Latest news – Page 243
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Violinist Sarah Streatfeild launches legal claim against London Philharmonic Orchestra
Violinist Sarah Streatfeild, one of four string players suspended by the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), is taking a claim for discrimination on the grounds of belief to an employment tribunal, reports the Guardian. Streatfeild, along with violinists Tom Eisner and Nancy Elan, and cellist Sue Sutherley, was suspended ...
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Carnegie Hall announces youth orchestra
Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute will launch a National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA) in 2013. Around 120 instrumentalists will get the chance to work with principals from top US orchestras during a two-week residency at Purchase College, State University of New York. The orchestra will ...
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Double bassist and composer Stefano Scodanibbio dies at 55
Stefano Scodanibbio, the double bass player and composer, died on 8 January at the age of 55. A tireless champion both of new music and of the double bass as a solo instrument, he was well known for his collaborations with composer Terry Riley. Born in Macerata, Italy, in ...
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PayPal blamed for destruction of $2,500 violin
An online seller has claimed that the money-handling company PayPal ordered the destruction of a $2,500 French violin that she sold to a buyer in Canada. The seller, known as Erica, told the website regretsy.com that the buyer had disputed the violin's Maurice Bourguignon label, and said that because PayPal ...
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Hollywood violinist Israel Baker dies aged 92
Violinist Israel Baker, a leading soloist in Los Angeles in the 1960s, died on Christmas Day at the age of 92. Born in Chicago, Baker got his first concertmaster post with the Dayton (Ohio) Philharmonic. A year later he was hired by Stokowski to join the All-American Youth Orchestra, and ...
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Musician seeks London Underground orchestra
A musician has set himself the challenge of forming a full symphony orchestra from strangers he meets on the London Underground. Shaun Buswell, who cannot read music, will then compose a work for the orchestra to perform at one of twelve top London venues on 12 December 2012. The 12.12.12 ...
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Stradivari loses out in blind-testing study of player preferences for old and new violins
The results of a double-blind test held at last September's International Violin Competition of Indianapolis reveal some notable insights into player preferences between new and old violins. The experiment, the details of which have been published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was devised and led ...
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Roger Tapping to join Juilliard Quartet succeeding Samuel Rhodes
Samuel Rhodes is to step down as violist of the Juilliard Quartet in July 2013. Rhodes has been with the group since 1969, when he replaced the original viola player, Raphael Hillyer. Roger Tapping, who was violist of the Takács Quartet for ten years from 1995, will replace Rhodes ...
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Violinist reunited with 1835 Vincenzo Jorio instrument
A young Boston violinist got lucky when the 1835 Italian violin she left on a bus was found and returned to her. MuChien Hsieh, a Taiwanese student at the New England Conservatory, had been travelling to Philadelphia on 20 December. When she arrived at about 11pm she forgot to ...
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Scientists study how Beethoven's deafness shaped his quartets
A new analysis of Beethoven's string quartets suggests that the composer's progressive deafness influenced the number of high notes he used in his music. Researchers from the universities of Amsterdam and Maastricht looked at the op.18 quartets (1798–1800), written around the time when Beethoven was first experiencing hearing loss, ...
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South Korean cellist wins André Navarra Competition
South Korean Taeguk Mun won first prize at the André Navarra International Cello Competition in Toulouse, France. The 17-year-old, who studies with Minhye Clara Kim at the Juilliard School, received €12,000. Second prize went to 25-year-old Bonian Tian from China. French cellist Bruno Philippe, 18, won third prize.
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Tribute concerts planned for violinist Sándor Végh
Leading chamber musicians will gather in Cornwall and London in January 2012 to honour the founder of the International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove, violinist Sándor Végh (1912–97). Two memorial concerts will feature violinists Erich Höbarth and Daniel Phillips, violists Tim Boulton and Hariolf Schlichtig, and cellists Xenia Jankovic and ...
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Violin dealer Dietmar Machold is is extradited from Switzerland to Austria
Austrian authorities have finally been able to extradite violin dealer Dietmar Machold from Switzerland to face charges of serious fraud, misappropriation and fraudulent insolvency. Thomas Vecsey, a spokesperson for the Vienna public prosecutor's office, confirmed that Machold was transported to Austria on 10 December but stressed that investigations are still ...
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Violinist Midori wins World Economic Forum community award
Midori will be given the Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on 25 January 2012. The award recognises the violinist's 20 years of community engagement work. Previous recipients of the award, given to artists who have used their art and influence to contribute to international society, ...
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Australian Chamber Orchestra plays concert for Prince Charles
The Australian Chamber Orchestra ended its European tour with a performance in front of Prince Charles at St James's Palace in London. The concert for 150 guests included music by Elgar, Tchaikovsky and Parry. Charles talked with members of the orchestra afterwards about music and surfing. The concert was viola ...
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Violinist Hilary Hahn launches competition for composers
Hilary Hahn has launched an online contest to choose the 27th piece for her new project, In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores. Twenty-six composers, including Krzysztof Penderecki, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Edgar Meyer and Nico Muhly, have already written encores for her. She will select the final work from blind submissions ...
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Sally Beamish writes concerto for fiddler Chris Stout
Shetland fiddler Chris Stout and harpist Catriona McKay will give the premiere of a new concerto by composer Sally Beamish in January. The performance with the Scottish Ensemble is one of the highlights of Celtic Connections 2012, Glasgow's annual festival of traditional, folk and world music. Other fiddlers performing include ...
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Luthier completes 'Sherlock' quartet of instruments
A violin maker has made four instruments using wood from a tree that Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle used to climb as a boy. The 200-year-old sycamore stood in the garden of Conan Doyle's childhood home in Liberton, Edinburgh. The tree was felled two years ago because part of ...
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Pittsburgh Symphony bassist Anthony Bianco dies aged 94
Bassist Anthony Bianco died on 24 October at the age of 94. He was a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for 55 years, 26 of those as principal. Bianco played the tuba at high school and only took up the double bass after graduating in 1935. From 1937 ...