Glasgow’s most deprived areas, following the success of the programme’s first project in Raploch, Stirling. ...
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Dutch cellist Harriet Krijgh wins at Amsterdam Cello Biennale
Dutch cellist Harriet Krijgh has won the first prize at the 2012 Amsterdam Cello Biennale. The 21-year-old received €8,000 as well as the €1,000 audience prize. Finland's Jonathan Roozeman, 15, took the €6,000 second prize, and American cellist Jonathan Butler came third, receiving €4,000. Butler was also awarded €1,000 for ...
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Bavarian violin maker Geigenbau Leonhardt receives export award
A lutherie firm based in Mittenwald, Germany, has received an export award from the Bavarian economics ministry. Geigenbau Leonhardt was recognised for its innovative approaches to marketing to overseas territories. The firm was one of four south German companies honoured by the ministry. Announcing the prizes, economics minister Martin ...
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New York Philharmonic announces Shanghai partnership
The New York Philharmonic (NYP) has announced a four-year partnership with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. The agreement, signed on 14 November, includes annual performance residencies by the NYP in Shanghai, and involvement in a specialised training programme for orchestra musicians. According to a joint statement, the programme will begin ...
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Violin, viola, cello and bow makers honoured at VSA competition
Sixteen gold medals were awarded at the Violin Society of America’s international makers' competition held in Cleveland, Ohio, on 15 November. Feng Jiang, who is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, won gold medals for both tone and workmanship in the violin category – a feat that has occurred only once ...
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Sheet music scores stolen from Brodsky Quartet
The Brodsky Quartet has suffered the theft of 40 string quartet scores while on a tour of the Netherlands. Concert clothes and a laptop computer were also stolen from the back of the group’s car, following a performance in Haarlem on 14 November. The quartet has offered a €500 reward ...
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McDuffie Center for Strings receives $1.5m grant
The Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University will move to a new site next autumn after receiving a $1.5m grant from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, reports The Telegraph. The donation will fund the renovation of a 10,000 square-foot, 1860s mansion in Macon, Georgia, which will house the ...