Stories

While a name may be little more than icing on a tuneful cake, icing should never be underestimated. Here are tips on how to choose a name for your chamber music group.

So you think the first violinist is running the show in a string quartet? Guess again by James Reel For more than a century after Joseph Haydn established the string quartet as one of music’s most sophisticated art forms, the…

For those living in alto clef, here are some of the best loved, and most overlooked, viola works of all time, as chosen by 11 top viola players.

Mostly As: You’re a focused player, determined to do well and be a great performer. You have the listening skills (both musical and social), however, that may come in handy as a chamber player. Members of chamber ensembles frequently take…

Let’s face it: A lot of string players hit the practice room hard thinking, Soloist, soloist, soloist. Joshua Bell, Yo-Yo Ma, Kim Kashkashian. That’s the goal, right? Not necessarily. There are a lot of career options in the string world…

Scaling the six Bach Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin requires a firm grasp of violin technique and a propensity for soul-searching. John Holloway, Rachel Podger, Julia Fischer, and others discuss their approach  by Laurence Vittes Fifty years ago, virtuosos…

Georgia-born violinist joins the world of greatly talented young performers by Laurence Vittes When I first heard Lisa Batiashvili play at the Hollywood Bowl in the summer of 2002, she was already a rising star. Against a backdrop of faintly…

The recording ushered in the common use of stringed instruments in pop music and helped bridge the then-wide rift between classical and pop music

Adulthood is offering a new world of opportunities for this former child prodigy by James Reel It’s easy enough to earn ovations when you’re an adorable ten-year-old girl who can plant your feet bravely on a stage and play the…

The Asian nation has become a major player in the US stringed-instrument market  by Kevin McKeough The violins, violas, cellos, and double basses can be found in shops from Berkeley, California, to Des Moines, Iowa, from New York City to…

By Daniel Felsenfeld At the point in his extremely distinguished career at which violin soloist Gidon Kremer could well be resting on his own hard-earned laurels, he has instead chosen to redefine his own musical mission. And it is, indeed,…

Cellist and classical music icon Yo-Yo Ma discusses his world-music project by Edith Eisler Yo-Yo Ma is one of those rare people who can make even a hardened cynic believe that artistic and personal integrity go together. He is not…

A conversation with the preeminent violist by Edith Eisler “Wherever you are, in any situation, you always have pluses and minuses. At some point, one may outweigh the other and then you have to make a choice,” says violist Kim…

At 19, American violinist Hilary Hahn is one of the most impressive and musically compelling artists in the ever-growing galaxy of young virtuosos.