All Playing articles – Page 3
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Premium ❘ Feature'The better my body is working, the more efficient I can be' - Elena Urioste: She’s like a rainbow
The award-winning violinist Elena Urioste has many strands to her career. She speaks to Toby Deller about making her BBC Proms debut, yoga, chamber music with friends, and how she kept the music alive during lockdown
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Premium ❘ FeatureBrodsky Quartet at 50: Life is an adventure
The Brodsky Quartet is celebrating 50 years of pioneering music making that spans genres from Beethoven to Björk and beyond. Amanda Holloway catches up with the four musicians during their anniversary tour
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Premium ❘ FeatureAdult beginner cello: Never too late to learn
When Billy Tobenkin decided to learn the cello from scratch at 25, he ignited a lifelong passion. He shares what turned out to be a bumpy but ultimately deeply fulfilling journey
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Premium ❘ FeatureHistorically informed performance: Baroque revolution
Historically informed performance requires no secret code, argues Baroque violin professor Walter S. Reiter. The information is out there for the taking, and modern music colleges need to get ahead of the game
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Premium ❘ FeaturePietro Castrucci: Resurrecting a Baroque maverick
When Gerald Elias unearthed music by the little-known London-based 18th‑century composer and virtuoso violinist Pietro Castrucci, he discovered a unique and independent musical voice
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Premium ❘ FeatureCasey Driessen: Music in other lands
In 2019, American five-string fiddler Casey Driessen and his family took off around the world for nine months for his music-sharing project Otherlands: A Global Music Exploration. In a tantalising snapshot of his journey, often into the musical unknown, he recalls meeting and playing with some of the great regional ...
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ArticleLife Lessons: David Harrington
The American violinist recalls the path that led him to found the genre-defying Kronos Quartet
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Premium ❘ FeatureConductorless orchestras: The leading edge
For those ensembles willing to take the plunge, performing without a conductor can lead to a greater sense of collaboration, fulfilment and, ultimately, responsibility. Jacqueline Vanasse hears from some of the string players involved in such groups
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Premium ❘ FeatureArco project: Evolution of a partnership
Six years ago, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire head of strings Louise Lansdown established a partnership with a music centre in Soweto to launch the Arco project, providing in-person and online lessons for South African string students. Here she reflects on the importance of the scheme and on how it has developed
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Premium ❘ FeatureCovid-19 and young musicians: What you make of it
The lockdowns of the pandemic were particularly challenging for young artists looking to make a name for themselves, but providing support along the way were a number of schemes that ramped up their efforts accordingly. And, as Charlotte Gardner finds, for those musicians willing to take the initiative, the opportunities ...
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Premium ❘ FeatureAbel Selaocoe: Uniting voice
South African cellist-singer-composer Abel Selaocoe’s genre-defying performances have earned him several recent awards and a recording contract with Warner Classics. Tom Stewart meets the Manchester-based musician following his powerful BBC Proms 2021 debut
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Premium ❘ FeatureBlack America: A race for change
Still now, in the 21st century, black people are inadequately represented within classical music. Pauline Harding talks to string players in America about lingering social oppression and what the wider community can do to bring about progress
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FocusBeethoven from a string player’s perspective
Top string players share their thoughts on Beethoven’s string repertoire. Spoiler: it’s not always smooth sailing
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Premium ❘ FeatureNupen and du Pré: Golden girl
Documentary maker Christopher Nupen made several groundbreaking films with Jacqueline du Pré. Here he shares his memories of the legendary British cellist who tragically died at the age of 42 after battling with multiple sclerosis
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Premium ❘ FeatureFemale violinists of 18th-century England: Portrait of a lady holding a violin
Taking a Regency portrait of an unknown violinist as his starting point, Kevin MacDonald investigates the lives and careers of Louise Gautherot and other female violinists of Georgian England
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Premium ❘ FeatureVilla-Lobos and the cello: A voice for Brazil
Heitor Villa-Lobos began his musical career as a cellist and wrote numerous works for the instrument, including the monumental Second Cello Concerto. However, his primary interest lay in promoting the folk traditions of his Brazilian homeland rather than advancing the cello’s virtuoso repertoire, writes Felipe Avellar de Aquino
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Premium ❘ FeatureJoseph White: Making history
Cuban-born violinist Joseph White’s 1875 debut with the Philharmonic Society of New York was both a triumph and enormously significant – as the orchestra’s first performance with a soloist of African descent. Yavet Boyadjiev explores the event itself and the circumstances surrounding it
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Premium ❘ FeatureEncores: Time to shine
Throughout much of the last century, technically showy encores by Paganini and Kreisler were standard fare for violinists, but in recent years players have moved away from the established virtuoso works to embrace everything from solo Bach to folk tunes and contemporary commissions. Charlotte Gardner talks to top players about ...
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Premium ❘ FeatureStrings and Piano: a sound balance
Producing a nuanced, well-balanced and blended combination of piano and strings can be a difficult performance feat to achieve. Pauline Harding talks to chamber musicians, soloists and teachers to discover some of their secrets
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Premium ❘ FeatureOrchestral Tricks: in plain sight
Gerald Elias has spent many years as a professional orchestral violinist – in the Boston SO and Utah Symphony – and has been music director of Salt Lake City’s Vivaldi by Candlelight chamber orchestra since 2004. Here he explores some of the universal challenges faced by orchestral string players which ...
