Featured Stories – Page 2
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BlogsAlexander Aitken’s violin: the instrument that travelled from Gallipoli to the Somme
Benjamin Baker tells the story of mathematician and violinist Alexander Aitken, whose modest instrument accompanied him through the First World War and now inspires a new commission at AWE London ahead of Anzac Day, tracing memory, music and survival across a century
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Premium ❘ FocusPostcard from the Netherlands: String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam
Clare Varney reports from the String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam, where an array of star performers and repertoire old and new proved that the genre is alive and well
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Premium ❘ FeatureChiaroscuro Quartet: gut instinct
The musicians of the Chiaroscuro Quartet talk to Pauline Harding about the challenges of playing on gut strings, and the emotionally and physically demanding experience of recording the complete Beethoven string quartets
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Premium ❘ FeatureMany voices, one sound: orchestral blending
How is it possible to create a seamless yet distinctive orchestral string sound? Players from some of the world’s leading orchestras speak to Peter Somerford about the techniques, traditions and listening skills that shape an orchestral identity
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BlogsBetween D minor and its shadow: listening for meaning in a place of tension
Contrary to the extremes of opinion in music – loud versus soft, technique versus expression, major versus minor – violinist Hector Scott explores how meaning can be found in the tension between these dichotomies
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Blogs‘Big sound – not just loud, but big’: remembering violinist and pedagogue Jan Mark Sloman
Violinist Shannon Lee revisits the lessons, humour and lasting influence of her late teacher Jan Mark Sloman, whose posthumous book Notes to a Violinist captures a lifetime of pedagogical insight and belief in young musicians
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Blogs‘The process of writing has always been the space where I can process everything’: Andrea Casarrubios - Her Voice Matters
Anthony Arnone profiles Spanish‑American composer and cellist Andrea Casarrubios, tracing her journey from world‑class performer to one of today’s most sought‑after voices in string music
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Blogs‘A rendez-vous with silence’: cellist Camille Thomas on making her new album at Tippet Rise Art Center
At Tippet Rise in Montana, where music meets landscape and sculpture, Franco-Belgian cellist Camille Thomas reflects on creating her new album Rendez-vous.
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BlogsConcert review: violinist Rachel Barton Pine bridges classic repertoire and contemporary realities
Richard Linnett reports back from the violinist’s performance of Dvořák, Beethoven, Dolores White, William Grant Still and Billy Childs on 11 April at Los Alamos Concert Association
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BlogsKian Ravaei: intertwining Persian and Jewish Music
Composer Kian Ravaei reflects on writing The Four Seasons of Hamadan, a new work for violin and dancer that intertwines Persian and Jewish traditions
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BlogsThe directness of emotional communication: violinist Niklas Liepe on the works by Academy Award-winning composer Rachel Portman
The violinist speaks to The Strad about Rachel Portman’s work, ahead of a performance featuring arrangements of her well known film scores at the London Soundtrack Festival
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Premium ❘ FeatureYehudi Menuhin 110th anniversary: music with friends
To mark the 110th anniversary of Yehudi Menuhin’s birth on 22 April 1916, Tully Potter presents an overview of the great violinist’s numerous chamber music partnerships and their recordings
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Premium ❘ FocusSentimental Work: Johannes Moser on Lutosławski’s Cello Concerto
For the German–Canadian cellist, the theatricality of Lutosławski’s Cello Concerto opened up a fascinating relationship between soloist and orchestra
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Premium ❘ Feature‘Paganini was a strange, fantastical man’ - From the Archive: April 1896
The celebrated French violinist Charles Dancla (1817–1907) shares his recollections of seeing Nicolò Paganini (1782–1840) perform while he was a youngster
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BlogsHow mentoring has completely shaped my musical journey: NYO cellist Austin Thomas
Austin Thomas, a 16-year-old cellist with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, outlines how he gains inspiration from those around him, ahead of the orchestra’s performances in Manchester and London
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VideoHappy birthday Florence Price! Mount Vernon Virtuosi CelloGang performs String Quartet in G major
Florence Price was born on this day in 1887. Amit Peled and his cello students commemorate the American composer with an arrangement of her 1929 quartet for cello ensemble
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VideoGuitar textures on the violin: Tomás Cotik performs Albéniz’s ‘Asturias’
Tomás Cotik performs Albéniz’s Asturias in a transcription for solo violin and discusses some of the technical challenges of bringing this guitar classic to the violin, reflecting on his personal connection to Spanish music, shaped in part by his Fulbright sabbatical year in Spain
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BlogsStriving to create a truly special sound world: the Tippett Quartet brings to life works by film composers Gunning and Herrmann
Violinist Jeremy Isaac from the Tippett Quartet reflects on its upcoming recital at the London Soundtrack Festival 2026, where the ensemble will perform two concert works by leading composers for film
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Video‘Prokofiev in a mosh pit’ – ORBI’s arrangement of Muse’s Unsustainable
Double bassist Rick Stotijn and his band share a track from their new album, The Age of Greed
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Premium ❘ Focus‘What you have to say is relevant to more people than you think’ - Tanja Becker Bender’s life lessons
The German violinist on connecting with audiences and staying true to your convictions
