Lutherie – Page 90
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ArticleUS violin dealer Charles Magby charged with first-degree larceny
American instrument dealer Charles Magby was arrested on 23 August on charges of first-degree larceny. According to police in Guilford, Connecticut, several complaints have been made against the 63-year-old owner of Charles H. Magby Fine Violins Ltd, regarding his selling of high-end custom instruments, including violins, cellos, bows, on consignment. ...
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BlogsDo violin competitions face extinction?
A day trip to Switzerland yielded some provocative conversations about the future of string music contests for Ariane Todes
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BlogsViolinist Ivry Gitlis remembers George Enescu
Our October issue will focus on great players of the past, including interviews with people who knew them or revere them. Ariane Todes has just interviewed the inimitable Gitlis about his former teacher and gives a sneak preview
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ArticleArgentina's first stringed-instrument gallery set for opening
A museum in Buenos Aires is to open a new permanent exhibition hall dedicated to stringed instruments in October. Officials at the Isaac Fernández Blanco Museum of Spanish–American Art believe that the new gallery will be the first such exhibition space in Argentina. Among the instruments to be displayed is ...
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ArticleStolen £1.2m Stradivarius violin recovered
UK police have recovered a 1696 Stradivarius violin, more than two and half years after it was stolen from Korean violinist Min-Jin Kym. The instrument, discovered intact with some very minor damage including a small crack on the front, was recovered in its case on 18 July, along with a ...
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Article
Newark students complete late maker's cello in two-week project
In a special project to benefit the UK-based Rowan Armour-Brown (RAB) Trust, a group of students from the Newark School of Violin Making have completed an unfinished cello by Brian Laurence, who died in 2012. Laurence, who was based in Doncaster, began making the cello in 1989 when he ...
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ArticleBow maker uses human hair for shampoo promotion stunt
A bow maker in Singapore has swapped horsehair for human hair as part of a promotion for a shampoo brand. Paul Goh's services were called upon by the Singapore and Manila branches of advertising agency J. Walter Thompson, which wanted to find a new way to ...
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ArticleFrench violin expert Étienne Vatelot dies aged 87
French violin expert and luthier Étienne Vatelot died on 13 July at the age of 87. In a career that spanned almost eight decades, he became a world-renowned expert on stringed instruments and bows, serving as president of the French Association of String Instrument and Bow Makers, ...
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DebateEmbrace the difference
Luthiers often have more experience than players of Baroque instruments and bows. So, says US bow maker David Hawthorne, they should be fearless in producing authentic equipment to enlighten and inform
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ArticleLuthier documentaries focus on Italian tradition and a Catalan's unusual violins
Four contemporary Italian violin makers and a Catalan luthier who created violins with sympathetic strings are the subjects of two new documentaries currently in production. Parma luthier Andrea Zanrè and art historian Paolo Parmiggiani are making a film about the lives and careers of four of ...
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FocusWhat happens when a stolen Strad is recovered?
Violin dealers and musicians are not alone in following the auction performance of rare musical instruments. The spectacular saleroom prices realised by the finest violins have also attracted thieves in search of fresh goods for the illicit art market. While post-theft claims for insured instruments are often quickly settled, the ...
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ArticleHospital CT scan reveals more on so-called 'Titanic violin'
A violin thought to have been played during the sinking of the RMS Titanic has undergone a hospital CT scan to determine its age and condition. The research, commissioned by auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son, showed that the instrument had been damaged and restored. Radiographer Astrid ...
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Article
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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BlogsFeel the power
Peter Somerford reflects on measuring violin projection at the Paris blind-test
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DebateLock up the valuables
Should the world's top violins, violas and cellos always be available for playing? No, says Philip Kass. Some are simply too precious to be exposed to destructive human hands
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DebateCareless talk costs lives
Nigel Kennedy used his recent BBC Prom to issue a condemnation of period performance. But, says Ariane Todes, he should get his facts right, and spare a thought for those colleagues whose reputations he's belittling
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Article
Min-Jin Kym's 1696 Stradivarius violin is taken from a sandwich bar
A £15,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the recovery of a Stradivarius violin stolen in London. The 1696 instrument, valued at around £1.2m, was stolen along with two bows from a branch of Pret a Manger outside Euston Station on 29 November. The victim of the theft ...
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BlogsThe advantages of modern instruments
Ariane Todes chairs a panel discussion in which luthiers shed light on the process of commissioning
