By Laurel Thomsen 1. Test & Plan for Success The process of album promotion should begin long before your first recording session, at performances where you test drive material and determine which songs your audience members can’t live without. It’s important…
By Catherine Bent As choro—samba’s instrumental precursor—gains international popularity, many string players are drawn to its charms and challenges. It’s a good vehicle for classical players seeking a path toward improvisational confidence. Whatever your motivations, the experience and joy of…
By Brian Wise When it comes to musical- instrument thefts, art-crimes experts will say that a few myths should be dispelled right away: • There is not a black market for musical instruments. • Premeditated robberies are exceedingly rare, vastly outnumbered by crimes…
By Greg Cahill Getting signed to a label was once the benchmark of musical recognition, as many among the general public still believe. I’ll admit to a pang of jealousy when colleagues of mine announced that their group had been…
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By Patrick Sullivan The pirate head still sits on Susanne Küster’s tool rack, peering down as she putters about her workshop in the German town of Putlitz. It’s been 25 years since Küster made that pirate in her small apartment,…
By Greg Cahill Ask Hot Club of San Francisco alumni Jenny Scheinman what is special about that acclaimed Gypsy-jazz group and the celebrated violinist points to its regional flavor. “The Hot Club of San Francisco is a central part of…
Compiled by Megan Westberg and Stephanie Powell The giving of gifts is a complicated undertaking. It isn’t only about the tastes of the recipient; there’s also the spirit of the gift to consider (practical or purely for fun?) as one…
Alongside composer John Harbison's achievements working with voices and symphony orchestras, chamber music for strings plays a central role in Harbison’s oeuvre.
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By Marcia Peck For me, it was “Shosholoza.” The Minnesota Orchestra had just played a full concert plus encores in Regina Mundi, the modest Catholic church in Soweto that represents the heart and soul of the struggle to end Apartheid in…
If you’re still stressing out about what to buy the music lover in your life for the holidays, relax. We’ve done the heavy-lifting for you—Strings tapped seven players and asked them about the best gift they have ever given to…
By Laurence Vittes Aaron Jay Kernis/James Newton Howard/Bramwell Tovey James Ehnes, violin; Andrew Armstrong, piano; Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Ludovic Morlot, cond.; Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Cristian Macelaru, cond. (Onyx) James Ehnes is one of the most sublime virtuosos operating nowadays. He…
It sounds like something out of a fairy tale. Discovered in the attic of a German castle in the late 1800s after being untouched—and forgotten—for a century and a half, the 1704 “Sleeping Beauty” Stradivari violin has the kind of…