Latest news – Page 296

  • Article

    Violinist and violist Philipp Naegele dies aged 83

    2011-02-08T00:00:00Z

    Violinist and violist Philipp Naegele has died aged 83. Born in Stuttgart in 1928, he fled the Nazi regime, going first to England on the Kindertransport in 1939, and then settling with his family in New York City in 1940. Violin lessons and academic studies there led to a doctorate ...

  • Article

    Violist Paul Laraia wins Sphinx Competition

    2011-02-07T00:00:00Z

    Violist Paul Laraia has won first prize in the senior division at the Sphinx Competition for Black and Latino string players. The 21-year-old, who studies with Kim Kashkashian at the New England Conservatory in Boston, received $10,000, a series of concert engagements and a CD recording opportunity with Naxos. ...

  • Article

    Two new concertmasters for Dallas Symphony Orchestra

    2011-02-07T00:00:00Z

    The Dallas Symphony Orchestra has appointed a concertmaster and co-concertmaster to share the leader's chair left vacant since Emanuel Borok retired last August. The two new leaders will join the orchestra for the start of the 2011–12 season. Kerr, who has held concertmaster positions at the Cincinnati, Charleston and ...

  • Article

    British violinist and concertmaster Raymond Cohen dies aged 91

    2011-02-04T00:00:00Z

    British violinist Raymond Cohen, the last leader of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to be appointed by Thomas Beecham, has died aged 91. Cohen won a scholarship at 14 to study at the Royal Manchester College of Music, and at 15 began playing with the Hallé Orchestra as its youngest ever ...

  • Article

    Violin making drama seeks funding

    2011-02-04T00:00:00Z

    A UK filmmaker has launched an appeal via campaigns website IndieGoGo for funding for his next project, a film about a reclusive young man with a passion for violin making. Writer-director Dan Smyth from Manchester has secured financing from the UK Film Council, but needs to part-match it to the ...

  • Article

    André P. Larson to step down as National Music Museum executive director

    2011-02-02T00:00:00Z

    André P. Larson, the founder and executive director of the National Music Museum in South Dakota, is to retire on 23 February. He established the museum, located on the University of South Dakota campus in Vermillion, in 1973. Among his major achievements was acquiring the Witten-Rawlins collection of rare Italian ...

  • Article

    American violist Emanuel Vardi dies aged 93

    2011-02-01T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • Article

    Toronto Symphony Orchestra conductor Peter Oundjian to play violin again

    2011-01-27T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • Article

    Chinese violinist Ying Fu wins Schmidbauer Competition

    2011-01-26T00:00:00Z

    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, ...

  • Article

    Endowment honours violinist and teacher Robert Mann

    2011-01-25T00:00:00Z

    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, ...

  • Article

    Ulster Orchestra wins community award for helping elderly

    2011-01-24T00:00:00Z

    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, ...

  • Article

    New $10,000 grant for young string players

    2011-01-20T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • Article

    Columbus Symphony Orchestra concertmaster quits after 16 years

    2011-01-19T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • Article

    French archetier uses gold and diamonds in 100,000-euro bow

    2011-01-19T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • Article

    US instrument trade show sets attendance record

    2011-01-19T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • Article

    Violin Suzuki pedagogue John Kendall dies aged 93

    2011-01-19T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • Article

    Delhi violinist plays 50 hours non-stop

    2011-01-18T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • Article

    YouTube chooses 97 musicians for next orchestra

    2011-01-12T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • Article

    Musicians Union's no-touching advice attacked

    2011-01-10T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • Article

    Special lifetime achievement Grammy for Juilliard Quartet

    2011-01-07T00:00:00Z

    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 ...