String
education achieved a milestone on January 24 when the
Lakewood Project–a high school rock
orchestra using eight electric stringed instruments–performed
at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.
The orchestra featured both acoustic and electric instruments.
The project, a joint venture between progressive rock/pop
electric violinist Mark Wood–who
built a double quartet of electric instruments for the
orchestra–and Cleveland string teacher Beth
Hankins, marks the first time the Hall of Fame
has showcased a string ensemble. "It’s a new
approach to a string program that was refreshing and exciting
for the kids," says Wood. "As you can imagine,
the kids jumped right into this. They went from being
forced to practice to their parents yelling at them about
practicing too long on these electric instruments. Both
teachers and parents were impressed by this response."
This
wasn’t the first venture into the rock world for
the Juilliard-trained Wood. He is lead violinist and string
conductor with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and has toured
and performed with Celine Dion, Everclear, Billy Joel,
Lenny Kravitz, Jewel, and others. He is owner and operator
of Mark Wood Violins and recently built a quartet of electric
instruments for the Juilliard School of Music.
At press time, the Juilliard Electric Ensemble planned
to perform one of Wood’s rock compositions in April
at its Beyond the Machine concert series held at Lincoln
Center.
Road
Trip
Heart &
Hands, the traveling photographic exhibit depicting 250
instrument makers from across the United States, arrived
April 1 at the Smithsonian Institution for a month-long
stay after a couple of years on the road. The exhibit,
which includes spectacular shots by Colorado-based photographer
Jake Jacobson, features dozens of images
of stringed-instrument makers and celebrates their craft.
Proceeds from sales of the book Heart & Hands:
Musical Instrument Makers of America (Könemann
Press, 1999) help fund a foundation devoted to supplying
lutherie tools and instruction to programs that blend
art and music.
Nagano
Love Fest
Kent
Nagano, the ruggedly handsome surfer who heads
up the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, sparked a media love
fest recently while being courted as the next music director
of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Canadian journalists
fell head over heels for the 51-year-old after Nagano
visited the MSO in late January to guest conduct Schubert’s
Symphony No. 9. That put Montreal audiences in a Romantic
mood. La Presse proclaimed the performance "a
miracle." Then the Bavarian State Opera in Munich
announced in early February that Nagano will succeed Zubin
Mehta as its music director beginning in September
2006. At press time, no music director had been named
at MSO.
Cello Again
And now for something completely different. The 9th annual New
Directions Cello Festival—the world's only festival
dedicated exclusively to nonclassical and alternative cello—will
take place June 27 through 29, at Lawrence University in Appleton,
Wisconsin. This year's eclectic lineup includes Sera Smolen
& Tom Mank (a cello and guitar folk/blues duo with improv),
Matt Turner (avant improv & jazz), the Neptune Quartet (cello,
guitar, mandolin, bass performing acoustic world music), Stephanie
Winters (solo and multicello arrangements), Wyndfall (a Celtic,
jazz, folk/rock quartet), and Chance (vocal and cello duo).
The NDCF is a performance and educational forum for the current
state of the cello's involvement in contemporary musical styles.
There are concerts, workshops (for players at all skill levels),
jam sessions, an exhibition of electric instruments, a Young
People's Cello-Bration, a Cello Big Band, and more. The non-traditional
celloing begins on late in the morning on Friday, June 27 and
continues until around 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 29. The registration
fee for all the festival activities is $170 if mailed by May
1, 2003. After that the cost of attending goes up to $195. It
is also possible to attend one day or just the concerts. Members
of the New Directions Cello Association receive a 10 percent
discount on festival fees. Housing costs on the campus range
from about $20 to $40 a night (per person), depending on whether
it is a single or a double occupation.
She
isn't a household name–unless your house happens to
be a converted loft on the hip side of town–but Jenny
Scheinman, 29, is one of the most listened-to violinists
around thanks to her recent contribution to the chart-topping
café jazz album Come Away with Me (Blue
Note), the 2003 Grammy-winning release by chanteuse Norah
Jones. "Number one! Can you believe it–that’s
so great," she says, during a phone interview from
her New York apartment. Expect to hear a whole lot more
of Scheinman in the coming months. A classically trained
musician, she has completed three recording projects in
the past year alone with acclaimed avant-jazz guitarist
Bill Frisell (with whom she has toured
extensively). Those include the new CD The Intercontinentals
(Nonesuch), which boasts gentle West African guitar rhythms;
last year's Richter 858, a fearless set of guitar and violin
duos inspired by the abstract paintings of German painter
Gerhardt Richter and released as a companion CD to an art
book; and an upcoming disc that features Frisell backed
by a string trio of Scheinman, violinist Eyvind
Kang, and cellist Hank Roberts.
"I love performing with Bill," Scheinman explains.
"Sometimes we'll stop in the middle of a set and play
a bunch of old fiddle tunes, like 'Cluck Old Hen' and 'Blackberry
Blossom'–songs that I played with my dad when I was
a kid."
But
the project that has caught the ear of critics of late is
Scheinman's own CD The Rabbi's Lover (Tadzik),
which spans the sonic realm from ghostly klezmer melodies
to red-hot fusion. "I guess that I've played a lot
of different kinds of music just in making a living and
never felt all that attached to any one style," she
says. "I think that musicians in my generation–and
especially people younger than me–have been exposed
to so much music from around the world that it’s become
very integrated in our lives. It really has changed the
sort of music that we write, reference, and play."
–Greg
Cahill
photo
by Solange Gould
Stern
Stuff
History
soon may be made when the highly anticipated Stern Collection
goes on the auction block on May 8. The prized collection, from
the estate of the late Isaac Stern, includes
two violins crafted for the fabled virtuoso by New York luthier
Samuel Zygmuntowicz, whose much—sought-after
fiddles fetch upwards of $30,000 and command a four-year waiting
list.
The Stern
instruments–faithful copies of the "Ysaye" Guarneri
Del Gesu (made in 1991) and of the "Stern-Panette" Guarneri
Del Gesu (made in 1994)–are expected to bring the highest
price ever paid for a contemporary violin at auction. "I
wouldn’t be surprised if they went for over $40,000,"
says Jason Price of Tarisio auction house. "It is difficult
for contemporary instruments to sell at auction, but we don’t
expect any difficulties with these. However, we still have pretty
conservative estimates [$18,000 to $20,000 for the Panette and
$20,000 to $28,000 for the Ysaye]."
Stern,
who died in 2001, frequently loaned the instruments to talented
prodigies and even delighted in fooling famous musician friends
who couldn't tell the difference in the sound between the originals
and the copies. "I'd heard of Sam Zygmuntowicz, tried one
of his violins and found it extraordinarily easy to play,"
Stern recalled during a 2001 interview with the McNeil News
Hour. "And I met him and learned also to what degree
he had this extraordinary eye and capacity to literally copy your
own violin."
For Zygmuntowicz,
the auction is something of a mixed blessing. "It's an interesting
twist on new making and interesting to suddenly be subject to
the vagaries of that market," he says. "It's a little
bit of an eerie feeling."
–G.C.
Sphinx
Winners Named
The
Sphinx Competition, the Detroit-based organization
dedicated to bolstering diversity in orchestras, selected
its 2003 winners after a week-long series of events in
February. Winners in the seniors division were Bryan
Hernandez-Luch (pictured above), violin, first-place;
Ryan Murphy, cello, second-place; and
Mariana Green, violin, third-place.
In
the juniors division the winners were Elena Urioste,
violin, first-place; Trevor Ochieng,
violin, second-place; and Amyr Joyner,
violin, third-place. Combined prizes include more than
$100,000 in cash and scholarships to top summer music
camps. Winners also get the chance to appear with the
Detroit, Chicago, Boston, St. Louis, New York, and Atlanta
symphonies.
Toy
Symphony Update
The
list of string players drawn into composer and MIT
Media Lab professor Tod Machover's
visionary world is growing. On April 26, Machover's Toy
Symphony was scheduled to make its U.S. premiere in Boston's
Kresge Auditorium with Irish virtuoso Cora Venus
Lunny on hyperviolin and a children's choir and
orchestra playing hi-tech beatbugs and music shapers.
New Yorkers get their first taste of the symphony May
17 and 18 at Winter Garden at the World Financial Center.
Meanwhile, the Oxingale label has released a new CD of
the symphony featuring guest soloists Matt Haimovitz
on hypercello and Kim Kashkashian on
hyperviola. Past plugged-in players have included Joshua
Bell (Strings, October 2002) and Yo-Yo
Ma.
NJSO
Lands 30 Rare Italians
Thanks
to an extensive series of loans, the New Jersey
Symphony Orchestra has taken possession of 30
rare Italian stringed instruments. In February, philanthropist
Herbert Axelrod generously agreed to
take $18 million for the so-called Golden Age Collection,
which includes 12 Stradivari violins. Axelrod, who made
his fortune in the tropical-fish business, was offered
as much as $55 million for the instruments. The public
had its first opportunity to hear the instruments on April
26 at a fundraiser at Liberty State Park in Jersey City
and can hear them again from June 1–8 at a new Bach
festival.
Go
West
The
annual Monumental Fiddling Championship
will be held May 24 at Homestead National Monument of
America, four miles west of Beatrice, Nebraska. The popular
festival celebrates music from the region's homesteading
era. This year, the Nebraska chapter of the American
String Teachers Association is sponsoring a fiddle
tune writing contest at the event. Admission is free of
charge. For details, contact Deb Greenblatt at g-s@alltel.net.
Musical
Chairs
Peter
Oundjian has been appointed as music director of
the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He will take over the podium
for the 2004–2005 season. Prior
to his career as a conductor, the 46-year-old Oundjian was
the first violinist of the Tokyo String Quartet.
. . Minnesota Orchestra president David J. Hyslop
has announced that he will step down from his position in
November, after the orchestra's 100th birthday concert.
Hyslop has served on several major boards, including that
of the American Symphony Orchestra League. . . Andre
De Quadros, professor and chairman of the music
education department at the Boston University College of
Fine Arts has become the new director of the institution's
School of Music. He is a trained violinist. . . Eleonore
Schoenfeld has joined the cello faculty at the
Encore School for Strings in Hudson, Ohio.
Prize
Winner
Berlin-born
Walter Levin, the first violinist of the
LaSalle Quartet, has won the €15,000
Frankfurt Music Prize. He is a professor emeritus at the
College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.
Previous winners include violinist Gidon Kremer.
Check
This Out
The Brooklyn
Public Library has reopened and expanded its popular
circulating Orchestra Collection, which
now includes more than 600 titles. The collection has been
used as a resource by up to 70 different community orchestral
groups, including the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra.
Passings
Violinist, teacher,
and new music advocate Margaret Farish,
84, died February 9. Farish, who held a master’s degree
from the Eastman School of Music, was known for her bibliographic
String Music in Print and Orchestral Music in Print series.
News, from the U.S. or abroad, is always welcome. Please
mail to Greg Cahill, News & Notes, Strings, PO Box 767, San
Anselmo, CA 94979; fax to (415) 485-0831; or e-mail to greg@stringletter.com.
Rock
'n' Roll High School
Stern
Stuff
The
Sphinx Competition, the Detroit-based organization
dedicated to bolstering diversity in orchestras, selected
its 2003 winners after a week-long series of events in
February. Winners in the seniors division were Bryan
Hernandez-Luch (pictured above), violin, first-place;
Ryan Murphy, cello, second-place; and
Mariana Green, violin, third-place.