The Strad June 2023 issue is out now!

AYANNA WITTER-JOHNSON The London-based cellist and composer finds inspiration in the works of everything from Sam Cooke to Sofia Gubaidulina, as she tells Toby Deller

YOUNG UKRAINIAN MUSICIANS Rita Fernandes speaks to displaced players still pursuing their passion away from their homeland, as well as to organisers of programmes designed to help them

A MYSTERY COLLECTOR Referred to in 19th-century sources as ‘a Russian nobleman’, he amassed a fine collection including three Stradivari cellos. Gennady Filimonov tracks him down

LIGETI CENTENARY To mark the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth, Peter Quantrill talks to members of the Diotima and Ligeti quartets about interpreting his complex music

SESSION REPORT Kerson Leong speaks to Tom Stewart about his latest recording, which combines the Bruch and Britten violin concertos along with the former’s In Memoriam

PLATE ARCHINGS AND TONE – PART TWO Nigel Harris completes his investigation into how the shape of an instrument’s archings influence the tone, including practical information for the workbench

In our regular sections:

IN FOCUS A 1777 viola by Luigi Marconcini

TRADE SECRETS Bow maker Lauri Tanner’s method for repairing a broken bow head

MY SPACE The well-appointed workshop of Brescia-based luthier Filippo Fasser

MAKING MATTERS How to use photogrammetry to make a record of an instrument’s archings

MASTERCLASS Violinist Fenella Humphreys on Fauré’s Violin Sonata in A major op.13

TECHNIQUE Caroline Henbest on how violists can use the Feldenkrais method in their playing

LIFE LESSONS With violinist Antje Weithaas

OPINION Playing to backing tracks is not always the most productive method of learning

AUCTION REPORT News from the London spring sales, including the ‘Rosenberg collection’

FROM THE ARCHIVE The life and work of bow maker James Tubbs, from June 1913

SENTIMENTAL WORK Violinist Francesca Dego on her love for the Brahms Violin Concerto

Plus, in your digital edition:

• Read all about London-based cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson, while listening to clips from three of her compositions
• More items from the London auctions in March, including instruments by Stradivari, Fiorini and Pietro Guarneri of Mantua
• Session Report: listen to clips from Kerson Leong’s new recording of the Bruch and Britten violin concertos
• Extra images from the investigation into the mysterious ‘Russian nobleman’, whose collection included three Stradivari cellos
• More from the concerts and events by displaced Ukrainian musicians in Warsaw and Ljubljana
• Bonus photos of the Gala Concert of the British Suzuki Music Association at the Royal Albert Hall
• My Space: extra pictures from the workshop of Brescia maker Filippo Fasser
• Clips from the trio of recordings given that aspirational appliqué ‘The Strad Recommends’

The digital magazine and print edition are on sale now, or subscribe to access the entire magazine online here