Latest news – Page 296
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American violist Emanuel Vardi dies aged 93
Emanuel Vardi, one of the leading violists of the 20th century, has died in Seattle, Washington, at the age of 93. Born in Jerusalem, he was four when his family emigrated to New York. He had violin lessons with Joseph Borisoff and Auer's assistant Khusdo, and then studied with Constance ...
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Toronto Symphony Orchestra conductor Peter Oundjian to play violin again
Peter Oundjian, the Toronto Symphony music director whose career as a violinist was cut short in 1995 by focal dystonia, is to pick up his instrument again. In April 2012 he will partner his former teacher Itzhak Perlman in a one-off performance of Bach's Concerto for Two Violins. Oundjian was ...
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Chinese violinist Ying Fu wins Schmidbauer Competition
Chinese violinist Ying Fu has won first prize at the Schmidbauer International Young Artist Strings Competition in Nacogdoches, Texas. The 26-year-old, who is a student at Rice University, where he studied with the late Sergiu Luca, received $7,500 for his first place in the senior division. Violinist Xiaoxiao Qiang, 23, ...
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Endowment honours violinist and teacher Robert Mann
The entrepreneur brother of Juilliard Quartet founding member Robert Mann has given $6m to endow two chairs in the 90-year-old violinist's name. The donation from 85-year-old Alfred Mann and his wife Claude will fund a chair at the Manhattan School of Music, where Robert Mann teaches violin and chamber music, ...
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Ulster Orchestra wins community award for helping elderly
The Ulster Orchestra has been honoured at the Allianz Arts & Business NI Awards for its community work. The orchestra, in partnership with local employer JTI UK, has been operating a ticket-and-transport scheme over the winter called Move to the Music. Aimed at people over 70 who are living alone, ...
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New $10,000 grant for young string players
Online auction specialist Tarisio has launched a scheme to help young string players buy instruments and bows. Its new grant programme will award up to $10,000 of matching funds towards the price of an instrument or bow purchased at a Tarisio auction. Musicians under 30 who are studying or have ...
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Columbus Symphony Orchestra concertmaster quits after 16 years
Charles Wetherbee has resigned as concertmaster of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra to focus on his chamber music career with the Carpe Diem Quartet. Wetherbee was appointed concertmaster of the Columbus Symphony in 1994. In December Wetherbee spoke of pay cuts for musicians and the orchestra's financial position as factors in ...
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French archetier uses gold and diamonds in 100,000-euro bow
French bow maker Jean-Luc Tauziede has fashioned an elaborately decorated cello bow with the help of a team of jewellers. The bow's frog and button incorporate rose gold and white gold, the back plate is set with 66 diamonds, and the button is adorned with an eight-point crown. Named ...
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US instrument trade show sets attendance record
Organisers of the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) Show, which ran from 13 to 16 January in Anaheim, California, have reported record attendance figures. The number of registered attendees was 90,114, up three per cent from the 2010 total. The number of non-US visitors also increased from last year ...
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Violin Suzuki pedagogue John Kendall dies aged 93
John Kendall, the violin pedagogue who brought Suzuki teaching techniques to the US, has died at the age of 93. Kendall, who studied at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and Columbia University Teachers College, was introduced to the Suzuki method in 1958, when he saw a film of 750 Japanese ...
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Delhi violinist plays 50 hours non-stop
A Delhi musician has completed a record-breaking public performance in which he played the violin non-stop for 50 hours. Paras Mani Choudhary's marathon recital was certified by officials from the Limca Book of Records, an Indian-based records book. The previous record was a mere 32 hours. Choudhary was already in ...
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YouTube chooses 97 musicians for next orchestra
YouTube has selected the musicians for its next symphony orchestra project, which takes place in Sydney this March. Ninety-seven players from more than 30 countries were chosen after submitting video auditions to the site. The musicians, ranging in age from 14 to 49, will spend a week in Australia working ...
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Musicians Union's no-touching advice attacked
Education secretary Michael Gove has attacked the Musicians' Union (MU) for advising its members to adopt a policy of no touching when teaching pupils. In an open letter to the union, he said that the advice 'plays to a culture of fear among adults and children', and that his department ...
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Special lifetime achievement Grammy for Juilliard Quartet
The Juilliard Quartet will be given a lifetime achievement award at next month's Grammy ceremonies in Los Angeles. The group is the first classical ensemble to receive the prize, and will be honoured alongside artists including Julie Andrews, Dolly Parton and The Ramones. Formed in 1946, the Juilliard Quartet ...
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Violist and Juilliard Quartet founding member Raphael Hillyer dies at 96
The founding violist of the Juilliard Quartet, Raphael Hillyer, has died at the age of 96. Born in New York, he had already begun studying the violin when he visited Leningrad in 1924 and received ear-training from the 18-year-old Dmitri Shostakovich. Hillyer studied mathematics at Dartmouth and music at the ...
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Birmingham Contemporary Music Group to lose local council funding
One of Britain's leading new music ensembles, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG), is one of the big-name casualties of local authority arts cuts that are hitting some parts of the country. From 2012 Birmingham City Council is withdrawing all the funding it provides to the ensemble, amounting to nearly £72,000 ...
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Viola pedagogue Karen Tuttle dies at 90
American violist and teacher Karen Tuttle has died at the age of 90. She famously developed the 'coordination' technique, which balances both the physical and the emotional approach to the instrument. Born in 1920, she was a successful young violinist before switching to viola in order to study with ...
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BBC open to orchestra funding talks
The BBC has indicated it would join talks about the future funding of British orchestras, reports the Guardian. The corporation, which funds five orchestras across the UK, is facing budget cuts of its own. But director general Mark Thompson told MPs on the House of Commons culture, media and sports ...
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Coull Quartet plans work for 2012 Cultural Olympiad
Twenty 12-minute works have been commissioned for the 2012 Cultural Olympiad as part of the PRS for Music Foundation's New Music 20x12 project. Each commission will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and will tour the UK as part of the celebrations of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London. ...
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Honolulu Symphony Orchestra set for Chapter 7 bankruptcy
A US judge has given the go-ahead for the Honolulu Symphony's bankruptcy case to be moved from Chapter 11 reorganisation to Chapter 7 liquidation, reports the Honolulu Star Advertiser. The decision effectively silences the 110-year-old orchestra, the country's oldest symphonic ensemble west of the Rocky Mountains. The orchestra has been ...
