Ragnhild Hemsing performs a wintry tune on the Hardanger fiddle

Ragnhild Hemsing performs ’Vetrahalling’, a track from her upcoming album Vetra. Incorporating Norwegian traditions into her playing, Hemsing performs on a Hardanger fiddle and delves into the traditions of her home region of Valdres.

The word ‘Vetra’ means winter in the Valdres dialect, providing a running theme throughout Hemsing’s new album. The album features Norwegian ’slåtter - folk melodies, songs and dances based on myths and legends - as well as folk melodies that have their origin in church songs.

Hemsing collaborates with many friends and greats of the Norwegian folk song tradition on her new album, including Mathias Eick (trumpet) and Terje Isungset (drums), folk musicians Ole and Knut Aastad Bråten (langeleik) as well as strings Marthe Husum (viola), Frida Fredrikke Waaler Wærvågen (cello) and Nikolai Matthews (double bass). 

Vetra will be released on Berlin Classics on 3 November 2023.

Playing

In The Best of Technique you’ll discover the top playing tips of the world’s leading string players and teachers. It’s packed full of exercises for students, plus examples from the standard repertoire to show you how to integrate the technique into your playing.

Teaching

The Strad’s Masterclass series brings together the finest string players with some of the greatest string works ever written. Always one of our most popular sections, Masterclass has been an invaluable aid to aspiring soloists, chamber musicians and string teachers since the 1990s.

Calendars

American collector David L. Fulton amassed one of the 20th century’s finest collections of stringed instruments. This year’s calendar pays tribute to some of these priceless treasures, including Yehudi Menuhin’s celebrated ‘Lord Wilton’ Guarneri, the Carlo Bergonzi once played by Fritz Kreisler, and four instruments by Antonio Stradivari.