News and commentary about learning, playing and teaching the violin.
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By Laurie Niles: Averting a possible strike by musicians, the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) on Wednesday announced the approval of a three-year collective bargaining agreement between the BSO musicians, the Boston Musicians� Association, and the BSO trustees and management. Andris Nelsons conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra in May 2026. Photo by Robert Torres, courtesy of the BSO Press…
By Laurie Niles: In an effort to promote the coverage of live violin performance, Violinist.com each week presents links to reviews of notable concerts and recitals around the world. Click on the highlighted links to read the entire reviews. Violinist Randall Goosby. Randall Goosby performed Florence Price�s Violin Concerto No. 2 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Thomas Wilkins. Bach Track :…
By Laurie Niles: Longtime Indiana University Violin Professor Stanley Ritchie passed away on Sunday at the age of 91. A pioneer in the early music and historical performance movement who taught and mentored hundreds of today's top early music violinists, Ritchie started his career as a successful "modern" violinist. Violinist and early music specialist Stanley Ritchie. Photo courtesy of the…
By Laurie Niles: It is finally real. Gustavo Dudamel is no longer our Music Director here in Los Angeles. On Thursday I actually did shed tears over this, at the first of four weekend concerts (all different programs) marking Dudamel's grand finale as Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic , his role since 2009. Yes, he'll transition to "Artistic and Cultural Laureate" of the LA Phil, but…
By Laurie Niles: Welcome to "For the Record," Violinist.com's weekly roundup of new releases of recordings by violinists, violists, cellists and other classical musicians. We hope it helps you keep track of your favorite artists, as well as find some new ones to add to your listening! Click on the highlighted links to obtain each album or learn more about the artists. Violinist Joshua Bell. Photo…
By Claire Allen: Sometime in 2023, Instagram started showing me a series of video reels, each featuring a tantalizing fact about anatomy, connecting it to violin playing. I was instantly intrigued. I�ve searched for musical and physical solutions to my technique almost the whole time I�ve been a violinist (from age 9!), including the repetitive strain injury I sustained in college. I'd had…
By Laurie Niles: On Wednesday the Juilliard School announced that the Donum String Quartet will serve as its new Graduate Resident String Quartet, starting this fall and continuing through May 2028. The Donum String Quartet, L-R: Hyeonmin Lee, Seungwon Park, Inhae Cho and Ilgyeong Shin. Formed in 2019 at Seoul National University, the quartet takes its name from the Latin word "donum," meaning…
By Laurie Niles: In an effort to promote the coverage of live violin performance, Violinist.com each week presents links to reviews of notable concerts and recitals around the world. Click on the highlighted links to read the entire reviews. Violinist Simone Lamsma. Photo by Otto van den Toorn, courtesy of the artist. Simone Lamsma performed the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Cleveland…
By Laurie Niles: On Tuesday the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) announced its 2026-27 season, which will take place entirely outside its home-base venue, The Kennedy Center, which has been embroiled in controversy since U.S. President Donald Trump took over as chairman of its board in February 2025. Music Director Gianandrea Noseda and the National Symphony Orchestra. Photo courtesy of the NSO.…
By Laurie Niles: Welcome to "For the Record," Violinist.com's weekly roundup of new releases of recordings by violinists, violists, cellists and other classical musicians. We hope it helps you keep track of your favorite artists, as well as find some new ones to add to your listening! Click on the highlighted links to obtain each album or learn more about the artists. Violinist Jennifer Koh. Photo…
By Laurie Niles: On Wednesday a colleague called to tell me that my former violin teacher Henryk Kowalski had passed away Tuesday in Stockholm at the age of 78. Henryk taught violin at Indiana University long enough to be a fixture there - from 1975 through 2011, starting as a lecturer and retiring as a professor emeritus. My time with him was brief, just two years, but it made a life-lasting…
By Laurie Niles: Congratulations to the Thomas & Evon Cooper International Competition laureates, which were announced Monday following their Finals performances at Oberlin Conservatory's Warner Concert Hall with the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra and conductor David Danzmayr. They are: First Prize ($20,000): Mingzhe Ye , 16, of Tianjin, China Second Prize ($10,000): Elizabeth (Poppy) Song , 16, of…
By Laurie Niles: In an effort to promote the coverage of live violin performance, Violinist.com each week presents links to reviews of notable concerts and recitals around the world. Click on the highlighted links to read the entire reviews. Violinist Vilde Frang. Photo by Marco Borggreve. Vilde Frang performed Alban Berg's Violin Concerto "To the Memory of an Angel" with Esa-Pekka Salonen and…
By Laurie Niles: On Monday the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) announced the appointment of German-born conductor-composer Matthias Pintscher as its next Music Director, starting in the 2027-28 season with an initial four-year contract. He will begin as Music Director Designate this fall. Matthias Pintscher, next Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Photo by Felix Broede,…
By Laurie Niles: It takes some 300 hours to hand-craft a violin - if everything goes to plan. "...and of course, it never goes to plan!" said 50-year-old Rob Hermann, laughing. Chicago School of Violin Making student Rob Hermann. So why would Hermann - and the 29 other students currently enrolled at the Chicago School of Violin Making (CSVM) - wish to upend their lives and spend three years…
By Laurie Niles: One interesting thing about classical music is that we continue to play things that people played hundreds of years ago, and that makes historical recordings feel more relevant to our present lives. I was thinking about this today, as I listened with one of my students to a recording of Itzhak Perlman playing Kreisler's "Praeludium and Allegro," recorded in 1978. It's a go-to…
By Laurie Niles: Welcome to "For the Record," Violinist.com's weekly roundup of new releases of recordings by violinists, violists, cellists and other classical musicians. We hope it helps you keep track of your favorite artists, as well as find some new ones to add to your listening! Click on the highlighted links to obtain each album or learn more about the artists. Violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins…
By Laurie Niles: In an effort to promote the coverage of live violin performance, Violinist.com each week presents links to reviews of notable concerts and recitals around the world. Click on the highlighted links to read the entire reviews. Violinist Gabriela Lara. Photo by Todd Rosenberg. Gabriela Lara performed Samuel Coleridge-Taylor�s Violin Concerto with the Grant Park Orchestra and Kedrick…
By Laurie Niles: One nice thing about violins is that they come in a lot of sizes. A four-year-old who begins piano lessons will have to wait for years until his or her hand grows large enough to reach intervals such as an octave. But a four-year-old can comfortably navigate a 1/16-size violin. Smaller violins have been around for hundreds of years, and even Stradivari was thought to have made a…
