Latest news – Page 236
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Public funding cut for Dutch string quartets, chamber groups and festivals
The Fonds voor de Podiumkunsten, the Dutch performing arts fund, has slashed its funding for ensembles and arts projects. Only 80 arts companies will receive grants in the 2013–16 funding period, down from 118 in the previous round four years ago. Sixty per cent of applications – a total of ...
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Sydney Symphony announces partnership with Guangzhou conservatoire
Australia's Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) has launched a three-year partnership with the Xinghai Conservatory of Music (XCM) in Guangzhou, China. The tie-up will involve musicians from the SSO coaching XCM students, starting in Guangzhou during the orchestra's tour of China this October. At a later date, XCM students will ...
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Memorial to violin maker Jin Chang Heryern unveiled in Kiso, Japan
A public memorial to violin maker Jin Chang Heryern has been erected in the town of Kiso, Japan. The South Korean-born luthier, who died in May at the age of 82, began his career as a maker in the town. The stone memorial, situated on Kiso's main street, was ...
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Violinist Victor Aitay, Chicago Symphony concertmaster for 19 years, dies
Victor Aitay, who performed for 19 years as concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), died on 24 July at the age of 91. He played with the orchestra for 50 seasons, also serving as assistant and associate concertmaster, and concertmaster emeritus until 2003. Born in Budapest in 1921, ...
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Kazakh violinist Erzhan Kulibaev wins Buenos Aires International Violin Competition
Erzhan Kulibaev, a 25-year-old from Kazakhstan, has won first prize at the second Buenos Aires International Violin Competition. Kulibaev, who studied with Zakhar Bron in Madrid and in Novosibirsk, received $20,000 for his first prize, and also won a $2,500 award for the best performance of Argentine tangos. Second prize ...
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Violinist Frank Almond to make ‘Lipinski' recording after reaching crowdfunding target
US violinist Frank Almond has succeeded in raising more than $30,000 for his latest recording project. In August, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s concertmaster will record works associated with the 1715 'Lipinski' Stradivari violin, which he has played since 2008. Almond used the crowdfunding website Kickstarter to raise the necessary ...
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Government considers options for orchestras amid falling audience numbers
New Zealand's Ministry for Culture and Heritage has launched a review of the country's professional orchestras, and has released a discussion paper inviting feedback on possible scenarios for the future of the sector. The review concerns the national orchestra, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO), and the country's ...
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Obscure Italian composer, and not Vivaldi, may have written Baroque violin concerto
The violin concerto discovered in the archives of the Dresden State Library last June is ‘almost certainly’ not by Vivaldi, according to Baroque expert Michael Talbot. It now appears likely that the work was written by the lesser-known Italian composer Francesco Maria Cattaneo. A contemporary of Johann Georg ...
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Füssen holds exhibition to celebrate Cremonese violins
A new exhibition in the German town of Füssen celebrates the history of violin making in Cremona. The instrument exhibition at the Füssen Heritage Museum includes five historical violins: one of the instruments made by Andrea Amati for King Charles IX of France in c.1566, a violin by Francesco ...
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Baroque cellist Beiliang Zhu takes first prize at Bach Competition in Leipzig
Baroque cellist Beiliang Zhu, from China, won first prize in the cello/Baroque cello division of the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig. Zhu, 26, who has studied with Steven Doane, Phoebe Carrai and Sarah Cunningham, received €10,000. Second prize went to Hungarian cellist Ditta Rohmann, 29. French cellist Clara ...
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Four more In Harmony projects join Liverpool and Lambeth
In Harmony, England's social and music education programme that is inspired by Venezuela's El Sistema, is adding four more projects across the country. Projects in Newcastle, Leeds, Nottingham and Telford & Wrekin will join existing programmes in Liverpool and the London borough of Lambeth from this September. All six ...
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Korean Red Cross launches orchestra of young defectors from North Korea
The Korean Red Cross has launched a youth orchestra of defectors from North Korea, reports the Korea Joongang Daily. The Hope Windmill Orchestra comprises 76 musicians aged between 11 and 21. They will receive two-hour lessons every week and will be mentored by professional orchestral musicians. The youth ...
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Violinists, cellists and quartets to be honoured at Echo Klassik awards
Violinists Anne-Sophie Mutter and Isabelle Faust, cellist Julian Steckel and the Ébène Quartet are among the winners of this year’s Echo Klassik Awards. Organised annually by the Deutsche Phono-Akademie association, the awards honour classical recording artists from around the world. At the awards ceremony on 14 October, Mutter will ...
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Sotheby's to auction copy of Schoenberg String Quartet no.2 manuscript
An autograph manuscript of Arnold Schoenberg’s Second String Quartet is set to be auctioned by Sotheby’s in October. The copy of the 1908 work, regarded as one of the turning points in Western classical music, is expected to fetch between €100,000 and €150,000. According to Sotheby’s, Schoenberg gave the ...
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Polish orchestra is renamed after violinist Bronislaw Huberman
The Philharmonic Orchestra in the Polish city of Cz?stochowa has been named after the violinist Bronislaw Huberman, who was born there in 1882, reports Polskie Radio. An official ceremony to mark the renaming is planned for 3 October, when the orchestra's concert hall is due to reopen after refurbishment. ...
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Marina Yashvili, violin teacher who taught at the Moscow Conservatoire, dies
Georgian violinist and teacher Marina Yashvili has died at the age of 79. For 32 years she taught violin at the Moscow Conservatoire, having previously been a teacher at the Tbilisi Conservatory in Georgia, and at the University of Novi Sad Academy of Arts in the former Yugoslavia. Born ...
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Canada Council acquires violins and cellos valued at C$1.6m
The Canada Council for the Arts has acquired three violins and two cellos for its musical instrument bank. The five instruments are together valued at CAD$1.6m (£1m), bringing the total value of the 19-instrument collection (plus one cello bow) to CAD$28m. The Canada Council used funds from a CAD$1.1m ...
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London Music Masters launches Lost and Sound violin recycling campaign
A music charity in London has launched a city-wide instrument recycling campaign, called Lost and Sound. London Music Masters (LMM), which provides music education to children in inner-city primary schools, is calling for supporters to donate any disused violins, cellos, trumpets, flutes and clarinets. The instruments will be ...
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Over 100 double bassists join battle in Copenhagen
Next month's Bass 2012 convention in Copenhagen will include a combined art event and concert featuring at least 100 double bassists. Inspired by an 1801 naval engagement in which a British fleet led by Nelson defeated the Danish fleet, the 'Battle of Copenhagen' on 17 August will see the ...
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US violin collector Tom Roberts dies aged 75
US businessman and violin collector Tom Roberts died on 11 June at the age of 75. At one point his collection included 36 instruments, many of which he loaned to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, where he lived from 1980. Among Roberts’s violin collection were two Stradivaris: the ...