Violinist.com

For the Record, Op. 396: Joshua Bell, Aubree Oliverson, Patrick Yim, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Isabelle Durin

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 13:31:15 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.

Violinist Joshua Bell. Photo by Phillip Knott.

Paganini Joshua Bell, violin and conductor Academy of St Martin in the Fields

Aubree Oliverson: Live from the Aspen Music Festival Aubree Oliverson, violin Yanfeng (Tony) Bai, piano

Bamboo Grove Patrick Yim, violin and viola Chen Yi and Zhou Long, composers

ASM Forte Forward Vol. 2: American Tunes #1 Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin

Exile to Hollywood Isabelle Durin, violin Micha�l Ertzscheid, piano

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 Pain-Free Performer: Interview with Hannah Murray

Thu, 20 Aug 2026 16:48:57 GMT

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 experience with Alexander Technique, and I'd also recently discovered body mapping at the 2020 American String Teachers Conference. But these fascinating reels touched on something slightly different. They all were posted by the same person, @activeviolinist, and every tip she shared was instantly applicable to my own playing and made something easier. Who was this? Eventually I learned that her name is Hannah Murray, a Los Angeles-based violinist who teaches a variety of wellness classes in addition to performing and teaching violin. Her doctoral dissertation at the University of Oklahoma was about "Using Iyengar Yoga to Enhance Violin Playing," and she teaches an anatomy and movement system for musicians called Timani.

Violinist Hannah Murray.

When Hannah advertised a course called "The Pain Free Performer" in the summer of 2024, I signed up. That course started the next level of transformation in my violin playing. I loved the combination of anatomy classes, yoga-ish workouts, and the way it instantly connected to my playing. The following summer, I took Hannah�s Timani Transformation course and was hooked. I started to feel different on the inside when I was playing, but I knew something was working on the outside when my mom commented that she�d never seen me play so freely after every concert that season. This August, Hannah has launched her new course Authentic Artistry. I was thrilled to sit down with her earlier this summer and talk all things violin, Timani, and music making. This interview has been edited and condensed. Claire Allen: Tell me your violin origin story. Hannah Murray: When I was four or five, I lived in Seattle and saw one of my neighbor�s nieces playing the violin at a block party. I told my mom, "I want to do that!" She kind of waved it away, but I pestered her for the next year. When the same girl was playing at the party the following year, my mom asked her mom how to get me started. It turned out that her mom, Janai Fuller, was a Suzuki teacher, and she became my first teacher, whom I adored. Claire:: Where does Timani enter your story, and what is it? Hannah: I discovered Timani in 2019 at the Performing Arts and Medicine Association conference which was at UCLA, where I met the founder of Timani at her workshop. Her name is Tina Margareta Nilssen. Timani is named after her - the first two letters of each of her names. I was so fascinated, so I approached her after her presentation. She said, "Well, would you like a lesson?" So I brought my violin to the conference the next day, and that's how it started. In Timani training, we got really in-depth with the anatomy of what it takes to play your instrument, the physical requirements, and how the body is actually set up to function. As soon as I started training, a lot of things really clicked for me - first, about the ways we work hard without getting the results. And second, what those really effective players are doing when they do get results. While working with her, I felt I was stepping on the gas pedal of my playing, with limitless power over my tone and articulation. Anything I was expressing felt like a straight line out, instead having to work really hard to project. Before that, I had written my doctoral dissertation about yoga and violin playing. I'm a big fan of Yehudi Menuhin. What he did for both the yoga and violin worlds was so beautiful. But I jokingly say, "I don't know the yoga pose that's going to help you with your trills." Yoga is a great tool for taking care of your mind, body, and soul. But at some point I hit a wall in that research in terms of how to directly apply it to the needs of playing your instrument. I also felt I could not make sense - on a very practical level - of what I saw in my favorite violin players, whether on YouTube videos, in live concerts, and even in some of my classmates. I could tell that the results other violinists were achieving were so much more inspiring than what I was getting myself. Why? I couldn�t make sense of it. I couldn�t chalk it all up to them just being more naturally talented. There was clearly something they were doing, something that was missing in what I was trying to do. Claire:: Well, I love hearing that. One of my philosophies is that everything is a skill. Maybe, one percent is talent that's innate, divine inspiration, and everything else is a skill that we can learn how to do. Hannah: I agree. Sometimes people have a more innate connection to different structures in their body. For example, watching child prodigies, it's obvious there�s something in them that is connected to certain body structures and muscles much more easily. But that doesn�t mean someone else can�t learn how to do that later. It also might change for that child as they grow, because bodies change all the time. At every point in your life, you can re-evaluate how you move and how you interact with your instrument. Incidentally, if you add an instrument to somebody's body, playing a violin or viola is not natural. Claire:: No, not at all. Hannah: You�re standing with a piece of wood on your shoulder for hours at a time, moving your fingers in a very complicated way. When I am helping students for the first time, we�re working on the foundations of holding an instrument, because often those basics get lost in the pursuit of great music. I always look at their shoulder stability. Remember, your shoulders are on top of your lungs, and your lungs need to expand. Anything on top of the shoulders can affect the quality of the breath. We also want to make sure that we don�t outsource our shoulder stability to muscles that aren�t designed for it - we want a position that allows the deeper support muscles to really be able to work and only then to add resources on top of that. Unfortunately, the conversation about shoulder stability often gets pushed to the side because we believe we can buy a solution for it, like a shoulder rest or a chin rest. In the professional world and the adult amateur world, props and accessories are a hot topic. We love to talk about our support systems, our new shoulder rests, and what we're putting on our instruments. I do think those conversations are crucial � on top of the conversation about shoulders that are stable and aligned in a way that can go the distance and do what you�re asking your body to do. Claire:: What kind of shoulder rest to use - or even if we should use one- can become a fairly intense conversation. All you have to do is go over to our message boards here on violinist.com to see some of the setup debates. Hannah: No comment, but yes. Claire:: We tend to get fixated on the instrument or the accessory itself, instead of wondering what our shoulders can do by themselves. For me, a dead giveaway with my students is if they take the instrument down, and their posture is better. I realize, "Oh, their shoulders CAN be level." Hannah: When you address shoulder stability, it will change the way you sound. It will change the ability you have to pull sound out of any instrument. I've heard it happen in my classmates through the Timani training and also through my own students. After getting into the movement explorations in a Timani lesson, you find that your sound gets deeper without pushing, without the sensation of trying so hard to make something happen. It's like you got an instrument upgrade, but you improved your own instrument - your body - and you didn't have to buy a new violin! Hannah: This truly is a soapbox I�ll stand on for the rest of my life. It�s true for all musicians, but I know violinists and violists the best because of my own experience. We have never been fully taught what the body does and how the body works. When we interpret the words of our favorite pedagogues, or we're trying to teach each other how to teach, or we're trying to take lessons from somebody we really admire, we have no frame of reference to run their very inspiring and wise words through. In my mind, I have this image. It's a cartoon image of the teacher saying a very simple thing, but it comes out as this jumbled cloud. There�s a very big question mark over the student's head, saying "How do I actually do this in my body?" As a teacher speaking to you, the student, I can tell you how it feels for me. But we have both lived very different lives, so when I�m explaining to you how something should feel, the frame of reference in our bodies is completely different. A good student will always try to do what a good teacher says, and to feel the same experience, but there is this inherent difference in vantage point. Shoulder stability for me is probably going to feel different than shoulder stability for you. I need to have precise words to explain what we're going for in your body, so that you can have your own experience of it, but with the correct outcome. This is why I think it's easier for people to talk about shoulder rests and all the accessories. We all understand that frame of reference. But if I were to say at rehearsal, "This morning I woke up and my levator scapulae was really giving me grief," my orchestra colleague is going to look at me like, "Your what? Are you casting a spell right now? What are you talking about?" We have no shared anatomical knowledge in our field. We would all be better teachers and better students -- and we could reduce the injury rate in our field -- if we all understood some of the basics of what the body and how it functions, before we add the instrument, or AS we add the instrument to it. That would inspire a truly different music-making experience. Claire: In my experience as a professional musician, almost every musician I�ve known has had something, whether it�s just aches and pains or a full out-of-commission injury. So this is more common than not. The fact that Timani and the other modalities such as Alexander Technique, Feldenkreis, Body Mapping, Franklin Method even exist and that conversations are happening openly tells us how universal this is. Hannah: I totally agree. Often, I�ll show up at a gig and a colleague will ask for help with something they�ve been struggling with. I have worked with and given private lessons to some really elite players - people whose recordings I own, whose concerts I have attended - and thought, "I can�t believe you�re calling me for a lesson." Never in my wildest dreams would I assume somebody on a stage that big would need a lesson from me. Claire: In your classes you talk about metaphors and anatomy in pedagogy, and I love your "swaps" for common teaching directions, replacing them with more anatomically correct things to say instead. You posted a video reel about straight wrists recently - could we start there? Hannah: Yes! We have this dogmatic idea that your left wrist must be straight - I taught this for many years. But we don't connect the fact that we teach "straight" left wrists but have left forearm and hand pain. Those two things are very related, because with a straight wrist, we cannot access the intrinsic muscles of our hand (located in the palm). We need some bend in the wrist for those muscles to actually work. Without the bend, we are relying solely on structures and musculature in our body where the muscle bellies are actually in our forearm instead of the muscles of the hand much closer to our fingers. The muscles in our forearms that control the fingers are supposed to sprint and rest, and are not meant to bend or contract for long periods of time - say, the length of a Mahler symphony. And yet, by asking the left wrist to stay straight, we are tasking these muscles with doing a job they�re not supposed to do. We need to understand how to make the musculature of our hands stronger, so that the bend in the wrist is helpful, and doesn't detract from what we're doing. If you�re thinking, "My favorite violin players all have straight wrists," I challenge you to go really look at their playing. There are a couple of things you�ll see. Number one, they all have a strong thumb, which we need to do a lot of what we do on the instrument. It�s also a complicated digit - more on this in the course! Number two, there�s a lot of power, dexterity, and virtuosity in the fingers, which come from the intrinsic hand muscles, that is the muscles in the palm and base of the thumb. That�s how to get that real hammer motion that we want for power and quick finger movements up and down. The bend comes slightly but we�re not in constant contraction from the muscles in the forearm. The hand frame itself might look very curved. If there isn�t a bend in the wrist, the knuckles tend to be very straight, with a bend only in the first two finger joints and a very flat palm. With that positioning, we have no power, and it doesn't last. Hannah: In the photo below: 1. (left) shows what often is taught as "straight." And 2. (right) is actually what is straight.

Hannah: Do you see the difference? Claire:With the classic "straight wrist," the back of the hand and the arm are in a straight line. In the second photo, the palm side of the hand and arm are aligned, then the back of the hand/arm have more of a curve. Hannah: Exactly! Claire: Tell me more about your course, Authentic Artistry. What can we find inside it, besides details on straight wrists? Hannah: The course is self-paced, has a growing resource library, and includes a one-on-one Timani lesson with me. It also comes with a community component, so participants can meet one another. I want to be clear that this course isn�t to prove anybody wrong or to show you that what you�ve been doing your whole life is incorrect. It�s to enhance what you�re already doing and enable you to make sense of very complicated things. I created this course to serve violinists wherever they are in the journey, so it will work for serious amateurs, professional musicians, and teachers looking for the next level of information and instruction for their musicianship and their students�. I want to give us all more resources so that the music feels more alive within us. Ultimately it�s about being able to fully present yourself onstage in the music, and not to feel like the technique or the body is holding us back. * * * Hannah is offering a special discount for Violinist.com readers, who can use the code VIOLINIST when signing up for Authentic Artistry and receive a free private Timani lesson. (Click here to sign up.) You might also like:

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Juilliard Names Donum String Quartet New Graduate Resident Quartet

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 23:52:03 GMT

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 "gift," and is comprised of violinists Seungwon Park and Inhae Cho, violist Ilgyeong Shin, and cellist Hyeonmin Lee. The Donum replaces the Katarina String Quartet, which completed its residency with Juilliard at the end of the 2025�26 academic year. Other former Juilliard quartets-in-residence include the Aeolus, Afiara, Attacca, Avalon, Biava, Calder, Cassatt, Chiara, Corigliano, Essex, Ivalas, Lark, Maia, Magellan (now the Whitman String Quartet), Miro, St. Lawrence, Shanghai, Ulysses, and Verona quartets. The Donum String Quartet made its debut at the Seoul Arts Center and has since established a home base in the United States. The quartet received the Silver Medal at the ninth Manhattan International Music Competition in 2025 and was named a semifinalist at the Naumburg Chamber Music Competition the same year. In March 2026, the quartet was awarded second prize in the senior division at the 13th Coltman Chamber Music Competition. The quartet has performed at the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the ENCORE Chamber Music Institute, and the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival. As Lisa Arnhold Fellows at Juilliard, the members of the Donum Quartet will receive coaching from the Juilliard String Quartet, and assist the JSQ with its ensemble and chamber music instruction, and participate in the annual JSQ Seminar. Members also will coach student ensembles and help first-year undergraduate students enrolled in the String Quartet Survey class. The quartet also will give the annual Lisa Arnhold Memorial Recital in May 2027. At the completion of their residency, they will earn Artist Diplomas in String Quartet Studies. "The Graduate String Quartet program at Juilliard is devoted both to this vital medium and to the broader study of chamber music, which is absolutely core to the Juilliard experience," said David Serkin Ludwig, dean and director of the Music Division. "The opportunity for the Donum Quartet to work closely with the Juilliard String Quartet (JSQ), Juilliard faculty who are members of other leading quartets, and assistant dean Merry Peckham � herself an acclaimed quartet player � speaks to the exceptional depth of the program and its importance within the field." You might also like:

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The Week in Reviews, Op. 563: Simone Lamsma, Philippe Quint, Anne Akiko Meyers

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 21:41:50 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 Simone Lamsma. Photo by Otto van den Toorn, courtesy of the artist.

Simone Lamsma performed the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra and Tabita Berglund at Blossom Music Center.

Seen and Heard International: "intense but skillfully balanced performance...Lamsma had her eye on the work�s dark heart no matter how breathtakingly sweet she made moments of passing lyricism. This did not preclude moments of sheer ferocity."
Cleveland.com: "The Cleveland Orchestra, Norwegian guest conductor Tabita Berglund, and Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma � pyromaniacs all, set what looked like a routine orchestral program ablaze on Saturday evening."

Philippe Quint performed Clarice Assad�s "Kontrol" at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.

San Francisco Classical Voice: "The piece seemed to critique three different kinds of real-world authority: that of conductors, of tech oligarchs, and of composers mounting costly, tech-intensive projects at venues like the Park Avenue Armory."

Anne Akiko Meyers performed Philip Glass's Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Grant Park Orchestra and Giancarlo Guerrero.

Third Coast Review: "Soloist Anne Akiko Meyers approached it with a sensibility that massaged the work�s edges to focus its lyrical qualities. The concerto�s repeating cells and shifting colors took on a more traditional glow, as though Glass had stepped, briefly, into the 19th-century concerto tradition. It was an intriguing reframing, even if it pulled the piece away from its original sense of risk."
Chicago Classical Review: "Anne Akiko Meyers showed herself a largely inspired soloist in this deceptively challenging work. The violinist kept strong, rhythmic bite in the cascading arpeggios of the pulsing outer movements. She brought out the doleful rumination of the passacaglia middle movement expressively, some occasional sharpness of tone apart."

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra performed an all-Mozart concert with Nicolas Ellis at the Hollywood Bowl.

Violinist.com: "...the strings sounded great, throughout. Pianist Angela Hewitt was totally engaging and en-pointe in Piano Concerto No. 22 K. 482, and what a thrilling-fast tempo in the last movement of the 'Jupiter' Symphony, K. 551 - molto, molto allegro!"

Daniel Hope performed Elgar's Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61 with the Gstaad Festival Orchestra and Alexander Shelley at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival.

Bach Track: "Hope drew a meaty sound from his 1742 Guarneri del Ges� and filled the solos with strong colours, whether in a skitter of up-bow staccato, a soar up to the stratospheres or a beehive of double-stopping. "

Alina Ibragimova performed with cellist Christian Polt�ra and pianist C�dric Tiberghien at Wigmore Hall (in June).

The Strad: "(In Ravel�s Piano Trio) Ibragimova�s towering sense of line came to the surface; so too did Tiberghien�s control of this borderline piano concerto. In the first movement, Polt�ra�s control of his exposed high melodies and harmonics was extremely impressive."

The Australian String Quartet performed with cellist Julian Smiles at UKARIA Cultural Centre.

Limelight: "Smiles�s formidable presence enabled the ASQ to stage a superlative performance of Schubert�s Quintet in C, D. 956, one of the greatest works of chamber music."

Lindsay Stirling performed at Blossom Music Center.

Cleveland.com: "Stirling�s EDM-based violin music, Cirque-du-Soleil-like acrobatics, dance and her chipper attitude won the crowd."

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

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National Symphony Announces New Season Outside Kennedy Center

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 18:06:16 GMT

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.

The announcement comes as a relief to those who were wondering how and if the NSO's season would go forward, amid questions about the center's name, artistic direction and whether or not it would remain physically open to the public. The continuing political controversy around the center also has caused boycotts and cancellations that have affected attendance at Kennedy Center events such as NSO concerts. The NSO's newly announced 2026-27 season will begin on Sept. 27 and include some 60 classical performances across Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, running through June 2027. The concerts will take place at the following venues: The Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda, MD; the Center for the Arts at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA; the Lisner Auditorium at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.; the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center at Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria, VA); The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD and the Lincoln Theatre in Washington, D.C. "Sharing the National Symphony Orchestra�s music-making directly with audiences both in the Washington, D.C. area and around America is an opportunity to connect in a special way and also cultivate future audiences," said Music Director Gianandrea Noseda, who marks his 10th season with the orchestra this fall. "The artists of the National Symphony Orchestra and I are eager to bring our artistry to communities in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia, as well as around America during our first multi-state U.S. tour in April 2027." Also planned is a weeklong, five-state tour in April 2027 that will bring the NSO to the Midwest and West Coast, with stops in Indiana, Kansas City, Oklahoma, California and Nevada. The season is robust, with a full slate of guest conductors, guest artists, classical favorites and new-music commissions. Guest conductors will include John Adams, Leonard Slatkin, Teddy Abrams, Philippe Jordan, Bernard Labadie, Marie Jacquot, Gustavo Gimeno, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Eva Ollikainen, Nicholas Carter, Richard Egarr, Ken-David Masur, and Chia-Hsuan Lin. Featured soloists will include violinists Leila Josefowicz, James Ehnes, Elena Urioste, Bomsori Kim, and Augustin Hadelich; pianists Beatrice Rana, Yefim Bronfman, Alexandra Dovgan, Denis Kozhukhin, Francesco Piemontesi, Nikolai Lugansky, and Jorge Federico Osorio; and cellists Sol Gabetta and Gautier Capu�on. And world premieres and NSO co-commissions include works by composers Sarah Kirkland Snider, Joan Tower and Carlos Simon. Back in February, a two-year renovation project had been proposed by the Trump administration for the Kennedy Center, which underwent a major expansion and renovation in 2019. Specific details and timeline on a potential new renovation remain unclear, but NSO Board Chair Brian Boyle said as part of Tuesday's announcement that "we are excited that this plan will culminate in a renovated and acoustically superior Concert Hall that will be available for generations to come." For more information about the NSO's upcoming season, click here. You might also like:

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For the Record, Op. 395: Jennifer Koh; Elena Urioste, Mark Fewer, Er-Gene Kahng

Sat, 15 Aug 2026 03:42:12 GMT

Violinist Jennifer Koh. Photo by Juergen Frank.

The American Concerto Jennifer Koh, violin Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble, Tim Weiss conducting

Th�me Vari�: Works for Violin and Piano Elena Urioste, violin Tom Poster, piano

J. S. Bach: Violin Sonatas and Partitas Mark Fewer, violin

Threaded Currencies Er-Gene Kahng, violin

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Remembering IU Violin Professor Henryk Kowalski (1947-2026)

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 00:11:11 GMT

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 impression.

Violinist and longtime violin professor Henryk Kowalski.

I went to Indiana University in 1990 as a graduate student, to study arts journalism. I'd earned a Bachelor's degree in music already at Northwestern, and I was determined that my one non-journalism elective at IU would be violin lessons. I asked people in advance. Who would be the best teacher for me? I needed to completely re-work my bow arm. At a summer gig, a colleague in Cincinnati suggested Henryk as someone who was willing to work with non-majors. Also, "He will completely re-do your bow arm, it will be fixed. But be warned, you'll be playing open strings. And he's a character!" I auditioned with the first movement of Bartok's Op. Post. Violin Concerto, and I told him that I wanted to work on my bow arm. He accepted me as a student, and we got started playing...open strings. For months! I was prepared for this, and I practiced faithfully. Henryk instructed: Sink the weight (not "pressure!") into the string, pull a martel� stroke, straight as an arrow. Eliminate any extra noises - scratches, wobbles, changes in vowel sound...Henryk could hear the tiniest imperfection or alteration of speed in that open string. "No!" Then he would imitate what he'd heard. "Again." I learned to hear those tiny details, too: the change in speed that pushed the pitch, the little scratch in the middle, the edgy or ugly sound. I spent hours in the practice room, perfecting open-string bow strokes. After more than a month, though, I started feeling insecure about my seeming lack of progress. At one lesson, I looked at him from across the room (he always sat very far away) and said a little meekly, "Are you getting tired of my open strings?" "NO!" he boomed, and it was truly startling. "How could you say such a thing?! This is VERY, VERY important!" Then he said very calmly, "Continue." This was the moment that I realized that Henryk was completely in the game, when it came to teaching. He was proud to be a teacher, proud to be a good one. My progress was important to him, and he wasn't going to take shortcuts, nor would he get bored or annoyed with my playing. Or at least if he was annoyed, it was to an end: You absolutely CAN do better than that, and I want to see it right now. As detailed as he could get, some of my most vivid memories are of when he just gave me a huge push, without technical advice. For example, when I was playing Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen "Gypsy Airs" - he stopped me in the middle of the first page and shook his head. "Laurie." A sigh. Then a long, long pause. Probably a drag on the cigarette. "Your gypsy....is tired." (My boyfriend at the time - husband now - never let me forget that one!) Another time, and I don't remember what I was playing, he stopped me in complete exasperation. "If you had a lemon," he said, his wide-set eyes looking at me like laser beams as his voice rose, "would you squeeze the last bit of juice out of the lemon, or would you just THROW IT AWAY?" "Um, uh, well..." "PLAY!!" It could be very theatrical. Then he would go back to smoking his cigarette, dog Barney at his side, still listening quite intently. I did indeed get well beyond open strings and studied a number of pieces with Henryk, including the Franck Sonata. This was quite special, knowing the teacher lineage that went straight from Henryk to Josef Gingold to Eugene Ysa�e, for whom the Franck Sonata was written as a wedding present. And from Ysaye the lineage went back to Henryk Wieniawski, whose picture was prominent on the wall of his studio. "Henryk" and "Henryk"! One Thanksgiving he had his entire studio (which was enormous, super-sized with music majors as well as non-majors like me) over to his house. He (with the help of more students) cooked the biggest turkey I've ever seen, sat at the head of the longest table I've ever seen and gave a humble and sincere speech of gratitude, for music, for everyone gathered, for this country "that accepted all of us." His mother - who as a young woman had escaped death at a Nazi concentration camp - was there with us. On the T.V. downstairs was a DVD of "They Shall Have Music" - it was the first time I'd seen that 1939 film that featured Heifetz. (One time Henryk asked me whom my favorite violinist was. Being from Colorado, I had a soft spot for Eugene Fodor, so I said, "Eugene Fodor." He did not like this answer. "NO!" he said. "Your new favorite violinist is HEIFETZ!") I could go on, but I want also to share the highlights of his life and career: Henryk Pawel Kowalski was born in Warsaw in 1947 to a musical family - his father, Leon Kowalski, was a violinist in the National Philharmonic Orchestra and the Warsaw Operetta orchestra. His brother Jakob Kowalski is a cellist, and later they formed Trio European with the pianist Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden. Henryk studied at the Warsaw Conservatory with Tadeusz Wronski, until 1968 when the Polish government�s anti-Jewish campaign forced him to leave the country before he graduated. He went to the U.S., to Indiana University, where Wronski also taught, and continued studies with both Wronski and Josef Gingold. His chamber music teachers included a cast of greats: violist William Primrose, pianist Menahem Pressler, cellist J�nos Starker and pianist Gy�rgy Sebok. Kowalski earned his an artist diploma in violin from IU in 1974. Kowalski was a Danish citizen, having won Denmark�s Jacob Gade Prize in 1969 and later becoming a citizen. His performing career included solo appearances with the Seattle Symphony, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Copenhagen Symphony, Warsaw Symphony Orchestra, Belgian Radio Orchestra, Seoul Symphony Orchestra and Bochum Symphony Orchestra. Besides his long tenure at Indiana, his teaching career included teaching at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm starting in 1994, becoming professor in 2006 continuing until his retirement. He also served as visiting professor of violin at the Tokyo College of Music and gave masterclasses around the world, at Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, Seoul National University, National Taiwan Normal University, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore, the Warsaw Conservatory, Iceland Conservatory of Music and several Swedish institutions. His many former students are scattered across the globe, playing as soloists, in orchestras, in quartets, teaching at universities and privately, and at least one has a violin website. He is survived by his wife, Anna Wiernik; his son, Dr Leo Kowalski; his niece, Lilly Kowalski; and his brother, the cellist Jakob Kowalski, and sister-in-law, Elena Kowalski. You are welcome to share your memories of Henryk in the comments.

My family (Laurie, Brian, Robert and Natalie Niles), with Henryk Kowalski at Indiana University in 2009.

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Winners Announced in the 2026 Cooper International Competition at Oberlin

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 18:57:29 GMT

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 Haworth, N.J., United States
Third Prize ($5,000): Minji Choi, 16, of Irvine, CA, United States

2026 Cooper Competition winners: Mingzhe Ye, Poppy Song and Minji Choi. Photo courtesy of the Cooper Competition.

Placement of the three other finalists was announced on Saturday:

Fourth Prize ($1,500): Emrik Revermann, 18, of Toronto, ON, Canada
Fifth place ($1,500) tie: Hyunsuk Ryu, 13, Seoul, South Korea
Fifth place ($1,500) tie: Jiye Kang, 13, of Jejudo, South Korea

The top three finalists will be awarded full four-year tuition scholarships to Oberlin Conservatory, pending admission. In addition, the First Prize winner will receive the use of a fine violin from Jonathan Solars Violins, an appearance with the ProMusic Chamber Orchestra, a $500 Arkady Fomin Scholarship Fund Opportunity Award from the North Shore Chamber Music Festival, as well as a lesson with violinist Vadim Gluzman. The Thomas & Evon Cooper International Competition, started in 2010, is held each summer at Oberlin Conservatory for musicians ages 13 to 18, alternating annually between violin and piano. Participants must have not yet enrolled in college, nor have won one of the top three prizes in a previous Cooper competition. The 2026 jury includes chair Sibbi Bernhardsson, Jinjoo Cho, Scott Mello, Ami Oike, and Qian Zhou. You might also like:

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The Week in Reviews, Op. 562: Vilde Frang, Gil Shaham, Daniel Lozakovich

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 21:50:47 GMT

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 musicians from the Juilliard Orchestra and the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms.

Bach Track: "...the rich and detailed tapestry that the composer fashioned has as its central image the transformation of sorrow into rapture, which was superbly captured by the performance. There was an engaging chemistry between soloist and conductor, and between soloist and the strings, with Frang seemingly drawing strands of skein from the leader."
Colin's Column: "given an intense outing by Vilde Frang, primus inter pares with the complex orchestral weaving, Berg just as demanding of these participants as he is the soloist."
Broadway World: "Norwegian violin soloist Vilde Frang...gave a performance both delicately meditative and thrusting. She has an almost (improvisational) quality to her playing, moving round to play to various parts of the orchestra at points, as though encouraging connections of feeling and pace."
The Guardian: "The slow waltz in the first movement of Berg�s Violin Concerto had its own momentum thanks partly to the rapport between the orchestra and Vilde Frang, who made the solo violin�s orations sing seamlessly, occasionally harshening her tone to soulful effect."

Gil Shaham and pianist Akira Eguchi performed all 10 of Beethoven�s Sonatas for Piano and Violin at the Aspen Music Festival.

The Aspen Times: "At times, it seemed as if Shaham�s violin and Eguchi�s piano had melded into a single instrument, their intent so beautifully in sync....The second recital, on Saturday, reinforced the idea of each sonata being its own realm, while also forging connections. "

Daniel Lozakovich performed Sibelius�s Violin Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Klaus M�kel� at Ravinia.

Chicago Classical Review: "The Swedish violinist possesses an impressive technique with a slender, yet acutely focused tone. In addition to handling the bravura demands securely, his hushed playing sometimes brought out a fantasia quality in Sibelius�s lyrical passages."
Hyde Park Herald: "Lozakovich has a slender sound, never reaching powerful projection, but what he did have was a complete feel for the work, which he infused with freshness and enthusiasm. His quiet whispers doubled as purrs or cries, depending upon the moment."

Sonja Schebeck performed "Tale of the Firebird: Concerto For Violin, Fire & Acrobatic Orchestra" with the Freestyle Orchestra at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Fest Magazine: "Ever thought classical music just needed more peril? 'Tale of the Firebird' ... makes dazzlingly improbable companions of aerial and floor acrobatics, fire performance, and string instruments (which are, lest it be forgotten, made of wood)....there�s a soaring bravery and commitment to spectacle here that must be commended."
The List: "Unexpectedly arresting and packed full of surprises, this combination of orchestral storytelling feels immersive and enduring. Combining fire, acrobatics and musicality, often at the same time, it is a marvel of modern musical theatre that will stay with you long after the smoke has cleared."

National Youth Orchestra of the USA performed at Usher Hall in Edinburgh with Karina Canellakis.

Bach Track: "It�s sometimes difficult to know which of your emotions to focus on when you�re watching a group of young musicians as phenomenally talented as those of the National Youth Orchestra of the USA. There�s wide-eyed amazement at the sheer musical accomplishment on display, balanced with disbelief that they can do so much so young..."

Alina Ibragimova performed the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Elena Schwarz.

Bach Track: "...violinist Alina Ibragimova brought her chamber credentials to the game in an exquisitely delicate performance, with some remarkably quiet playing, such as in the slow movement�s second-half return of the theme."

Yo-Yo Ma performed with an ensemble of cellists from the Boston Symphony and the Tanglewood Music Center in Boston's Ozawa Hall.

The Boston Musical Intelligencer: "... the ensemble of cellists was basically a musical club that played for fun, and that they had invited Yo-Yo to play with them occasionally....At first glance, the program seemed to be rather on the short side, like a Pops concert...But as the various pieces connected, they took on a larger canvas."

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

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Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Names Matthias Pintscher Music Director

Mon, 10 Aug 2026 19:03:24 GMT

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, courtesy of LACO.

Pintscher will succeed Jaime Mart�n, who has served as LACO Music Director since 2019. Mart�n will assume the role of Music Director Laureate in the 2027�28 season. The beginning of Pintscher's official tenure also will coincide with the fall 2027 opening of The Colburn School's Terri and Jerry Kohl Hall, which will serve as LACO's new home concert hall. "I have long admired Matthias Pintscher, whom I consider one of the most visionary and extraordinary musicians of our time," said LACO Concertmaster Margaret Batjer. "I could not be more thrilled that he has been chosen as LACO's next Music Director. I believe he will both honor the great tradition of our beloved orchestra and usher in a bold new era of artistic exploration and innovation. There could be no more inspiring moment for his arrival, as we prepare to welcome audiences to our new home at Kohl Hall." Pintscher currently serves as Music Director of the Kansas City Symphony, a role he began in the the 2024-25 season and will continue through the 2033�2034 season, along with his new role with LACO. He also serves as the Creative Partner of the Cincinnati Symphony, and he recently concluded a decade-long tenure as Music Director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain (EIC), the Parisian contemporary ensemble founded by Pierre Boulez. He also served as the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra's Artist-in-Association for nine seasons, and in 2018�19, he was the Season Creative Chair for the Tonhalle-Orchester Z�rich. Pintscher began his relationship with LACO in 2018, as Artist-in-Residence, conducting LACO in works by Berlioz, Debussy, Faure�, Ravel and Mahler. He also led education initiatives and curated programs of works by Grisey, Berg, Ravel, Xenakis and Mahler. In the 2026�27 season, Pintscher will lead LACO in a program featuring Haydn's Trauer Symphony, Kayhan Kalhor's Blue as the Turquoise Night of Neyshabur and Mozart's Linz Symphony on April 23 and 25. "I am deeply honored to step into the role of Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble I have long admired," Pintscher said. "Since I first began working with LACO, I was struck by its spirit of openness and dedication, which is evident both on the stage and throughout the organization. I am eager to develop a lasting and meaningful partnership with this extraordinary ensemble." "The musicians of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra welcome Matthias Pintscher with open arms and great anticipation,� said Josephina Vergara, Chair of LACO's Orchestra Committee and Principal Second Violin. "His presence on our podium marks the beginning of what we know will be a remarkable chapter � one that will unlock extraordinary possibilities for our orchestra and for our audiences." You might also like:

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