Latest news – Page 253
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Swiss police arrest violin dealer Dietmar Machold
Violin dealer Dietmar Machold has been arrested in Switzerland. Swiss police acted on behalf of Austrian investigators, who want to extradite the German-born owner of Machold Rare Violins to Austria to face charges of fraud and misappropriation. Machold is now in custody in a Swiss jail as authorities in the ...
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More losers than winners in Arts Council England orchestral funding decisions
Major UK orchestras took a funding hit as Arts Council England (ACE) announced its long-awaited funding decisions and named the arts organisations on its new national portfolio. All orchestras, ballet and opera companies who were previously supported by ACE had their funding renewed, but the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, ...
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Will Cremonese violin making tradition get Unesco protection?
Violin making in Cremona and the pizzas of Naples head up Italy's shortlist of candidates for Unesco's 'intangible' cultural heritage list, according to a report in the Guardian. After Italy secured Unesco status for the Mediterranean diet last year (jointly with Spain, Greece and Morocco), the country is debating which ...
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YouTube orchestra racks up 33m hits
The finale concert of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra on 20 March clocked up 33m views on the video-sharing website. The event at Sydney Opera House drew more than three times the audience for U2's YouTube concert. There were 11.1m live streams of the orchestra's performance, which featured music by composers ...
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Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra cancels Korea visit
The Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra has cancelled a visit to South Korea amid concerns over the radiation risk from Japan. The orchestra was due to give two concerts at the Tongyeong International Music Festival, including tomorrow's opening concert. Despite assurances from Korean authorities that radiation from Japan would not affect Korea, ...
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Baroque violinist Dmitry Sinkovsky wins Telemann Competition
Dmitry Sinkovsky from Russia won first prize at the International Telemann Competition for historical stringed instruments in Magdeburg, Germany. The 30-year-old Baroque violin specialist received €7,500. Second prize went to Swiss Baroque violinist Anaïs Chen. Viola da gamba player Mathilde Vialle, from France, took third prize.
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New documentary on violinist Jascha Heifetz to receive premiere
A new film biography of violiniist Jascha Heifetz will have its premiere next month in Los Angeles. The documentary, Jascha Heifetz: God's Fiddler, includes unseen family home movies as well as interviews with former students, Heifetz biographers, and violinists including Ivry Gitlis, Ida Haendel and Itzhak Perlman. The 84-minute film ...
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English music label launches with recordings of violin sonatas
A new record label specialising in overlooked works by British composers has launched with a disc of violin works. EM Records' debut release features York Bowen's Violin Sonata alongside the world premiere recordings of the violin sonatas of Arthur Bliss and Henry Walford Davies. The performers are Rupert Luck and ...
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Japanese cellist Yuki Ito wins Windsor competition
Japanese cellist Yuki Ito won first prize at the Windsor Festival International String Competition. The 21-year-old, who studies with Alexander Boyarsky at the Royal College of Music in London, was awarded £5,000 plus a bow and concert engagements. Second prize went to Chinese violinist Jiafeng Chen, 24. Bulgarian cellist Michael ...
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Violinist Maxim Vengerov set for recital comeback
Three years after putting away his violin to focus on conducting, Maxim Vengerov is returning to the recital platform as a soloist. The 36-year-old will play Brahms's three Violin Sonatas with pianist Vag Papian at the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels on 2 May. In an interview with Radio ...
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South Korean Dami Kim wins Japanese violin contest
South Korean violinist Dami Kim won first prize at the Munetsugu Angel Violin Competition in Nagoya, Japan. The 22-year-old, a student of Miriam Fried at the New England Conservatory in Boston, won ¥500,000 (£3,800) and the loan of the 1697 'Rainville' Stradivari violin for two years. Hikaru Matsukawa from ...
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New Quay brothers film for violinist Alina Ibragimova
Alina Ibragimova is teaming up with influential filmmakers and animators the Brothers Quay for a programme of solo violin music at this year's Manchester International Festival. Ibragimova will play works by Berio, Bach, Biber and Bartók in a promenade performance, leading audiences of 100 around the Chetham's School of Music ...
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Success for El Sistema-style Scottish orchestra project
A classical music project targeting children from a historically deprived Scottish housing estate has the potential 'to achieve social transformation', according to a new report evaluating the scheme. The Big Noise orchestra programme was set up in the Raploch, Stirling, by Sistema Scotland in 2008, and has given more than ...
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LA Phil pulls Osvaldo Golijov violin concerto premiere
The Los Angeles Philharmonic has cancelled the world premiere of Osvaldo Golijov's Violin Concerto scheduled for 5 May. The work, co-commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, was to be performed by Leonidas Kavakos with conductor Gustavo Dudamel, but Golijov has said he will not be able to finish the ...
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Viol consort in shock after founding member Richard Campbell dies
The early music community is mourning the loss of Richard Campbell, best known as a founder member of leading viol consort Fretwork. According to his obituary in the Guardian, Campbell died unexpectedly at his home in Cornwall last week at the age of 55. His death came as Fretwork was ...
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BBC Philharmonic flies home after being caught up in Japan earthquake
The Manchester-based BBC Philharmonic Orchestra is on its way back to the UK after cancelling the last four concerts on its Japanese tour. The musicians were travelling by coach from their hotel in Tokyo to a concert hall in Yokohama when Friday's earthquake struck. Video shot by violinist Simon Robertshaw ...
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Violist Philip Dukes to play the 'Archinto' Stradivari in London
Violist Philip Dukes is celebrating the 20th anniversary of his first recital at London's Purcell Room by returning there to perform on 20 March, and he will be playing on a special instrument – the 'Archinto' Stradivari of 1696. One of the few surviving Stradivari violas, the 'Archinto' has ...
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Cellist Austin Huntington wins Stulberg Competition in Kalamazoo
Sixteen-year-old cellist Austin Huntingdon has won first prize at the Stulberg International String Competition in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Huntington, who studies with Richard Hirschl and attends St Joseph's High School in South Bend, Indiana, received $5,000. He also won the $500 Bach Award. Violinists Mayumi Kanagawa and Christine Lim, both 16, ...
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Russian violinist and violist wins Salzburg International Mozart Competition
Sergey Malov won first prize in the violin division of this year's International Mozart Competition in Salzburg. The 27-year-old Russian violinist and violist received €10,000. Second prize went to Ying Xue from China. German violinist Sarah Christian took third prize.
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Funding campaign seeks backers for violin concerto
Music charity London Music Masters (LMM) is seeking supporters to help fund the creation of a new violin concerto by British composer Martin Suckling. The organisation, which provides music education in inner-city primary schools and a violin award scheme for young professional players, needs to raise £4,250 by the end ...