Latest news – Page 299
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Alexandra Soumm and Veronika Eberle among latest BBC New Generation Artists
Three young European string soloists are among the new intake of BBC Radio 3's New Generation Artists scheme. They are violinists Veronika Eberle and Alexandra Soumm, both 21, and 28-year-old cellist Nicolas Altstaedt. The Escher Quartet, which was formed in New York in 2005, is another new recruit to the ...
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Cecilia Quartet wins first prize at Banff competition
The Cecilia Quartet took first prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition in Canada. The Toronto-based ensemble won CAN$25,000, plus other awards including a quartet of gold-mounted bows. The Afiara Quartet from Canada took second prize. Third prize went to the Quatuor Zaïde from France. For more details, ...
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Cellist Julian Steckel triumphs at ARD Music Competition
Julian Steckel won first prize in the cello category at the ARD Music Competition in Munich. The 28-year-old, who studies with Antje Weithaas in Berlin, was awarded 10,000 euros and also received the audience prize of 1,500 euros. Gen Yokosaka, 24, from Japan, took second prize. Third prize went to ...
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Bow maker and jeweller Henryk Kaston dies aged 100
Henryk Kaston, who enjoyed an illustrious career as a bow maker and a jeweller, has died in New York at the age of 100. Born in Poland, he escaped wartorn Europe to settle in America, where he played violin in the Cleveland Orchestra and then the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. ...
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Remembering bow maker and jeweller Henryk Kaston
Violinist, instrument collector, bow maker, restorer and jeweller – these are the many lives of Henryk Kaston, one of the most venerable figures on the New York music scene. An extremely fit 95-year-old, he happily reveals the secret of his longevity and youthful vigour by demonstrating his morning exercise routine, ...
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Israeli Itamar Zorman wins Freiburg International Violin Competition
Itamar Zorman has won first prize at the Freiburg International Violin Competition in Germany. The 24-year-old Israeli, who studies with Sylvia Rosenberg in New York, was awarded €15,000, plus €2,500 for the best interpretation of a Mozart concerto. The €10,000 second prize went to 22-year-old Elena Graf from Germany. Martin ...
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Incorporated Society of Musicians issues Ryanair warning
The Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) is urging Ryanair to reconsider its policy of charging violinists and violists for an extra seat in order to fly with their instrument in the cabin. The UK professional body voiced its concerns after a 12-year-old pupil at Chetham's School of Music in ...
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Renato Scrollavezza reunited with violin after six years
A stolen 1958 Renato Scrollavezza violin has been recovered by police. The €25,000 violin was one of two instruments taken from the Parma-based luthier's home in 2004. The original police investigation had gone cold when two weeks ago Scrollavezza's daughter Elisa, also a luthier, suddenly received an email from ...
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Boston's Museum of Fine Arts puts violin audio recordings online
Boston's Museum of Fine Arts has put short recordings of violins and other stringed instruments in its collection online. The audio samples include a Bach Gavotte played on a 1641 Amati, a Purcell Prelude on a G.B. Gabrielli of 1761 and a Prelude by Marin Marais played on a French ...
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BBC Proms presenter Katie Derham relearns violin for TV documentary
UK television presenter Katie Derham's rediscovery of the violin is the subject of a new programme showing this Wednesday night. The documentary, part of the 'First Love' series on Sky Arts HD, follows the BBC Proms presenter and former newsreader as she takes up the instrument again after nearly 20 ...
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Chi-Mei Guadagnini violin recovered in Hong Kong
A stolen Italian violin worth around £200,000 has been recovered by Hong Kong police. The Gaetano II Guadagnini of 1835-40 belongs to the Chi-Mei Cultural Foundation in Taiwan. A Taiwanese-American violinist had played the violin in a concert at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre but fell asleep on the Star ...
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Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra beams live concert into cinemas
This Friday's opening concert in the Berlin Philharmonic's 2010-11 season will be shown live in cinemas across Europe. More than 30 screens in Germany will carry the high-definition broadcast of the orchestra's performance of Mahler's Symphony no.1 and Beethoven's Symphony no.4, conducted by Simon Rattle. The concert will also be ...
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Violinist and former CBSO concertmaster Felix Kok dies at 86
Felix Kok, the violinist who led the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 1965 and through the Simon Rattle years, retiring in 1988, died in London on 11 August. An article in The Strad from August 1960 said of Kok: 'The leader of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra since the ...
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Suzuki association could benefit from $50,000 Pepsi grant funding
The Suzuki Association of the Americas (SAA) could be in line for a $50,000 grant from Pepsi. The organisation hopes to use the money to fund a thousand $50 partial scholarships for teachers, parents and others taking its Every Child Can course - an introduction to Suzuki philosophy and education ...
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Ayano Ninomiya replaces Frank Huang as Ying Quartet first violinist
Ayano Ninomiya is the new first violinist of the Ying Quartet, which is based at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. She replaces Frank Huang, who left the group after just one year to become concertmaster of the Houston Symphony. Japanese-born Ninomiya, who has lived in ...
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British Violin Making Association conference cancelled
The British Violin Making Association (BVMA) has cancelled a conference it had planned to run this September at Leicester University. The association had been hoping to revive the annual conference after not holding it last year, but organisers received too few bookings to make this autumn's event viable. BVMA secretary ...
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Berklee professor Valerie Taylor reunited with lost violin
A Berklee College of Music professor has thanked staff at the Massachusetts Bay Transport Authority (MBTA) after they found and kept safe the violin she left on a bus, reports the Boston Globe. Valerie Taylor was travelling home from a music festival when she forgot to pick up the instrument, ...
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Concert promoter claims Ryanair charged £1,340 to seat three violins
A small arts trust in eastern England is considering legal action against Ryanair. Norfolk Concerts had to pay £1,340 so that three violinists it had engaged could fly from Frankfurt-Hahn airport to Stansted with their instruments in the cabin. Douglas Gowan, Norfolk Concerts' executive director, claims Ryanair broke a ...
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Elgar String Quartet orchestration to receive premiere in Presteigne
A new orchestration of Elgar's String Quartet in E minor, op.83, will have its world premiere at the Presteigne Festival in mid-Wales later this month. The festival commissioned British composer David Matthews to arrange the quartet for string orchestra. The three-movement quartet was first performed at the Wigmore Hall in ...
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Alexandra Conunova and Vladyslava Luchenko share top prize at Tibor Varga competition
Alexandra Conunova and Vladyslava Luchenko were the highest placed prizewinners at the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition in Martigny, Switzerland. The jury at the 43rd edition of the contest chose not to award a first prize. Conunova, 22, from Moldova, and Luchenko, also 22, from Ukraine, shared second prize, each ...
