Latest news – Page 264
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ArticleChinese quartet wins Asia-Pacific Chamber Music Competition
The Amber Quartet won three prizes at the finals of the Asia-Pacific Chamber Music Competition in Melbourne on 14 July. The Chinese ensemble took the grand prize, the quartets division prize and the prize for best interpretation of a contemporary work – Chinese composer Zhang Zhao's 2001 ...
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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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ArticleItalian researchers analyse Stradivari's varnish, purfling and decoration
A team of scientists in Italy has completed an investigation into the purfling and decoration techniques used by Antonio Stradivari in his early period. Led by chemist Marco Malagodi of the University of Pavia, the team employed non-invasive analytical techniques to determine the dye used in the ...
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ArticlePittsburgh Symphony receives $1.2m for musicians' salaries
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra has accepted a $1.2m gift that will support salary increases for its 99 musicians. The benefactors, retired couple Pat and Michele Atkins, were impressed that the musicians had taken a 9.7 per cent pay cut in 2011 and wanted to contribute to pay ...
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ArticleCremona's new Museo del Violino to open in September
Cremona's new Museo del Violino will celebrate its public opening this September with a month-long festival of concerts, workshops and exhibitions. The festival launches with an inauguration concert on 14 September by the Lucerne Festival Strings and violinists Arabella Steinbacher and Daniel Dodds, before the museum opens ...
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ArticleGasparo da Salò bass for Australian Chamber Orchestra
The Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) has been granted use of a rare Gasparo da Salò double bass. Made in around 1580, it is one of around a dozen surviving basses by the luthier, regarded as one of the founders of the Brescian school of violin making. ...
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ArticleRoyal outing in Japan for tsunami driftwood viola
Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan has performed on a viola made from debris from the March 2011 tsunami, reports the Asahi Shimbun. The Crown Prince, the eldest son of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, played the instrument at an orchestral concert given by alumni of Tokyo's ...
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ArticleDoes 18th-century orchestral drawing depict Mozart?
An anonymous picture of a 24-piece Baroque chamber orchestra has been sold at auction in Brussels. Dating from around 1770, the large-scale pen-and-ink drawing is said to include an early depiction of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Measuring 46 x 59cm, the drawing is notable for reproducing ...
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ArticleTarisio posts June auction results
Tarisio has released the results of its June sale in London. The top lot was a Pressenda violin from 1828 (pictured), which fetched £276,800. The internet auction house also had two violin bows in its top five, with an F.X. Tourte making £60,000 and a Persoit, which was ...
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ArticleViolist and pedagogue David Schwartz dies aged 96
US viola player and teacher David Schwartz has died at the age of 96. In a varied career, he performed as a soloist, a session player, and in orchestras and chamber groups. Born in 1916 in Detroit, Schwartz studied with Louis Bailly and Max Aronoff at ...
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ArticleLawrence Hurst heads list of 2013 ISB award winners
American double bassist and pedagogue Lawrence Hurst has received the International Society of Bassists (ISB) 2013 Distinguished Achievement Award. Hurst (pictured) was chair of the string department at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music from 1987 to 2012, and served as president of the ISB from ...
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ArticleBassist Richard Davis named 2014 NEA Jazz Master
Bassist and pedagogue Richard Davis has been named as one of four 2014 NEA Jazz Masters by the National Endowment for the Arts in the US. The NEA Jazz Masters is America's highest honour for jazz, and comes with a one-time award of $25,000. Davis, along ...
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ArticleBoston museum launches musical instruments e-book
Boston's Museum of Fine Arts has launched an e-book showcasing 100 musical instruments from its collection. The e-book is an electronic version of a 2004 MFA Highlights book, but includes 23 new video clips and 25 audio samples, so that users can see and hear some of ...
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ArticleTeaching association honour for violin pedagogue Kató Havas
Hungarian-born violin teacher Kató Havas is to receive a lifetime achievement award from the British branch of the European String Teachers Association (ESTA). The 92-year-old pedagogue is known for developing innovative ways of string teaching, which she wrote up as the New Approach. A particular focus of ...
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ArticleCanada's National Arts Centre displays 'toothpick orchestra'
A Canadian artist has unveiled a model of the Ottawa-based National Arts Centre (NAC) Orchestra made entirely out of toothpicks. Go Sato, a scientific illustrator, took three years to craft the 61-piece ensemble, using 12,500 separate pieces of wood in the model. As well as sculpting ...
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ArticleCarnegie Hall makes first 50 years of performance history available for online research
New York's Carnegie Hall has made records of the first 50 years of its performance history freely available to the public for the first time. The venue's website now includes a search feature, giving access to details of more than 12,500 events, spanning the years 1891 to ...
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ArticleUK conservatoires to collaborate on four-year study of musicians' health
Nine UK conservatoires will take part in a four-year research project investigating the health and well-being of musicians. The study, called Musical Impact, will be funded by an £800,000 grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, together with £200,000 from the participating institutions. Beginning in ...
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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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ArticleIrish violinist and pedagogue Hugh Maguire dies
The Irish-born violinist Hugh Maguire, who led symphony orchestras and chamber groups including the Allegri Quartet and the Melos Ensemble, has died at the age of 86. Maguire (pictured coaching a young piano trio in 1980) grew up in Dublin, where he studied at the College of ...
