Q: I want to buy an electric violin and I’m wondering if it really matters what the violin is made from. Since it’s electric, do different woods make it sound different? Also, some electric violins are more expensive than others—what…
By Mary Nemet This volume of viola pieces complements the Sassmannshaus’ Early Start on the Viola method. Currently professor of violin in Cincinnati, Ohio, Kurt Sassmannshaus also oversees teaching projects in Germany, China, and the United States, and continues the…
By Laurence Vittes While doing a little research during the conducting finals of the 2015 Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy, I discovered a pattern. Basic training for most conductors begins at the piano. However, a number of notable string players, too,…
By Laurence Vittes Finnish violist Anna Kreetta Gribajcevic, professor at the Hochschule for Music and Theater in Hamburg, Germany, has identified and recorded an hour’s worth of richly Romantic music that even few violists have heard for the fledgling German…
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4 Steps Toward a Better Outside Gig By Sarah Freiberg Last summer was rather unusual in that I had a variety of different opportunities to perform outside: a string-quartet performance in a courtyard (with a resonant backdrop of stone) at…
By Cristina Schreil Ariana Kim, gazing downward and posed against sun-dappled trees, may at first appear plucked from a Free People catalog. Don’t be fooled by the cover art—the violinist’s first solo album packs a smart punch. Including Ieva Jokubaviciute…
Violinist Zina Schiff’s new album incorporates technical elements and conjures existential musings By Cristina Schreil Time to meditate? Don’t reach for that candle and yoga mat just yet. Soul-searching spirit quests link the works featured on a new album by…
By Anne Akiko Meyers At the end of 2012, I performed the world premiere of Mason Bates’ Violin Concerto with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Leonard Slatkin. The idea for the concerto, Bates’ first, dated back to 2006. Titled “Archaeopteryx,” it is…
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At 60, Yo-Yo Ma is still striving for perfection, yes, but thinking about the role of music in our lives By Martin Steinberg A cellist walks on a beach and picks up a bottle. A genie pops out and says,…
By Stephanie Powell In her home studio in Brooklyn, New York, composer Anna Clyne is surrounded by her small, upright piano, cello, accordion, other various instruments, and her laptop. The 35-year-old Clyne has a residency with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra,…