Latest news – Page 251

  • Article

    Calidore Quartet scoops Fischoff prizes at Indiana competition

    2011-05-16T00:00:00Z

    The Calidore Quartet won the grand prize and the senior string division gold medal at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in South Bend, Indiana. The quartet, whose players are students at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, received $7,500 for the grand prize, and $3,000 for the gold medal. ...

  • Article

    Concertmasters back Broadway call for live music

    2011-05-16T00:00:00Z

    New York Philharmonic concertmaster Glenn Dicterow and Metropolitan Opera Orchestra assistant concertmaster Laura Hamilton are backing a call to keep musicians playing in Broadway musicals. The Save Live Music on Broadway campaign has been launched by the American Federation of Musicians Local 802 and is being sponsored by the non-profit ...

  • Article

    South Korean luthier Min Sung Kim wins Wieniawski Violin Making Competition

    2011-05-15T00:00:00Z

    South Korean luthier Min Sung Kim has won first prize at the Henryk Wieniawski Violin Making Competition in Pozna?, Poland. He also took fourth prize for another of his instruments, and won the prize for best set-up. Marcus Klimke from Germany was awarded second prize, plus prizes for workmanship and ...

  • Article

    Beaux Arts Trio founding cellist Bernard Greenhouse dies aged 95

    2011-05-15T00:00:00Z

    American cellist Bernard Greenhouse, one of the founding members of the Beaux Arts Trio, has died at his home in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, at the age of 95. He played in the acclaimed piano trio from its formation in 1955 until his retirement in 1987, making more than 100 recordings, and ...

  • Article

    Violinists including Tasmin Little and Vilde Frang dominate Classical Brits

    2011-05-12T00:00:00Z

    Tasmin Little and Vilde Frang were among the winners at the Classical Brit Awards held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Little picked up the Critics' Award for her 2010 recording of the Elgar Violin Concerto. Norwegian violinist Frang, 24, won the Newcomer Award. There was also success for ...

  • Article

    Indie film starring violinist Philippe Quint to have New York screening

    2011-05-12T00:00:00Z

    Downtown Express, a new feature film starring Philippe Quint, will have its world premiere at Symphony Space in New York on 7 June. In the film, Quint plays Sasha, a Russian violinist on a scholarship to the Juilliard School. Defying his overbearing cellist father, Sasha is drawn to New York's ...

  • Article

    Mayor pledges 400 music scholarships for young Londoners

    2011-05-12T00:00:00Z

    London's mayor, Boris Johnson, has launched a new music charity to help children in the capital with their music education. The Mayor of London's Fund for Young Musicians will raise £2m by March 2012, which will provide 400 children aged 7–11 with four-year music scholarships. These children will receive small-group ...

  • Article

    Royal Scottish National Orchestra recruits leaders

    2011-05-11T00:00:00Z

    The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) has appointed James Clark and Maya Iwabuchi as concertmasters. It will be the first shared leadership in the orchestra's 120-year history. Clark will combine his new role with his position at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, where he has been leader since 2005. Iwabuchi ...

  • Article

    Library of Congress puts up 10,000 Victor recordings from 1901–25 for streaming

    2011-05-11T00:00:00Z

    The Library of Congress has made more than 10,000 historic sound recordings available for the public to stream for free. Its new National Jukebox gives users access to recordings made by the Victor Talking Machine Company between 1901 and 1925. String music highlights include Kreisler performing the Intermezzo from Thaïs, ...

  • Article

    Takács Quartet and violinist Alina Ibragimova win Royal Philharmonic Society awards

    2011-05-10T00:00:00Z

    The Takács Quartet and violinist Alina Ibragimova were among the winners of the 2011 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards, which acknowledge achievements in live classical music during 2010. The Takács Quartet, which gave a complete Beethoven quartets cycle at the Southbank Centre in 2009–10, won in the Chamber Music and ...

  • Article

    Britain's Got Talent violinist apologises for playing along to track by Bond

    2011-05-09T00:00:00Z

    A violinist on Britain's Got Talent has apologised after playing along to a track by the all-female electric string quartet Bond on the UK TV show. Bond member Eos Chater had criticised violinist Alexandra Parker for simply playing along to a recording of Gypsy Rhapsody, rather than playing live over ...

  • Article

    Music publisher Boosey & Hawkes puts scores online

    2011-05-05T00:00:00Z

    Classical music publishing giant Boosey & Hawkes has launched an online service allowing users to study more than 400 scores for free. Visitors who register with the publisher's website will be able to peruse orchestral, opera and large ensemble scores from the Boosey & Hawkes catalogue. Among the contemporary works ...

  • Article

    Police recover San Francisco Conservatory student's violin

    2011-05-05T00:00:00Z

    Police in San Francisco have arrested a man suspected of stealing a music student's Caressa & Français violin. The thief had taken the $23,000 instrument from a practice room at San Francisco Conservatory on 26 April but was identified and traced after footage was released of him making his getaway ...

  • Article

    Student's $23,000 violin taken from San Francisco Conservatory

    2011-05-04T00:00:00Z

    Police are hunting a thief who made off with a San Francisco Conservatory student's $23,000 violin. The student had left the instrument, a Caressa & Français from the early 1900s, in a Conservatory practice room while she checked her emails in the computer lab. A light-haired man apparently walked in ...

  • Article

    Wine magnate buys golden-period Stradivari violin

    2011-05-04T00:00:00Z

    Bordeaux wine magnate Bernard Magrez, who owns more than 40 estates in France and overseas, has bought a Stradivari violin for the launch of his new cultural institute. The golden-period instrument was sourced in London and apparently cost between 2 and 3 million euros. The previously nickname-less violin will now ...

  • Article

    Violinist Joshua Bell joins Brazil boycott

    2011-05-03T00:00:00Z

    Joshua Bell is the latest high-profile soloist to boycott the Brazilian orchestra that sacked nearly half its musicians in a dispute over reauditions. The violinist was due to perform with the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira (OSB) and its conductor Roberto Minczuk on 27 August, but has cancelled his appearance. Bell joins ...

  • Article

    Kronos Quartet receives Avery Fisher Prize and Polar Music Prize

    2011-05-02T00:00:00Z

    The Kronos Quartet has been named the recipient of two major music prizes – the Avery Fisher Prize in the US and the Polar Music Prize in Sweden. It is the first time any musician or ensemble has ever won both awards, let alone simultaneously. The American prize, for ...

  • Article

    Lady Blunt' Stradivari violin to be sold at auction

    2011-04-28T00:00:00Z

    The Nippon Music Foundation is selling the 'Lady Blunt' Stradivari to raise money for the Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief fund. The 1721 violin, one of the finest and best-preserved Stradivaris in existence, will be auctioned by online specialist Tarisio on 20 June, with all proceeds going to the disaster ...

  • Article

    London Chamber Orchestra to play British string favourites at royal wedding

    2011-04-27T00:00:00Z

    The music for tomorrow's royal wedding at Westminster Abbey has finally been unveiled. Christopher Warren-Green will conduct the London Chamber Orchestra in seven pieces before the service begins. The works include English orchestral favourites such as Elgar's Serenade for Strings in E minor op.20, Vaughan Williams's Fantasia on Greensleeves and ...

  • Article

    Van Baerle Trio trio wins in Lyon piano trio contest

    2011-04-27T00:00:00Z

    The Van Baerle Trio from the Netherlands won first prize at the Lyon International Chamber Music Competition, which this year was for piano trios. The ensemble, comprising violinist Maria Milstein, cellist Gideon den Herder and pianist Hannes Minnaar, received €10,000 as well as three other prizes. Trio Rafale, from Switzerland, ...