Latest news – Page 259
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ArticleModel players – how the Aurora Orchestra was made miniature
Not all new season brochures make headlines, but the cover shoot for the Aurora Orchestra’s 2014 booklet is so startlingly original as to deserve not only the attention it has already received, but a bit of further explanation. Tired of the usual aerial shots and action pictures, ...
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ArticleCanadian violinist Mark Fewer joins St. Lawrence String Quartet
Violinist Mark Fewer is to succeed Scott St. John as second violinist of the Canadian chamber ensemble the St. Lawrence String Quartet (SLSQ) from 1 January 2014. Fewer (pictured) has already substituted for St. John and also for first violin and quartet co-founder Geoff Nuttall. He will ...
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ArticleNew competition aims to invigorate interest in the viola
A new competition with a mission to inspire a future generation of viola players will launch at Birmingham Conservatoire, UK, in October 2014. The Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition, named after the 20th century British violist and pedagogue (pictured), is open to players under the age of ...
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ArticleDaniel Müller-Schott stars in new cello documentary
Cellist Daniel Müller-Schott stars in a new documentary film about the cello, directed by Anne Schiltz. The film centres around the story of Pierre Gerbaud's stolen Testore cello, but is really a meditation on stringed instruments in general, and the makers, dealers, collectors and musicians who all ...
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ArticleDa Capo Music Foundation takes Kodály teaching to the Netherlands
The Da Capo Music Foundation, a UK music education charity, has announced a partnership with a Dutch scheme that will bring its Kodály-based teaching method to the Benelux region of Europe. Starting on 26 November, children at 20 primary schools in north Amsterdam will be offered the ...
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ArticleStudy shows listeners engage with classical music more when musicians improvise
A new study conducted by researchers at the UK’s Guildhall School and Imperial College London suggests that introducing elements of improvisation into classical music concerts could increase audience engagement. The researchers asked a chamber trio to play the same piece of music twice – once employing elements ...
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ArticleFive hundred string students attend mass performance in Catalonia
More than 500 young string players from 39 schools across Catalonia attended a mass public lesson and performance at the municipal sports centre in Martorell on 17 November. The event, called Trobada Fiddle (Fiddle Camp), was part of the Barcelona Fiddle Congress, which took place at the ...
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ArticleGuarneri 'del Gesù' violin takes centre stage in new Buenos Aires instrument gallery
A new permanent exhibition hall dedicated to stringed instruments has opened in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The gallery at the Isaac Fernández Blanco Museum of Spanish–American Art features as its centrepiece a 1732 violin by Guarneri 'del Gesù' (pictured). This instrument is displayed along with a portrait of ...
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ArticleOrchestra research explores impact of alternative formats
The Miami-based New World Symphony (NWS) has completed a four-year study tracking the effectiveness of alternative concert formats. The orchestra wanted to see how successful its alternative formats were at attracting new audiences, and how those audiences then engaged with the orchestra. Beginning in 2010, the orchestra ...
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ArticleStrad Fest LA to showcase eight Stradivari violins
Eight of Stradivari’s best known violins are to go on display in Los Angeles as part of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s Strad Fest LA event, which will run from 26–29 March 2014. The eight instruments are the ‘Serdet’ Strad of 1666, the 1708 ‘Ruby’ (pictured), the ...
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ArticleRussian and South Korean share first prize as Jan Rakowski Competition opens up to foreign candidates
Karolina Errera, 20, from Russia, and Sejune Kim, 25, from South Korea have shared first prize at the Jan Rakowski Viola Competition in Poznan, Poland. The two winners also each received a special prize endowed by the Mayor of Poznan. This is the first time in its history that that ...
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ArticleEU to simplify customs procedures for musicians carrying instruments
The European Union is about to simplify its rules for musicians temporarily importing instruments for professional use. Under a new amendment to the Customs Code, to be applied from next Thursday 21 November, musicians visiting the EU with a portable musical instrument as professional equipment will be able to use ...
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ArticleViolin believed to have belonged to Mozart donated to Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation
A violin believed to be the instrument Mozart owned and played during the years he lived in Vienna from 1781 has been donated to the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg, Austria.The instrument contains an inside label stating the name of the Italian maker Pietro Antonio Dalla Costa, a member of ...
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ArticleAmerican violinist Stephen Waarts wins Young Concert Artists auditions
Violinist Stephen Waarts was the only string player among the three first-prize winners of this year's Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York. The 17-year-old American violinist, who studies at the Curtis Institute of Music with Aaron Rosand, joins the roster of Young Concert Artists, and will receive at ...
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ArticleFrench violinist scoops five prizes at Louis Spohr Violin Competition
David Castro-Balbi of France has won a clutch of awards at the recent International Louis Spohr Competition for Young Violinists held at The Liszt School of Music in Weimar, Germany. The 19-year-old violinist (pictured) was awarded the first prize in category 3 of the competition, for players born between 1995 ...
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ArticleAmati first online auction top ten sales
Eleven weeks after launching its online auction division, Amati has announced the results of its first sale. Among the highlights was the sale of a cello (pictured) by Carlo Giuseppe Testore, c.1820, which sold for £124,000, just above its estimate. A silver-mounted cello bow by Nicolas Simon, presented to Amati ...
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ArticleTop lots from London and New York October sales
Bonhams, Brompton’s, Ingles & Hayday and Tarisio have released the results of their October auctions. At Ingles & Hayday’s London sale a violin owned by the violinist Leila Josefovicz and catalogued as ‘probably by Michele Angelo Bergonzi’ fetched £156,000, and a Storioni viola with an estimate of £100,000–£150,000 ...
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ArticleMaxim Vengerov named Oxford Philomusica artist-in-residence
Maxim Vengerov has been named as the Oxford Philomusica’s first artist-in-residence, in the year the orchestra celebrates its 15th anniversary. The Russian violinist first appeared with the orchestra earlier this year in a performance of the Britten and Dvorák concertos at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, conducted by its ...
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ArticleRevitalised Universal Music Classics label signs string trio Time for Three
Time for Three, the classically trained, multi-genre spanning string trio from the US, is the first signing by the new Universal Music Classics label, recently launched by Universal Music Group.Formerly known as the Decca Label Group, the new label signifies a ‘revitalised commitment’ on the part of Universal Music towards ...
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ArticleRoyal Palace of Madrid decorated Stradivari quartet receives first public performance
The musicians of the Quiroga Quartet from Spain have been named the first artists in residence of the Royal Palace of Madrid, allowing them access to the unique set of decorated Stradivari instruments on display as part of the Royal Collection exhibition.The residency, instigated by the Patrimonio Nacional, which owns ...
