Violinist.com

V.com weekend vote: Have you been to an outdoor classical concert this summer?

Sun, 13 Sep 2026 03:01:39 GMT

By Laurie Niles: With summer rapidly turning to fall, I thought it would be a good time to check in with everyone and see how your summer went - specifically, did you get to any outdoor orchestra concerts over the summer? And if so, what did you see and what were the highlights? Did the weather cooperate? Did you go as an audience member, or were you playing in the orchestra?

The Hollywood Bowl in late August, for one of Gustavo Dudamel's last concerts as Music Director of the LA Phil.

I found myself at a number of concerts over the summer. I played in a Pasadena Pops concert (all movie music, very fun!) and then I went to five concerts at the Hollywood Bowl as an audience member. Several featured violinists - Randall Goosby, Leonidas Kavakos and Bomsori, another was Gustavo Dudamel's final concerts as Music Director of the LA Phil, and another featured the LA Chamber Orchestra. All of those were excellent concerts, but I have to say that Dudamel's farewell concert was especially meaningful. I took a few trips out of town, which was very nice, but unfortunately I missed a few violinists at the Bowl - among them, Augustin Hadelich, boo hoo! Please participate in the vote, and then tell us about any concerts you attended or played in over the summer. If you didn't go to any, were there any you wished to go to? And if you did, were you in the audience or onstage? Or both? If you went to (or played in) a lot of them, which were the highlights for you? You might like:

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For the Record, Op. 399: Goldmund Quartet, Julian Schwarz, Kaleidoscope, Boris Brovtsyn, Solomiya Ivakhiv

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 23:09:50 GMT

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.

The Goldmund Quartet. Photo by Nikolaj Lund.

Paganini � His Music, His Instruments Goldmund Quartet Florian Sch�tz, violin Pinchas Adt, violin Christoph Vandory, viola Raphael Paratore, cello Carlotta Dalia, guitar

Complete Cello Works of Arthur Foote Julian Schwarz, cello Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz conducting

Enescu: String Octet, Piano Quintet in D major Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective

Ernest Bloch Boris Brovtsyn, violin Diana Ketler, piano

Music of Resilience Solomiya Ivakhiv, violin Lviv National Philharmonic, Serhii Khorovets and Roman Kreslenko conducting

If you have a new recording you would like us to consider for inclusion in our "For the Record" feature, please e-mail Editor Laurie Niles. Be sure to include the name of your album, a link to it and a short description of what it includes. You might also like:

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The 2026 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis to Begin Sept. 17

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 19:03:07 GMT

By Laurie Niles: Violinists from all over the world will flock to Indiana next week for the 12th edition of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis (IVCI), starting Sept. 17 and running through October 4. "The Indianapolis" has taken place every four years since its founding by the great violinist and longtime Indiana University pedagogue Josef Gingold in 1982. This year's edition will feature 38 violinists, ranging in age from 16 to 27 and representing nine countries across three continents. (Read their biographies here).

2026 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis participants.

You'll be able to watch their performances via live video feed, which will be available here, on the IVCI website. See the full event schedule here. Mark your calendars; after opening ceremonies next Thursday (featuring Time for Three), the scheduled performances begin on Saturday Sept. 19 and follow this schedule:

Preliminaries (Basile Theater, Indiana History Center): Sept. 19, 20, 22 and 23
Semi-Finals (featuring commissioned work by Jessie Montgomery, at Basile Theater, Indiana History Center) : Sept. 25, 26, 27 and 28
Classical Finals (with East Coast Chamber Orchestra, at Schrott Center for the Arts, Butler University): Sept. 30 and Oct. 1
Finals (with Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and Leonard Slatkin, at Hilbert Circle Theater): Oct. 2 and 3
Closing Ceremonies (Scottish Rite Cathedral Theater): Oct. 4

The Semi-Finals will feature the world premiere of the 2026 commissioned work, Rhapsody No. 3 for Solo Violin by Jessie Montgomery. Check Violinist.com on Sept. 24 for a special interview with Jessie, who also will give a special in-person talk about the work at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 24 at Butler University. Violinist Sirena Huang, winner of the 2022 competition, will make an appearance with a Donor Appreciation Concert with pianist Chih-Yi Chen on Sept. 29 at the Schrott Center for the Arts Butler University, featuring works by Mozart, Gabriela Lena Frank, Grieg, Ysa�e and Sarasate. * * * I've attended The Indianapolis for every competition since 2010, and of course I will not miss this one, my fifth! I will arrive this year in time for the Classical Finals, and I'm looking forward to that wonderful feeling of witnessing a momentous occasion that draws on tradition but looks to the future, and watching promising young artists perform at their highest levels. Over the past five competitions I've had the great honor of watching fantastic performances by the laureates and doing a Violinist.com interview with each Gold Medalist: Sirena Huang (2022), Richard Lin (2018), Jinjoo Cho (2014) and Clara-Jumi Kang (2010). Indeed, The Indianapolis is a place to catch a glimpse of young violinists who are truly on the cusp of a major career. These are just a few of the violinists whose careers have blossomed following their participation in the Indianapolis competition (and I'm leaving out so many!): Augustin Hadelich, Simone Lamsma, Yura Lee, Bella Hristova, Tessa Lark, Benjamin Beilman. And before that: Leonidas Kavakos, Andr�s C�rdenes, Ida Kavafian, Soovin Kim, Frank Huang, Jaakko Kuusisto, Stefan Milenkovich, David Kim, Martin Beaver, Mihaela Martin...the list goes on! And it's not just the "gold" winners who have made names for themselves - many Indianapolis laureates who placed second, third, sixth... are touring the world as soloists, sitting as concertmasters of major orchestras, teaching at top music schools, and more. For me, The Indianapolis is also a kind of "going home," having attended Indiana University as a graduate student in the early 90s. This year will certainly bring home the recent passing of my IU violin teacher, Henryk Kowalski. Kowalski had been a student of and assistant to IVCI founder Josef Gingold, who founded The Indianapolis in 1982. Gingold was a highly respected and much-beloved Professor of Violin at Indiana University who set the tone at that institution from the time he arrived in 1960 until his death in 1995. A protege of Eugene Ysa�e, Gingold took to heart Ysa�e's ideas about the importance of "striving for beauty in both music and in personal relations." Before coming to Indiana, Gingold served as concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra for 13 years under George Szell. That "spirit of Gingold" still presides over The Indianapolis in many ways. Gingold's student, friend and colleague, Jaime Laredo still serves as Jury President. The 1683 "Gingold" Stradivari that he once played is made available to one of the laureates for the four years following each Competition. And his former students and colleagues continue to be present, running the competition, attending it, appearing as guest artists and sending their own students. Beside Laredo, the jury for the 2026 competition includes David Chan, Jinjoo Cho, Pamela Frank, Yuzuko Horigome, Bella Hristova, Dong-Suk Kang, Cho-Liang Lin and Svetlin Roussev. This year's participants will compete for $350,000 in prizes, with the Gold Medalist winning a cash prize of $75,000, a Carnegie Hall recital debut, a recording contract, and website development and maintenance for four years following the competition. The top three finalists also will receive career management and international concert engagements for four years, and the six finalists will have the opportunity to use a violin for four years from the IVCI collection, which includes that 1683 "ex-Gingold" Stradivari violin, among others. You might also like:

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The Week in Reviews, Op. 566: Hilary Hahn, Augustin Hadelich, Bomsori

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 21:34:55 GMT

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 Hilary Hahn performing with the Vienna Philharmonic and Tugan Sokhiev. Photo by S�ren L. Schirmer.

Hilary Hahn performed Dvor�k's Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53 with the Vienna Philharmonic and Tugan Sokhiev.

Bach Track: "Watching Hahn perform was a joy in itself: her bowing was broad, relaxed and remarkably efficient....What stood out most was Hahn�s dialogue with the wind section. Her tone slipped into the orchestral colors with a soft, singing quality that was a pure joy to hear."

Augustin Hadelich performed the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic at the BBC Proms.

The Guardian: "...violinist Augustin Hadelich also served up his own brand of astonishingly flawless musical beauty as the soloist in the Beethoven. In the first movement, his rising octaves appeared to float out of the orchestra, his bowing inaudible � the kind of violin-playing, in fact, that appears to defy the laws of physics. The slow movement was a masterclass in bel canto, the third a biting, bouncing romp as both Hadelich and Petrenko pushed gleefully through the rondo theme. The apparent ease of Hadelich�s virtuosity � all his energy seemingly focused on phrasing and dialogue with the orchestra � was nothing short of breathtaking."
Arcana: "The (unexpected) highlight was a Kreisler cadenza which renewed respect for its motivic ingenuity then segued into the coda with acute seamlessness."
Seen & Heard International: "The luminous tone was exceptionally pure, but purity alone is not enough: this pristine performance lacked the command and projection one expects from the great interpreters of this concerto."

Bomsori performed the Bruch Violin Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl.

Violinist.com: "From the start, her playing was brimming with energy, her spot-on double-stops charged with fast vibrato. "
San Francisco Classical Voice: "Brandishing her ability to overcome all technical challenges, Bomsori took an aggressive approach to the outer movements, sporting a cuttingly acidic tone and a nice, even vibrato. Yet one can�t really put the onus on Bomsori for that tone, since other violin soloists whom I�ve heard at the Bowl this year have exhibited the same problem. "

Simone Lamsma performed Britten's Violin Concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Andrew Manze at the BBC Proms.

Planet Hugill: "The final orchestral tutti presented the passacaglia in all its glory before Lamsma's intense final solo, powerful yet somehow uncertain. A remarkable triumph."
The Guardian: "Imperious yet lyrical in the opening movement, Lamsma brought a whiff of brimstone to the whirligig scherzo with a cadenza that exuded pure witchcraft. The finale�s tortuous mood swings were nimbly charted through to the bleakly inconclusive final trill."
Arcana: "Spanish elements which keenly offset any formal severity with expressive spontaneity bring about its powerful climax; the equivocation between hope and resignation unerringly judged at the end of what was a memorable reading."

Shuxuan Jin, 10, performed Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3 with the Salzburg Youth Orchestra at the Vatican, playing on Mozart's childhood violin, after meeting Pope Leo XIV.

Vatican News: "...she said, 'It feels like I am Mozart. I enjoy it immensely and have a great deal of joy every time. Every note simply feels wonderful.'"

Isabelle Faust performed Schumann's Violin Concerto with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle.

The Guardian: "Rattle was an attentive partner, leaning into the first movement�s dark urgency while deftly shadowing Faust whose subtle rubato afforded a degree of flexibility to her otherwise determined sense of the work�s thematic architecture."
Bach Track: "The opening movement is the most satisfying: experimental and dramatic, it is chewy, muscular music, striving for something, frowning a lot. Faust�s playing was compact, with wiry double-stopping, digging into the rhapsodic lines."
Seen & Heard International: "We relished Faust�s virtuosic prowess, and the mellow tone of her instrument, a 1704 Stradivarius known as �The Sleeping Beauty�, a name which some might well apply to the concerto itself."

Karen Gomyo performed Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Czech Philharmonic and Semyon Bychkov.

Bach Track: "Gomyo is a disciplined player who captured the pathos of the piece without sacrificing any of its rigor, mirroring the emotionally taut state of the composer. Showing impressive technical command, she fired off slashing, saber-sharp lines that set a torrid pace and tone."

Josef Spacek Jr performed Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Tonhalle-Orchester Z�rich and Paavo J�rvi.

Bach Track: "Spacek struck a soulful tone from the opening notes, and throughout showed an expert combination of precision and expression, reeling off blazing lines with polished finesse....�pacek�s style is a rare blend of natural warmth and keen virtuosity, both of which came to the fore in this performance."

Augustin Hadelich performed Barber's Violin Concerto with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Bach Track: "His performance felt personal. As the mood turned mournful, and sublime oboe strains transported in the Andante. Hadelich�s violin tugged at every fibre of our being with playing of such intensity and emotional sincerity in melodies high up the G string, that my heart melted. His playing was so profound; it felt like a moment in time."

Please support live music in your community by attending a concert or recital whenever you can! You might also like:

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'Forever Starts Today': the Inside Story Behind Ray Chen's Musical Wedding Gift

Tue, 08 Sep 2026 18:57:21 GMT

By Laurie Niles: Superstar violinist Ray Chen said that he felt overwhelmed as never before when he was playing for his bride Areen Chen as part of their marriage vows, in front of his friends and family who had come from all over the world for their wedding Aug. 30 in Northern California. "It's very important for the vows not to feel performative," he told me in an exclusive interview with Violinist.com on Monday. During the vows, "I told her how happy I was to have met her, and that I'll take care of her. Then towards the end -- there's only so much beauty that words can capture, and there were certain things that I knew that music could say better than words.

Ray Chen plays for Areen at their wedding. Photo by Christian Bull Photography, courtesy of Ray Chen.

Unbeknownst to Areen, Ray had asked his friend, the composer Eunike Tanzil, for an unusual wedding gift: a special piece that he could play at the wedding as a surprise. (If you want the sheet music, you can get a violin-piano version here.) Tanzil had written a beautiful piece called Serenade for Ray's most recent album, Player 1, and "so I asked her, could you compose me a piece, based on this theme?" The theme was the melody from the third movement of Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2. It was a piece that Areen loved and had wanted in the wedding. But there was another connection: their wedding was taking place at Bouchaine Vineyards in Napa, California, and the owner is Tatiana Copeland. Copeland just so happens to be the grandniece of Sergei Rachmaninoff himself! For the wedding, Ray put together an orchestra - 22 string players plus a harpist, conducted by Danny Stewart, his friend from school days at the Curtis Institute who is now Music Director of the Santa Cruz Symphony. "It was very fun to see so many musicians, maybe it was overkill for a wedding, but we just felt like we had to do it right." "Music was a big part of the whole day," Ray said. In addition to the orchestra during the ceremony, they had a bluegrass band at the reception, then a D.J. later in the evening. "As I was putting it all together, I realized that everyone kept asking the same question, 'Are you going to play at your wedding?'" Trying to keep it all a surprise, he kept responding vaguely, "Uhhh, what makes you think that I would do that?" "Meanwhile I'm planning this whole thing," Ray said. "We ended up calling the piece Forever Starts Today." The piece begins with the violin outlining the start of that famous theme by Rachmaninoff, then it takes an improvisatory turn and spins into something a little more playful than the original, with the theme returning at times in both the orchestra and solo. On their wedding day, Ray arrived at the part of the ceremony where he'd said all the words in his vows, and it was time to let the music say the rest. He turned to Areen and said, "This piece was written for you." He grabbed his violin from a table next to the orchestra, "and we started playing." (Here is the video, if you have not seen it!)

"It was very emotional," Ray said, "and I have to say, I wasn't expecting that. Yes, I'm an emotional player - people comment and even make fun of my facial expressions when I'm playing because I literally can't control them," he laughed. "I'm always feeling so much of whatever it is that the music needs. If it's excitement, you can bet that my face is all lit up. If it's sorrow, then my face is practically upside down. I'm always channelling the emotion." But in this moment, he wasn't channelling someone else's emotion or interpreting someone else's music. This moment was his, and so was the music. "This music was written for that moment," he said. "Oftentimes I'll have to look up the provenance of a piece -- why a composer wrote it and for what purpose. But this music, it was written for exactly that moment, and that was so special! I was absolutely overwhelmed. I can't remember the last time that I've not been in control. I was so not in control! I just had to go with it. But it felt great, it was so freeing. It felt very true." For her part, Areen (and I suspect most everyone in attendance) had to fight to keep back the tears - you can see her dabbing her eyes as he played.

Ray Chen and Areen Chen at their wedding, with friends. Photo by Christian Bull Photography, courtesy of Ray Chen.

But wait a minute, who is Areen Chen, and how did she and Ray meet? How come we didn't know about her until now? "We were keeping it private," Ray told me. "I wanted to make sure that our privacy and her privacy were still respected until there was a moment when we felt like it was right, that we did want to share this. We wanted to do it in the right way." In a wedding, a couple takes vows that are meant for one another, but they do so in front of a chosen community, making their relationship more public. The occasion of their marriage felt like the right time. At this point they have been together for about six years, and many people had met Areen when she traveled with Ray. "Everyone has been so respectful of our privacy," Ray said, "but now we can talk about it and celebrate this wonderful person." Having it all out in the open -- "that's a wonderful, wonderful thing." How did they meet? "We actually met during the pandemic, in September of 2020," Ray said. At the beginning of the pandemic, Ray was simply enjoying a break from what had been an exhausting performance schedule. "I had really enjoyed the months off because for me it felt wonderful to finally have some rest," Ray said. But by about August, with everyone still in lockdown, he got a little antsy. "I began to think, this doesn't seem like it's going be ending any time soon." With no end in sight, he decided to take action. "One of my bucket list items -- something I always wished I could do if only I had enough time, was to get in touch with my roots and go to Taiwan, the place where I was born, and discover it more. Here, suddenly, was this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to finally do this." At the time, Taiwan had no local cases of COVID-19. Visitors had to undergo a two-week quarantine plus an additional week of self-monitoring, "but essentially after that, when you came out, -- everything was open, all the restaurants...life was pretty much like normal." "That's when I met Areen - during this time when I was exploring Taiwan and meeting a lot of people," Ray said. "I met her in the first week after I came out of quarantine. We were introduced by mutual friends, and we got along really, really well. Even though she isn't a musician! That's always the first question we get asked, is she a musician? Areen was actually a runway model in Taiwan. "It was actually such an amazing thing to date someone who was not a musician and yet loved music so much, but from an outsider perspective," Ray said. Ray spent the next 10 months in Taiwan, before the world began to open up again the following July. And Ray and Areen? They stayed together. Again, a big congratulations to them both! If you would like the sheet music for "Forever Starts Today," you can get a violin-piano version here.

Ray and Areen, into the sunset! Photo by Christian Bull Photography, courtesy of Ray Chen.

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Book Review: 'Metronome' - the Mechanism That Changed Music-Making

Mon, 07 Sep 2026 22:06:45 GMT

By Laurie Niles: If you think the metronome is nothing more than an innocent tool for music students, then think again! A new book called Metronome makes a big point about the little mechanism that beats time: that the metronome not only has changed music, but in the two centuries since it was invented, it has fundamentally changed the way we relate to music.

https://www.violinist.com/art/blog/30859.jpg

It's a delightful 122-page read that feels like a novel, but nonetheless is full of history, quotes from famous musicians, sociology, science - even some bits of philosophy and psychiatry. And it certainly provides a lot of food for thought. The author, Matthew H. Birkhold, is an Ohio State University professor who specializes in law, humanities and Germanic languages. He also is an avid amateur violinist who clearly has spent ample time with the subject of his book. It begins much more dramatically than I expected for a book on this topic: with the story of a mad Parisian mob dragging a metronome out of a 1957 Dadaist exhibit and shooting it in the street with a pistol. Literally. The history can be surprising, and there are other interesting accounts. But for me, Birkhold's most interesting stories have to do with how the metronome evolved since its invention in 1815, why it has endured, and how our music has evolved with it - along with a few other revelations. And the first revelation: "mm." Looking at a piece of music marked "mm 144," I have always thought that the "mm" stood for "metronome marking," with the "144" being number of beats per minute. I was right about the number, but the "mm" stands for something else entirely: "Maelzel's metronome." Who? Birkhold introduces us to Johann Nepomuk Maelzel (1772-1838), the wild inventor who designed our enduring pyramidal metronome by building on previous iterations of a much clunkier beat mechanism called the "chronometer". Maelzel shrank it down to size and mass-produced it, making it widely accessible. Maelzel also was friends (frenenemies, really) with Beethoven, whose early endorsement of the metronome helped give it legitimacy. The device was controversial from the start. Many composers loved the idea that conductors and musicians might be able to perform their works at consistent tempos, that they could provide an "mm" and it would solve disputes over how fast something should be played. But it turns out that "tempo" is a very subjective idea. Even composers themselves sometimes got it wrong and ended up disagreeing with the real-life result of their own metronome markings. The book cites such an instance with Richard Wagner, who took out all metronome markings for his own works as a result. Beyond that, people took issue (and still do) with the metronome's tyrannical consistency. Pre-metronome, music did not conform to the precision of a clock, with each beat exactly timed and objectively measured. What about our human rhythms - our ever-changing heartbeats, breath, pace? Shouldn't music reflect that? Would the rigidity of the metronome put rigidity in our music? Birkhold illustrates that by many measures, it has. The "click track" of the 20th century was a natural extension of the metronome, as was the digital "quantization" of popular music, which started in the late 1970s and is by now ubiquitous. "Many listeners now subconsciously and unknowingly expect popular music to be quantized," Birkhold writes. "To some contemporary ears, human variations sound wrong. The click track has further helped to realize the new paradigm of musical time that classical musicians initially rejected upon the birth of the metronome. Now, the inhuman seems natural." And yet, the metronome remains an essential part of our music-learning and our music-making. The book also makes the point that the metronome has been enormously helpful. It allows musicians to take control of how they use the beat. "Artists like Ray Chen, Joyce DiDonato and Hilary Hahn all use metronomes for a reason," Birkhold writes. "Hahn manages a simultaneous feat of control and abandon....the superstar violinist is far from a mechanical trumpeter." Her metronome practice allows her to use the beat as an expressive tool -- because she has it under control. The metronome also can rein in the musician who is overly reliant on playing around with the beat, as a means of expression. Birkhold quotes the famous lieder accompanist Graham Johnson: "If people find playing, or singing, with the metronome impossibly constricting, it is a sign that their entire expressive apparatus is geared to rhythmic displacement, something that can all too easily turn into an involuntary habit." Ultimately, Birkhold seems to come down on the side of the metronome, and I would have to agree with him. "The metronome allows us to train ourselves to become better performers and coaches us how to work in concert with others," he writes. "It allows us to relate to other humans in the past, present and future....It literally and figuratively helps us get on the same page." If you are interested in getting Matthew Birkhold's book, "Metronome.", Here the link. You might also like:

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For the Record, Op. 398: Eldbj�rg Hemsing, Jacques Forestier, Patrick Savage, Signum Quartett

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 19:29:22 GMT

Violinist Eldbj�rg Hemsing.

Bruch Eldbj�rg Hemsing, violin Oslo Philharmonic, Gergely Madaras conducting

Song & Dance Jacques Forestier, violin Boris Kusnezow, piano

Encores for Mr. Scotts Patrick Savage, violin Martin Cousin, piano

The Earth Trembled Signum Quartett Florian Donderer, violin Annette Walther, violin Xandi van Dijk, viola Thomas Schmitz, violoncello

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Review: Bomsori with the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 04:41:33 GMT

By Laurie Niles: There's a reason why the Bruch Violin Concerto still tops the classical music charts, 160 years after it was written. In the right hands, it's a 25-minute highlight reel for the violin, showcasing both its beauty and its power, its capacity for melody and virtuosity, its ability to evoke a range of emotions, from deep melancholy to wild joy. On Tuesday night it was in the right hands, with violinist Bomsori and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, led by Anja Bihlmaier at the Hollywood Bowl.

Violinist Bomsori. Photo by Bartek Barczek.

By now a veteran of the concert stage, Bomsori has played with many of the world's finest orchestras and continues to widen her circle. She actually recorded the Bruch quite recently, in a 2025 album for Deutsche Grammophon that also included the Korngold Violin Concerto, both performed with Jakub Hru�a and the Bamberger Symphoniker. Tuesday's concert (called "Dvorak and Bruch") took place on the first night in September. After a week of 100-degree days in Los Angeles, here finally was some evidence that fall is coming, with temperatures dropping as the sun set a little earlier over the Hollywood Bowl, which was already dark by the time the music began. Against the cool night, Bruch's low-and-slow opening was all warmth. Bomsori played with a dark and burnished tone, coaxed from the 1725 "ex-Moller" Guarneri del Ges� violin she has on loan from the Samsung Foundation of Culture and the Stradivari Society of Chicago. (And I'll note: it's a feat to get a 300-year-old fiddle to cooperate for an outdoor concert!) From the start, her playing was brimming with energy, her spot-on double-stops charged with fast vibrato. Bomsori is a notably articulate player, something that was on display in the hammer-clarity of her trills and in the way she enunciated each note with both strong fingers and decisive bowing. The LA Phil matched her for energy and kept pace admirably when she occasionally hit the accelerator. The second movement's series of melodies allowed Bomsori to tease some gorgeous tone out of that fine violin, with her vibrato ranging from quite-fast-and-wide to -- on occasion -- none at all. The non-vibrato made for an especially riveting moment, (m. 77-78) at the transition between the steady motion of her solo melody to a quieter and more still passage in the orchestra. Another beautiful moment came toward the end of the movement (m. 140), as intensity turned to nostalgia, with a softer retelling of a melody from before. Best of all was the last movement, where Bomsori's playing showed the most passion, connecting with the orchestra and showing visible enjoyment in the music. She led an exciting accelerando to the end, after which there were several standing ovations - but alas, no encore! (This has been quite common for the Hollywood Bowl, so no negativity toward Bomsori. But I miss hearing those little gems at the end!) The rest of the evening's program was both poignant and enjoyable. The concert opened with the U.S. premiere of "beyond the beyond" by Sarah Gibson (1986-2024); and it ended with a Romantic favorite, Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 8. Local to the Los Angeles area, Gibson was a composer who died from cancer at age 38, less than a year after giving birth to her son. She wrote most of this piece during that short window of time when she was experiencing both the joy of her newborn baby and the pain and fear of her illness. A friend's description of her difficult situation as being "beyond the beyond" stuck as a title for her last composition. The piece, nearly complete when she passed away in July 2024, was completed by her friend and musical partner Thomas Kotcheff. It was to have been premiered that August at the BBC proms but was delayed due to all these circumstances.

Composer Sarah Gibson (1986-2024).

On Tuesday conductor Bihimaier, who gave the later world premiere of the piece in March 2025 with the BBC Philharmonic, was on hand to conduct this performance of the work. Beforehand she described some of its most innovative moments, including a passage during which winds simply blow through their instruments, evoking the breathing of Gibson's newborn baby as he slept. (Here also is a beautiful article that her husband Aaron Fullerton wrote about this work.) The beginning of the piece was busy and chaotic, full of high notes and glissandi. The piece is more atmospheric than melodic, an atmosphere that begins with exuberance and then shifts steadily toward quiet and stillness. Harmonies grow more and more consonant - until reaching a point of tranquility, something the composer described as "humming to my baby, alone in a quiet room." Toward the end, the music bursts back into the active energy of the beginning. "Beyond the beyond" was well-received, and the occasion was especially meaningful, knowing that many of Gibson's family, friends, teachers and mentors were there in the audience for this premiere. The program closed with Dvorak's Symphony No. 8, a piece so comforting and inevitable-feeling that it's easy to overlook the genius in this amazingly detailed orchestral writing and the way it adds up to such clear expression: the pastoral feel of the first movement, the nostalgia and swirling emotions of the second movement, the lilting dance of the third and the triumph of the fourth. What a ride! The symphony is also a pretty nice showcase for two instruments in particular: flute and cello. Dvorak 8 actually begins with the spotlight on the celli, on this night led by Principal Cello Robert deMaine. In that opening statement the celli offered the warmth and ebullience needed, despite being a little under-amplified. The celli were noticeably en-pointe in their tricky triplet passagework in the first movement, and during their star appearance in the last movement they were strong, warmed-toned and precise. Principal Flute Denis Bouriakov also played an important role; his beautiful birdsong was a highlight of the first movement, as was his well-synchronized duet in the second movement with Principal Oboe Ryan Roberts - to mention just a few of many instances throughout the symphony. And a shout-out to Concertmaster Bing Wang for her strong solo in the second movement. Overall the LA Phil gave a committed performance to this well-known work, capping a satisfying evening at the Hollywood Bowl. You might also like:

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Pirastro Announces New Insula for Violin: Synthetic Strings with a Gut Feel

Thu, 03 Sep 2026 12:53:09 GMT

By Laurie Niles: Today Pirastro announced its new Insula strings -- synthetic violin strings designed to mimic the feeling of gut strings.

Pirastro's new Insula violin string set.

"This is the first time this particular synthetic has ever been used in a string," said Pirastro Marketing Manager Ed Mingo. "The whole idea is to get more of the feel of the gut string." Pirastro�s Technical Director Adrian M�ller went more in-depth on why the new Insula string set delivers that "gut feel." "When developing the new Insula strings for violin, we experimented with a pioneering synthetic core material," M�ller said. "This high-tech synthetic core has enabled us to replicate the molecular flexibility of natural gut, while offering the power and stability of the best modern high-performance fibers." Pirastro describes the strings as having a natural, overtone-rich vibrational response that carries well, even in a large concert hall. The low to medium tension of the strings (described as being somewhere between Obligatos and Evah Pirazzi Golds) allows the bow to have that feeling of "sinking in" to the strings, as with gut strings. But since the strings are actually synthetic, they also maintain their pitch reliably, even under fluctuating environmental conditions, according to Pirastro, and they have a minimal play-in time. The new Insula violin string set, which will retail for about $105, will be available initially for full-sized violin. The steel E-string has a removable ball-end. The A-string is wound with aluminum while the D- and G-strings are wound with silver. The set comes in the new Pirastro cardboard box set packaging. Pirastro recommends Insula strings for professional orchestra musicians, chamber musicians, soloists, and enthusiastic amateurs. You might also like:

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No More Cats on Chalkboards: Rethinking Beginner Violin Tone

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 20:06:23 GMT

By Charlotte Rowan: I have lost count of the number of times I�ve heard some version of: "Oh, you teach violin? How do you cope with that sound?!" or "I guess it gets better after the first few years, right?" - or, worse still, the classic allusion to cats, claws, and chalkboards. These comments reveal a widespread assumption: that beginner violinists must, by nature, sound terrible. It�s treated as the price of admission into the violin world. Teachers seem professionally immune, their ears forged in the fire of a thousand first lessons; parents and pets reach for ear defenders; and children - mercifully - appear impervious to the scraping, squeaking, and occasional cat�s best ghost impression. But this is a big myth. Yes, titanium-grade patience is required from everyone involved in learning any instrument. But good sound does not evolve from bad. Tone is built - consciously, physically, imaginatively - from the very first moment a child meets the violin. With the right attitude, analytical tools, and building blocks, good sound is absolutely achievable from Day 1.

Too often we neglect the aural side of teaching, settling for low expectations around sound when we should be guiding pupils from the start: how to listen, how to connect their body to the sound they want, how to adapt what they are doing to shape that sound with intent. Below are the six principles I use in my own studio to help beginners produce beautiful, resonant tone from their very first lesson. 1. Greet Your New Friend Violin is not grab and go. Tone begins before the instrument is ever played. Watch how a child enters the room, opens the case, brings out the rosin, tightens the bow. Are their movements calm and gentle, or do they race to the violin as if it were ice cream on a hot day? The way a child meets the violin - their gestures, their pace, their touch - is the first step toward good sound. Treat the instrument like a friend, not an entry to a game of swords and shields. 2. The Body as Movement When you play the violin, you are not static. True, we can be still and focused, but there is gesture and circular motion in everything we do. It is this release of tension, freedom of motion, springiness in our joints, that feeds directly into the resonance of good sound. Feet are strong, supple, and grounded, like trees. Legs sway in the breeze. Knees are bent (moderate skiing mode: on). Arms are loose and swinging. And don�t forget the neck either - nod yes, nod no. This is often overlooked but vital to the freedom of a ringing sound. 3. The Power of Imagination Teaching the violin is not just teaching method - it is teaching inspiration. Children love jumping into the world of imagination and with little prompting they will soon be keen to bring their own along: rainbows, butterflies, wizards, rabbits, tomatoes. (Remember, there are no limits to the brilliance of a child�s mind). Imagination is especially powerful for physical sensations. Take the bow hold, the nucleus of good sound. It�s Lesson 1, so how do you help a child find balance and relaxation immediately without diving into microscopic technicalities? One of my own methods is to latch the "feel" of the bow hold to something already familiar in their imagination. Try the bounce of a tennis ball. Feel the springiness in the palm, the flexible wrist, the natural curve of the fingers. This translates beautifully to the bow hand. (NB: Remember to read the room - a child who hates sport won�t respond to tennis metaphors.) 4. The Power of Belief Children need to leave their first lesson believing they can play the violin with a good sound. We live in a generation where 30 seconds is the new attention span; the aim isn�t to make the violin feel like Frodo�s long walk to Mount Doom, but to show a child that this is within their reach. I always make sure the child gets a chance to play the violin in their first lesson. That joy, excitement, and perhaps trepidation in drawing the bow across the strings is by far the most motivating way to plant that seed of belief. Children are easily bored, even more easily discouraged. Letting them hear that they can produce a good sound from Day 1 - and that they�re already learning the skills to develop it on their own - is invaluable in helping them believe they can achieve this. But wait a minute, won�t they just scratch? This is where good building blocks come in. As a teacher, you need to guide this novice pilot well - position the violin for them and repeat the relaxing posture cues: trees, knees, breathe, neck. Repeat. Now breathe! And - off we go! It�s important at this stage to move the bow with them at first: you get a sense of how much they are pressing, and they start to feel how little they should be pressing. They begin to intuitively feel what it takes to get that beautiful sound. Meanwhile, get them to balance the bow with less pressure - just enough to draw the sound, like a butterfly resting on a leaf. Beautiful! 5. Teach Quick Fixes Immediately The most empowering thing you can give a beginner is the knowledge that bad sounds can be fixed. It is important for the child to learn that if a bad sound occurs, it�s okay - we can fix it! Start their process of analysis early. I teach three simple diagnostic questions:

Too much pressure?
Not enough bow?
Too near the bridge?

These solve 99 percent of beginner tone problems. More importantly, they begin the child�s journey toward self-analysis - the foundation of confident musicianship. (Of course, as we develop and grow out of the beginner phase, the search for a beautiful, resonant sound is continual and ever-changing, and far more all-encompassing than the above three points. But for a beginner, it�s a first step on a big ladder!) 6. Celebrate the Surprise When children realise they can make a good sound on Day 1, their whole relationship with the violin changes. They feel capable, excited, proud - and eager to return. Tone becomes a source of joy, not frustration. And that joy is what will keep them playing. If you teach beginners, I'd love to hear your views on how you develop sound in the first weeks. You might also like:

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