All News articles – Page 282
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New York conference to explore treatments for musicians' dystonia
Medical experts and musicians will meet in New York next month for the first-ever Musician's Dystonia Summit. The conference on 9 and 10 March will explore the latest research and treatment possibilities for dystonia, a neurological condition that in musicians is characterised by involuntary muscle spasms triggered by playing an ...
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Plans revealed for 18-day US spring tour by North Korean national orchestra
An Atlanta-based humanitarian group is planning to bring the North Korean National Symphony Orchestra to the US this spring, reports the Associated Press. Global Resource Services, a non-profit organisation that works in North Korea, is organising an 18-day visit for 164 musicians, journalists and officials. The schedule features concerts ...
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Future of Music Coalition presents case studies of performers' earnings
The US-based Future of Music Coalition (FMC) has released the first financial case studies in its Artist Revenue Streams project, which aims to examine how musicians' income streams are changing, and why. The FMC, a national non-profit advocacy organisation for musicians, profiled a symphony orchestra string player and a contemporary ...
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Nine German quartets launch association to press for more ensemble residencies
A new association of German string quartets is campaigning for more ensemble residencies at the country's Musikhochschules and universities. The Verband Deutscher Streichquartette (German String Quartets Association), which officially launched yesterday, has nine founder members: the Auryn, Diogenes, Henschel, Klenke, Kuss, Leipzig, Mandelring, Minguet and Vogler quartets. The organisation, ...
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UK's Musicians' Union backs 'Art of Teaching' site for music teaching videos
Cello and double bass lessons have been filmed and posted on YouTube as part of a new project that aims to share good practice among instrumental teachers. The Art of Teaching has been launched by the UK's Musicians' Union and musicteachers.co.uk, and the lesson videos can be seen at musicteachers.co.uk/youtube. ...
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First complete performance of Stockhausen's helicopter quartet to take place in Birmingham
Stockhausen's Helicopter String Quartet is to be heard in its intended context for the very first time when Birmingham Opera Company mounts a production of Stockhausen's Mittwoch aus Licht (Wednesday from Light) this summer. The flying quartet is only one part of the opera, a five-hour epic that also ...
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Minnesota Orchestra violinist Sarah Kwak joins Oregon Symphony as concertmaster
The Oregon Symphony has appointed Sarah Kwak as its new concertmaster. The Boston-born violinist has been a member of the Minnesota Orchestra since 1988. She was acting concertmaster from January 2010 to September 2011 and is currently first associate concertmaster. She will begin her new position in Portland at the ...
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Pacifica Quartet to be resident at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
The Pacifica Quartet has been appointed quartet in residence at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. The ensemble is the first quartet to hold a residency at the school in more than 50 years. The quartet's members – violinists Simin Ganatra and Sibbi Bernhardsson, violist Masumi Per Rostad and ...
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Kansas City Symphony.names Philadelphia Orchestra violinist as concertmaster
Noah Geller has been named concertmaster of the Kansas City Symphony. The 28-year-old succeeds Kanako Ito, who left the post in August 2010. Geller is currently first assistant concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, which he joined in 2008. He has previously been concertmaster of orchestras at Tanglewood Music Center ...
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Pinchas Zukerman to leave Ottawa orchestra after 17 years as music director
Pinchas Zukerman, the violinist, violist and conductor, has announced plans to step down as music director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO) in Ottawa after 17 years at the helm. The 63-year-old will depart at the end of the 2014–15 season.Zukerman joined the NACO in 1988, assuming the dual ...
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ArticleJapanese scientist creates violin strings from spider silk
A researcher in Japan has succeeded in using silk from hundreds of spiders to make a set of violin strings. Shigeyoshi Osaki, a professor at Nara Medical University in southern Honshu, used between 3,000 and 5,000 strands of silk for each string, which produced ‘a soft and profound ...
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Burglar posing as violinist steals Joshua Bell's watch in Spain
Joshua Bell's hotel room in Zaragoza, Spain, was burgled as the violinist was giving a concert, reports the Los Angeles Times. A thief posing as Bell apparently convinced hotel staff not only to give him a key to Bell's room, but also to open the room's safe. The thief then ...
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Dealer and repairer steps in to help schoolgirl whose violin was destroyed
A violin dealer and repairer in Wichita, Kansas, donated a complete violin outfit to a middle-school student whose instrument had been smashed to pieces, reports the Wichita Eagle. The 14-year-old girl had accidentally left her violin on the ground outside her school, on the day before she was due ...
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1500-year-old wooden fragment could be bridge from Europe's oldest stringed instrument
Archaeologists working on the Scottish island of Skye have discovered the remains of what could be Europe’s oldest stringed instrument. A fragment of burnt wood was unearthed in late 2011 in southern Skye’s High Pasture Cave. Experts who are now studying the object in the Historic Scotland laboratory believe it ...
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UK quartet player's stolen £25k violin is handed in
A stolen violin worth £25k was handed in at a West London rail station on Wednesday 29 February before being reunited with its owner, Brodowsky Quartet violinist Catrin Win Morgan. The instrument, made by Montpellier maker Frédéric Chaudière, was taken from the overhead luggage rack of a London train ...
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Violin made of driftwood from Japan tsunami to tour world
A violin made partly from driftwood from areas devastated in the 11 March 2011 tsunami in Japan is to be played in a musical relay of concerts around the world, reports the Mainichi Daily News. The violin is being made by Muneyuki Nakazawa, a 71-year-old Japanese maker, restorer ...
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Man is caught on CCTV taking quartet player's £25k violin
British Transport Police have released CCTV images of a man who took a violin from the luggage rack of a London train at around 8am on 8 February. The instrument, which belongs to Brodowski Quartet violinist Catrin Win Morgan, is a Stradivari copy by Montpellier maker Frédéric Chaudière. Worth ...
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Violinist Maxim Vengerov takes Royal Academy of Music teaching post
London's Royal Academy of Music (RAM) has appointed Maxim Vengerov to the new position of Menuhin Professor of Music. In his new role, the violinist will visit the RAM every term to work with students in masterclasses and one-to-one lessons. Vengerov will kick off his new professorship on Monday 27 ...
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Stockhausen's Helicopter String Quartet to take off in Birmingham
A multimedia performance of Stockhausen's Helicopter String Quartet has been commissioned from Birmingham Opera Company as part of a new £3.5m digital arts platform in the UK. Arts Council England and the BBC have commissioned 53 projects for The Space, which will run between May and October and be ...
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Royal Academy of Music appoints violinist Margaret Faultless as head of historical performance
Margaret Faultless will become the new head of historical performance at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London in September 2012. The violinist and director will succeed Laurence Cummings in the role. Faultless has been a co-leader of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment since 1989. For ...
