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Carolin Widmann Forced To Carry Bare Guadagnini Violin on Airplane

December 3, 2025, 5:27 PM · German violinist Carolin Widmann was forced to remove her 1782 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin from its case and carry the bare instrument in her arms on a set of Lufthansa flights from Helsinki via Frankfurt to Leipzig.

"No argument helped, and I was forced to fly home, holding my bare, naked Guadagnini violin wrapped in my sweater in my arms," Widman wrote on her Instagram page. "In the 25 years of my professional career, I often had to negotiate or discuss with airlines and staff," she said, but this was the first time she was met with such fierce resistance.

The incident unfolded at Helsinki Vantaa airport in Finland, where she arrived on Friday morning after performing in a concert with the Tapiola Sinfonietta in Espoo, Finland, the night before.

"As a violin soloist, I fly to most of my approximately 60 International concerts per year with this company," Widmann wrote. "I (or the promoters) spend quite a large share of my fee on plane tickets and I have a Senator status as a frequent traveler.

At the airport, she was told by the Lufthansa representative at the check-in counter that her standard-size violin case exceeded the measurements allowed as cabin baggage on their flights. Keep reading...

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The Week in Reviews, Op. 528: Tessa Lark, María Dueñas, cellist Pablo Ferrández

Laurie Niles

December 3, 2025, 2:39 PM · 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.

Tessa Lark performed Lisa Bielawa’s Violin Concerto No. 2, “Pulse,” with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

Cincinnati Business Journal: "Lark’s phrasing was expressive and upbeat, and her lyrical themes reached into the stratosphere of her instrument with peerless intonation."

Keep reading...

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The 2025 Violinist.com Holiday Gift Guide

Laurie Niles

December 2, 2025, 12:37 PM ·

Welcome to our 16th annual Violinist.com Holiday Gift Guide! Gift-giving is one of the great joys of the holiday season, and each year we compile a list of some of the year's best new gear, books, recordings, and other offerings from violinists for you to consider in your holiday gift-giving, gift-asking — and loading of the smartphone, computer or other device. We hope this allows you to consider a music-related gift. I've included a list of items that I've run across in my adventures as editor of Violinist.com, as well as items from our sponsors and our "Top 15" list of new recordings this year.

We also would suggest that you consider supporting your local live music scene by purchasing tickets to local music events or simply making a year-end donation to a musical non-profit of your choice. Please feel to add your suggestions in the comments section. And yes, in this case, you are allowed to toot your own horn and recommend your own recording or book or product! You may also wish to refer to our gift-giving guides from previous years; I've listed links to those at the end of this blog.
Keep reading...

REVIEW: Holiday Music You Can Love: Miró Quartet's 'Hearth'

Laurie Niles

November 30, 2025, 4:00 PM · You HAVE to hear this holiday album.

This is something I've seldom said about any holiday album, but the Miró Quartet's new album Hearth is the most worthy exploration of this genre that I have come across - maybe ever. Certainly for string quartet.

Yes, it is full of ubiquitous tunes such as Jingle Bells, The First Noel, Deck the Halls... But it's all about the arrangements: "For this album we asked each of our composer friends to set any holiday tune that they wanted in any way they chose that would work for string quartet, and share a personal memory with us through the music," writes Miró Quartet violist John Largess in the album's booklet.

The thing is, their "composer friends" constitute a dream team of today's finest composers: Anna Clyne, Clarice Assad, Gabriel Kahane, Reena Esmail, Paola Prestini, Kevin Puts, Michi Wiancko, Karl Mitze, Sam Lipman, Alex Berko, Anna Clyne, Jeff Scott, Michael Begay, Derrick Skye, Joel Love and Hyung-ki Joo.

That is a heckuva list. (I imagine asking 12 artist friends - say, Picasso, Monet, Chagall, etc. - to each pick a month and paint pictures for a wall calendar - certainly that would be a calendar for the ages...)

The result is an album of holiday music from the pens of highly intelligent and imaginative musicians. They have created arrangements that reflect the familiar while flavoring it with an enticing world of rhythms, harmonies and textures - and also showcasing considerable talents of this veteran string quartet. (Together for 30 years, the Austin, Texas-based Miró Quartet has earned many honors, including an Avery Fisher Career Grant and nominations for several Grammys.) Keep reading...

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