All News articles – Page 298

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Violinist Nicola Benedetti warns against arts funding cuts

2011-02-23T00:00:00Z

Violinist Nicola Benedetti has warned that the UK government’s spending cuts could stop arts students from poorer backgrounds from going to university. Speaking at the launch of the Nicola Benedetti Scholarship Fund, which will support students taking Italian Studies at Edinburgh University, she is reported by Deadline News as commenting, ...

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ISM fights for music in schools

2011-02-18T00:00:00Z

The Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) has launched a campaign to get music included on the new English Baccalaureate. The society is asking its members and those working in the music sector to write to the Education Select Committee of the House of Commons, urging the government to include the ...

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Polish cellist Tomasz Daroch wins Lutos?awski Cello Competition

2011-02-15T00:00:00Z

Tomasz Daroch has won first prize in the 8th Witold Lutos?awski International Cello Competition. The 22-year-old Pole, who studies with Michael Flaksman at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Mannheim, Germany, was awarded €6,000.   Second prize went to fellow Pole Magdalena Bojanowicz, third prize to ...

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Jazz bassist Esperanza Spalding beats Justin Bieber to Grammy

2011-02-13T00:00:00Z

In an major triumph for the string world, jazz bassist Esperanza Spalding beat Justin Bieber – the teenage pop artist with millions of fans worldwide – to win as Best New Artist at the 2011 Grammy Awards. The ceremony took place on 13 February at the Staples Center, Los Angeles. ...

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The New York Philharmonic Orchestra archive goes live

2011-02-10T00:00:00Z

The New York Philharmonic Orchestra has launched the first phase of an ongoing digital archive project. The International Era 1943–1970 is the first tranche of the orchestra’s extensive archives to go online, and thousands of documents are now available to view. These include conducting scores marked by Leonard Bernstein, André ...

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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 ...

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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. ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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, ...

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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, ...

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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, ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...