PRECIOUS MEDALS

The night belonged to violin makers HAIKO SEIFERT of Germany and ANTOINE CAUCHE of France, who each won awards in four categories at the 2008 Violin Society of America International Violin and Bow Making Competition, held November 3–8 in Portland, Oregon. Seifert, 39, earned a certificate of merit for violin, a silver medal for workmanship for cello, a gold medal for viola, and a gold medal for quartet—a feat of skill and endurance that could be likened to winning the decathlon and finishing the marathon. Cauche was not far behind in the awards count with a gold medal for cello, plus a silver for workmanship for violin and certificates for viola and quartet.

In the bow-making competition, YANNICK LE CANU of France earned gold medals for both violin and cello bows, and ROBERT MORROW of the Port Townsend, Washington, won gold for his viola bow. Makers who win gold medals in three different competition years earn the distinction of hors concours and are no longer eligible to compete in VSA competitions. This being the third gold-medal year for each of them, both Le Canu and Morrow are hors concours.

Gold medals are not analogous to “first prize” in that several may be awarded in each category, or none at all. This year, no gold medals were awarded for violin. Four violins were recommended for gold by the workmanship judges, and three were recommended by the tone judges (the two panels do not interact). But to win gold, the other panel must also recommend the same instrument for a medal or certificate of merit. “If we don’t have any overlap with the tone judges, we don’t have gold,” says luthier GREGG ALF, one of the three violin workmanship judges. “But that’s OK with me,” he says. “It’s depressing. But our first allegiance is to string players, and we makers just have to pull our socks up and do a good job.”

The results of the VSA competition are tabulated using a complex computerized system. According to Alf, the workmanship judges would probably come up with the same handful of winners at first impression as they do after three arduous days of scoring every single instrument, but the complex scoring process, which is then weighted and tabulated by machine, is meant to ensure objective results. The system is so complicated, however, that it takes some time for a first-time judge to learn to use it.

“It’s like a Ferrari,” Alf says. “A Ferrari is a great car, but if you don’t know how to drive it, you’re not going to get the results you expect.”

—Erin Shrader

A DOUBLE LIFE: Medical string enthusiasts.

When DR. JONATHAN LASS isn’t busy as the leading man of ophthalmology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, he picks up his cello and immerses himself in chamber music. “I was inspired to go into ophthalmology by doctors that I played with in high school who were very happy performing chamber music and who also loved their profession,” says Dr. Lass, who has been a cellist for 50 years. “In ophthalmology, we don’t have as many emergencies so there’s potentially a little more time for music making.”

On February 8, Lass and other musical medical professionals will exchange their white physicians’ coats for gowns and tuxedos at the WORLD DOCTORS ORCHESTRA concert at Severance Hall in Cleveland, Ohio. The upcoming concert will feature Cleveland’s CAVANI QUARTET violinist ANNIE FULLARD, cellist SAEUNN THORSTEINSDOTTIR, and pianist Sergei Babayan performing works from Copland, Beethoven, and Brahms. Proceeds will go to the Cleveland Free Medical Clinic and the Hugo Tempelman Foundation.

True to its name, the orchestra consists of doctors from all around the world. Its inaugural concert in May 2008 at the Berlin Philharmonie in Germany saw players represent 13 countries under the direction of founder, physician, conductor, and violinist DR. STEFAN WILLICH, the director of the Institute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology, and Health Economics at the Charite University Medical Center in Berlin. There the ensemble, which paid out-of-pocket for travel expenses, raised funds for the Tempelman Foundation in South Africa and the Hilfswerk Indien in India. Violinist PETER ZAZOFSKY was the soloist. “It was a life changing experience,” Lass says.

For details, visit world-doctors-orchestra.org.

—R.W.

Strad Secret: Fungi?

Swiss scientist Francis Schwarze of the Federal Materials, Science, and Technology Institute (EMPA), in Zurich, believes that mushrooms can give a replica violin the sound of a true Stradivari violin. At the Swiss Innovation Forum in Basel, he presented a copy of a Strad that had been treated with inedible Xylaria longipes, which grow on trees. The mushrooms eat the maple and reduce the violin’s density.

Enemy of the State

Composer John Adams has told the BBC Radio 3 that he has been placed on a US homeland security blacklist, and faces difficulties at the airport, the UK’s Guardian reports. Adams, who created a stirring 9/11 tribute for the New York Philharmonic, attributes the government suspicion to some of his politically charged pieces. His operatic works include Doctor Atomic(about the late A-bomb scientist and social critic Robert J. Oppenheimer) and Nixon in China.

Banking on Bard

Who says liberal arts won’t get you anywhere? The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has given the Bard College Conservatory of Music a challenge grant of $2.5 million. The foundation will match three-to-one the money raised by the conservatory within four years. The money will “support the liberal arts core of the conservatory’s unique dual-degree program,” according to a Bard statement.

Awards & Accolades

The PARKER QUARTET has been chosen for Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award for the 2009–11 seasons. Violinists DANIEL CHONG and KAREN KIM, violist JESSICA BODNER, and cellist KEE-HYUN KIM formed the ensemble at the New England Conservatory of Music in 2002.

The AFIARA STRING QUARTET, the quartet-in-residence at the International Center for the Arts at San Francisco State University, has won the 2008 Concert Artists Guild International Competition. The quartet—violinists VALERIE LI and YURI CHO, violist DAVID SAMUEL, and cellist ADRIAN FUNG—will receive a two-year management contract with the CAG, as well as a performance during the CAG Winners Series at Carnegie Hall.

The CECILIA STRING QUARTET, the quartet-in-residence at San Diego State University, has won the Joan and Daniel Rutenberg Chamber Music Competition at the University of South Florida in Tampa. The quartet—violinists SARAH NEMATALLAH and MIN-JEONG KOH, violist CAITLIN BOYLE, and cellist REBECCA WENHAM—will receive $5,000 for first prize.

Chinese violinist JIAJING WANG has won the 10th Kendall National Violin Competition in Australia. Wang wins a Caldersmith violin and a recital tour in the New South Wales region.

Passings

Armenian violinist SAM BOGHOSSIAN, a former member of the LA Philharmonic for 13 years, died July 13 in Grass Valley, California. He was 88. Boghossian had performed with a variety of stars, from Isaac Stern to Frank Sinatra.

Cellist BERT GATES PHILLIPS, the co-founder and co-executive director of Luzerne Music Center in Lake Luzerne, New York, died October 8 in Bethesda, Maryland. He was 73. Phillips had been a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1959–90, and an emeritus member until his death.

African-American violinist GAYLE DIXON, a leading advocate of new works and opportunities for black composers and musicians, died of cancer in November. She was 61. She was a violinist for the Broadway production the Phantom of the Opera for 20 years in New York City, and a member of the SYMPHONY OF THE NEW WORLD, UPTOWN STRING QUARTET, and QUARTETTE INDIGO. She was an important figure in the Local 802 American Federation of Musicians, which represents greater New York. She later taught at public schools in Brooklyn.

News items, from home or abroad, are always welcome. Please e-mail Associate Editor Rory Williams at rory@stringletter.com.