We have thousands of human-written stories, discussions, interviews and reviews from today through the past 20+ years. Find them here:

Search the site Search

Violin Community News 2010, Op. 27

December 2, 2010 at 4:58 AM

The Recording Academy tonight announced the nominees for the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards. In the classical categories, violinist Julia Fischer was nominated for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance for her recording of the Paganini 24 Caprices.

© Uwe Arens

Here's our interview with Julia from October, in which she talks about her recording of the Caprices.

Also nominated for Best Chamber Music Performance were Isabelle Faust & Alexander Melnikov for "Beethoven: Complete Sonatas For Violin & Piano."

* * *

American Suzuki pioneer John Kendall is recovering from a stroke he had on Nov. 23. We all wish him well!

* * *

Management of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra has canceled two additional weeks of concerts in the wake of last week's failed negotiations to end the eight-week musicians' strike.

* * *

Public voting on the top 15 finalists begins today at YouTube.com/BigBreak and ends on December 14 for Big Break, sponsored by From the Top and Carnegie Hall. The Big Break’s grand-prize winner, selected by the public, will appear on an upcoming national radio broadcast of From the Top on NPR with host Christopher O’Riley. The grand-prize winner plus several runners-up also will perform at a Carnegie Hall Family Concert on April 9 in Zankel Hall, produced in partnership with From the Top and hosted by Mr. O’Riley. Big Break winners will be announced on or after December 15.

The Big Break finalists are:

• Gideon Broshy (piano), age 16, New York, NY
• Emily Brown (double bass), age 16, Myersville, MD
• Samuel Casseday (double bass), age 17, Jacksonville, FL
• Jennifer Cha (violin), age 14, Naperville, IL
• Brannon Cho (cello), age 15, Short Hills, NJ
• Michael Davidman (piano), age 13, New York, NY
• Peter Eom (cello), age 15, Gilbert, AZ
• Helen Gerhold (harp), age 14, Lansdale, PA
• Nikita Haduong (violin), age 15, Henderson, NV
• Jiyeon Kim (guitar), age 17, Cleveland, OH
• Kate Liu (piano), age 16, Winnetka, IL
• Ryan Norville (flute), age 17, Fort Myers, FL
• Arianna Smith (viola), age 17, St. Charles, IL
• Marcelina Suchocka (marimba), age 17, Chicago, IL
• Kevin Sun (piano), age 17, Carmichael, CA

 How does JF manage to play (and so well) in those shoes? It must be some combination of youth, balance, and flawless technique.

It's one of life's secrets that only some women know.  Alas, I am not one of them.

I could never play in shoes like that, I´d fall over instantly :) I think the girl playing guitar is absolutely amazing.