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Session Report: Violinist Rachel Podger on recording Biber sonatas

25 July 2025

Violinist Rachel Podger tells Peter Quantrill about her new recording of Biber sonatas, and how the music has both a sense of the unexpected and the power to soothe and delight

Teaching lutherie in Latin America: sowing the seeds for success

25 July 2025

Peter Somerford explores how an instrument repair initiative, set up by the Latin American youth orchestra venture Iberorquestas and violin maker Lionnel Genovart, has grown to create a new generation of luthiers

In Focus: A 1659 violin by Nicolò Amati

25 July 2025

Colin Adamson examines a mid-17th-century violin by the revered Cremonese maker

Analysis August 2025: Prospects for young bow makers, repairers and restorers

25 July 2025

With bow making a fixture on the ‘red list’ of endangered crafts in the UK, what’s the outlook for new students looking to become bow makers, repairers and restorers? By Peter Somerford

Postcard from France: Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition

18 July 2025

At the 2025 edition of the triennial Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition, Charlotte Gardner was delighted to hear a dazzlingly high standard of music making

August 2025

August 2025: Editor’s welcome and contents

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Session Report: Violinist Rachel Podger on recording Biber sonatas

25 July 2025

Violinist Rachel Podger tells Peter Quantrill about her new recording of Biber sonatas, and how the music has both a sense of the unexpected and the power to soothe and delight

Teaching lutherie in Latin America: sowing the seeds for success

25 July 2025

Featured People

Always by my side: double bassists (and a viola da gambist) reveal what’s in their case
James Oesi, Uxía Martínez Botana and Liam Byrne share the items that they always carry with them when they are on the road. From the June 2025 Accessories supplement
Charles Beare: 1937–2025
One of the world’s most renowned violin experts died on 26 April this year. Anne Inglis looks back at his life, while friends and colleagues share their memories
Adam Summerhayes: Music shaped by instinct
Adam Summerhayes is a violinist and composer who combines his flair for improvisation and a love of folk music with a classical training and technique. He speaks to Alexandra Petropoulos about his latest projects and his very special instruments

Always by my side: double bassists (and a viola da gambist) reveal what’s in their case

James Oesi, Uxía Martínez Botana and Liam Byrne share the items that they always carry with them when they are on the road. From the June 2025 Accessories supplement

Charles Beare: 1937–2025

One of the world’s most renowned violin experts died on 26 April this year. Anne Inglis looks back at his life, while friends and colleagues share their memories

Adam Summerhayes: Music shaped by instinct

Adam Summerhayes is a violinist and composer who combines his flair for improvisation and a love of folk music with a classical training and technique. He speaks to Alexandra Petropoulos about his latest projects and his very special instruments

Learn From The Experts

Technique: knowing your chords

Encouraging students to know their chords and understand how they work

Long Reads

Sofia Gubaidulina: a musical offering

Gavin Dixon examines the spiritual, visionary string works of the Russian–Tatar composer Sofia Gubaidulina, who died earlier this year

Remembering Ida Haendel: Grande dame of the violin

Following Ida Haendel’s death at the age of 96 in July 2020, Tully Potter surveys the career of an exceptional performer and a remarkable woman. From September 2020

Pierre Rode: The Rode less travelled

He is best remembered for his didactic 24 Caprices, but there’s much more to Pierre Rode. For the French virtuoso’s 250th anniversary, Charlotte Gardner reveals a colourful life story and hears from the German violinist Friedemann Eichhorn, who has revived and recorded all of Rode’s 13 violin concertos

All-female string quartets after the First World War

In the second and final part of his survey, Tully Potter reveals the extent of the explosion of all-female quartets that occurred after the First World War in the UK, Europe, the US and the Soviet Union, as well as notable mixed ones

German bow makers in America: Across the Atlantic

Many, if not most, of the earliest bow makers working in America originally hailed from Germany. Raphael Gold discovers how they helped lay the foundations for the industry

Lutherie

Sofia Gubaidulina: a musical offering

Gavin Dixon examines the spiritual, visionary string works of the Russian–Tatar composer Sofia Gubaidulina, who died earlier this year

Technique: knowing your chords

Encouraging students to know their chords and understand how they work

Masterclass: Dvořák String Quartet no.12 ‘American’, second movement

Cellist of the Dover Quartet Camden Shaw illustrates the importance of sound exploration in this bittersweet movement that can be seen as a metaphor for life and its many tribulations

Trade Secrets: Sharpening gouges

A practical method for maintaining the sharpness of this essential tool for all makers

Masterclass: Schumann Fantasiestücke for cello and piano

These three pieces pose an opportunity to create a dream-like sound world illustrating love in all its forms, says cellist Christian-Pierre La Marca

Masterclass: Mozart Violin Concerto no.4 in D major, first movement

Remembering that Mozart was an opera composer and understanding harmonies are the keys to bringing out the various characters in this work, says violinist Tobias Feldmann

Long Reads

Sofia Gubaidulina: a musical offering

Gavin Dixon examines the spiritual, visionary string works of the Russian–Tatar composer Sofia Gubaidulina, who died earlier this year

Remembering Ida Haendel: Grande dame of the violin

Following Ida Haendel’s death at the age of 96 in July 2020, Tully Potter surveys the career of an exceptional performer and a remarkable woman. From September 2020

Pierre Rode: The Rode less travelled

All-female string quartets after the First World War

German bow makers in America: Across the Atlantic

Many, if not most, of the earliest bow makers working in America originally hailed from Germany. Raphael Gold discovers how they helped lay the foundations for the industry

Sphinx Organization: Change for good

For the past quarter-century the Sphinx Organization has worked tirelessly to bring much-needed diversity to the US classical music scene. Bruce Hodges examines its achievements, and hears from its founder and its president about the future

Lutherie

Violin maker Otto Schünemann: A Romantic visionary
Although Otto Schünemann’s violins were praised by everyone from Vuillaume to Sarasate, his name is barely recognised today. Clifford Hall tells the story of this idealistic luthier who strove to bring the glories of the Cremonese masters to 19th-century Germany
In Focus: A c.1800 violin by Joseph Panormo
Andrew Fairfax on the UK-based Italian maker’s turn-of-the-century instrument
The Strad Calendar 2024: The Fulton collection
The Strad Calendar 2024 pays tribute to one of the 20th century’s finest stringed instrument collections, put together in just a couple of decades by American violin collector David L. Fulton. Christian Lloyd examines the treasures

Zosimo Bergonzi: Family fortunes

Zosimo Bergonzi, son of Carlo, was for a time the only luthier active in Cremona . Michel Samson tracks his career through his known works

Great Instruments

The Strad Calendar 2025: Canada’s crème de la crème

The Strad Calendar 2025 celebrates the work of the Canada Council for the Arts, which has been matching players with fine instruments for 40 years. Christian Lloyd takes a look at the collection’s highlights

A unique pairing: the ‘Paderewski, Wendling’ violin
In the first of a two-part article, Balthazar Soulier examines an extraordinary violin that displays the hallmarks of both Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ and Domenico Montagnana
The Fulton collection: Magnificent obsession
For decades, top soloists would visit the home of David Fulton to sample the treasures of his legendary collection. Now dispersed, the instruments have been brought together again in book form. The collector shares some of the highlights with Christian Lloyd
The Strad Calendar 2024: The Fulton collection
The Strad Calendar 2024 pays tribute to one of the 20th century’s finest stringed instrument collections, put together in just a couple of decades by American violin collector David L. Fulton. Christian Lloyd examines the treasures