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Composer Ned Rorem now heads the Pride of Place Violist Kim Kashkashian will join the string department of the New England Conservatory in the fall of 2000. Born in Detroit, Michigan, she is currently professor of viola at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, Germany. The Hochschule has also made a new appointment: professor of cello Stephan Forck. The Keller Quartet, of Budapest, has selected Peter Barsony as its new violist. Slovakian Peter Jarusek, age 23, is now cellist of the Skampa Quartet. He replaces Jonás Krejcí, who has moved to the Petersen Quartet, filling the gap left by Hans Jacob Eschenburg. Gerard Schwarz is slated to become music director of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, beginning with the 2001–02 season. He will continue as music director of the Seattle Symphony and the New York Chamber Symphony but is scaling back to the position of conductor emeritus of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra in 2001. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has appointed Brooklyn Philharmonic music director Robert Spano as its new music director, replacing Yoel Levi, and San Francisco Opera music director Donald Runnicles as its principal guest conductor, effective September 2001. The Houston Symphony has chosen Michael Krajewski as principal pops conductor starting with the 2000–01 season. Arthur Post has been named resident conductor of the New World Symphony. The Beloit Janesville Symphony Orchestra in Wisconsin has appointed Robert Tomaro as music director and conductor. And Pamela Rosenberg will succeed Lotfi Mansouri as general director of the San Francisco Opera, effective in August 2001. William dePasquale has been promoted to co-concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra. The Charleston Symphony Orchestra has three new principals: Charles Barr, bass, Jan Christy, viola, and Renia Madura, second violin. Beth Ilana Schneider has become principal second violinist of the Arizona Opera, and Jennifer Ross is the new principal second of the Pittsburgh Symphony. Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Ned Rorem has been elected president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is only the fifth composer to the head the Academy in its 102 years. Despite positions on the faculties of the Curtis Institute and the Manhattan School of Music, Rorem claims that this will be his "first grown-up job," and further jokes, "Since music is the most neglected of the arts, my first task as president will be to change the name of this organization to the American Academy of Arts, Letters, and Music." Competitions and Awards Fifteen-year-old Lena Neudauer of Germany won the first prize of DM15,000 ($7,440) at the Leopold Mozart Violin Competition in Augsberg, Germany, as well as the Mozart, Richard Strauss, and Audience Prizes. Second prize went to Bogdan Zvoristeanu of Romania, 28, and third was taken by Katja Lämmermann of Germany, 18. The St. Louis Symphony Volunteer Association 2000 Competition was held February 5–6, 2000. Although held annually, the competition is open to string players only every four years. Saeka Matsuyama, 19 and a freshman at Juilliard, took the first prize of $10,000, a solo appearance with the St. Louis Symphony, and an appearance on a live radio broadcast. Second ($3,000) was won by Ariadne Daskalakis, age 30, and third ($1,000) went to Yu Jeong Lee, 20. The 2000 Concert Artists Guild Competition in February awarded no first prize, but violinist Min Jung Kang received the Rockport Chamber Music Festival Prize (a performance at the festival in the summer of 2001). At the Grammy Awards on February 23, Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony received the nod for Best Classical Album and Best Orchestral Performance for their recording of Stravinsky’s Firebird, Rite of Spring, and Perséphone. Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and pianist Lambert Orkis won Best Chamber-Music Performance for a CD of the Beethoven Violin Sonatas. Best Classical Contemporary Composition went to Pierre Boulez for his work Répons. Scoring on Marketplace Reno, Nevada–based string quartet the String Beings (Van Vinikow, Dom Toti, violin; Tianna Heppner, viola; Janet Toti, cello) has been honored by a public radio program. Marketplace, a radio show on finance produced by the University of Southern California and distributed by Public Radio International, held a contest this winter for new versions of "We’re in the Money" and "Stormy Weather," which are played behind a daily Wall Street news recap (the former when the Dow Jones is up, the latter when it’s down). Three groups’ versions were chosen, including those of the String Beings. Perhaps the clincher was a nonstring sound: "I was inspired at the last minute to add the sound of a slot machine jackpot being hit," explains leader and founder Vinikow. "The elegant sound of strings combined with the clinking of coins made our entry unique." Marketplace is heard by 3.7 million listeners each week on more than 290 public radio stations across the U.S., and is carried in Europe by World Radio Network. "Bonjour" to Bank The 1696 "Bonjour" Stradivari cello, valued at $4 million, and two violins by well-known Turinese makers are the latest instruments on loan to the Canada Council’s Instrument Bank from an anonymous American businessperson. Taken with the violins—an 1820 Giovanni Francesco Pressenda (worth $250,000) and a 1902 Enrico Rocca ($150,000)—the high-priced cello brings to seven the number of instruments the mystery donor has loaned to the arts group. The Antonio Stradivari cello got its name from Abel Bonjour, an amateur Parisian musician who owned it until his death in about 1885. Half a century later, the instrument was included in the 1937 Stradivari Bicentennial Exhibition in Cremona, Italy, and appeared in the show’s catalog, thanks to Dr. Hans Kühne of Cologne, Germany, who owned it at that time. The cello became part of the current owner’s growing collection in the fall of 1999. The Instrument Bank was created 15 years ago, to make fine stringed instruments available to gifted Canadian players. Its holdings, which include some instruments that are owned by the Canada Council and others on loan to the organization, are available for two-year periods. Cellist Denise Djokic and violinist Lara St. John are among the musicians who have won the opportunity to play one of the coveted instruments. For more information, write to The Canada Council for the Arts, Endowments and Prizes, 350 Albert St., PO Box 1047, Ottawa, ON K1P 5V8, Canada; telephone (800) 263-5588; fax (613) 566-4407; or point your Web browser to www.canadacouncil.ca. —Juliana Farha Early Berkeley The sixth biennial Berkeley Festival and Exhibition will be held June 4–11, 2000. Focused on medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music, the festival will feature more than 30 concerts, master classes, symposia, and association meetings. The exhibition, held June 8–11, will offer displays of early instruments, sheet music, accessories, recordings, and new and rare publications, as well as a series of miniconcerts and instrument demonstrations. Admission to the exhibition and its events is free. To mark the 250th anniversary of J.S. Bach’s death, his works will be performed at the festival by groups including the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the California Bach Society, and the American Bach Soloists; the latter is also sponsoring its second international Bach competition, this year for young Baroque violinists. Other concerts include performances by violinist Elizabeth Wallfisch and early-music groups The King’s Noyse, Ensemble Anonymous, and Rebel. A highlight will be Le Carrousel du Roi, a pageant, concert, and equestrian ballet originally presented in 1612 for the marriage of Louis XIII, performed to Robert Ballard’s original music played by members of the Orchestra of the Renaissance and The Whole Noyse. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the festival’s Web site, bfx.berkeley.edu, or call (510) 642-9988. Coming Contests The International Tibor Varga Violin Competition will be held August 9–18, 2000 in Sion, Switzerland. Open to violinists ages 15–32, the competition offers prizes totaling CHF35,000 ($21,000). The deadline for entry is May 1; write to Association du Festival Tibor Varga, Case Postale 1429, CH-1951 Sion, Switzerland; call (41) 27 323 4317; or fax (41) 27 323 4662. The Rodolfo Lipizer International Violin Competition is slated for September 9–17, 2000, in Gorizia, Italy, and is open to violinists under age 35. First prize is 11,000,000 lire ($5,500) and a violin from the Antonio Stradivari International School of Violin Making in Cremona. Apply by May 15. Write to Via Don Giovanni Bosco 91, I-34170 Gorizia, Italy; call (39) 0481 34775; or e-mail lipizer@mail.seta.it. The International Violin Competition Premio Nicolò Paganini, for violinists under age 33, will be held September 29–October 8, 2000, in Genoa, Italy. First prize is 20,000,000 lire ($10,000) and a performance. The deadline is May 31. Write to Secretariat Premio Paganini, Casella Postale 586, c/o Ufficio Postale, I-16100 Genova Centro, Italy; phone (39) 010 557111; or fax (39) 024 69272. The International Van Wasenaer Competition, for Baroque ensembles of two to eight players, will be held in the Hague November 15–18, 2000. Players must be ages 18–28 and will compete for a first prize of NLG10,000 ($4,400). Apply by May 31 to Impulse Art Management, Willemsparkweg 114, NL-1071 HN Amsterdam, The Netherlands; fax (31) 20 6754061; or e-mail friedman@xs4all.nl. Monumental Fiddling The Homestead National Monument of America, in Beatrice, Nebraska, is holding a fiddle and songwriting workshop on May 27, 2000, followed by its Monumental Fiddling Championship. The workshop will be held at 10 a.m. by singers and multi-instrumentalists Debby Greenblatt and David Seay, who are Master Artists with the Nebraska Arts Council. Participants will have the chance to perform their original works in the evening, after the final round of the fiddling championship. The contest will offer three prizes each in the Junior Division (for fiddlers who have been playing for five years or fewer) and the Senior Division. All events are free. For more information, call (402) 223-3514 or write to Superintendent, Homestead National Monument of America, 8523 West State Highway 4, Beatrice, NE 68310. Composer Symposium The Lancaster Festival, Ohio’s largest celebration of music and arts, is holding an orchestral-composition contest for new works that have never been publicly performed. The contest is open to composers of all ages who are American citizens. The work must be between five and 15 minutes long and may be an overture, suite, tone poem, or symphonic movement. Up to four finalists will be invited to the Composers’ Symposium on July 24, 2000, when the works will be read by the Lancaster Festival Chamber Orchestra. A $150 stipend will be given so that the composer can provide orchestral parts; finalists will also receive a travel stipend and accommodations. The winner will receive $1,000 and a premiere performance by the Festival Orchestra on July 27. For more information, call (740) 687-4808 or visit www.lanfest.org. News, from the U.S. or abroad, is always welcome. Please mail to Jessamyn Reeves-Brown, News & Notes, Strings, PO Box 767, San Anselmo, CA 94979; fax to (415) 485-0831; or e-mail to jessamyn@stringletter.com.
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