Violin Community News 2010, Op. 8

March 4, 2010 at 2:13 AM

Violinist Yura Lee, 24, of South Korea, won the fifth annual UNISA International String Competition in South Africa last month, here is an article about it. Her winning pieces included the Beethoven Violin Sonata in D Major Op. 12, No. 1, and the Valse-Scherzo by Tchaikovsky.

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David Soyer, 1923-2010. String players are mourning the death last week of cellist David Soyer, a founding member of the Guarneri Quartet who served on the faculties of Curtis, the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music and taught lessons until two weeks before his death at age 87. Here is the obituary that appeared in the New York Times.

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Forget about having your child listen to Mozart to boost his or her brainpower; you're going to have spring for the actual violin lessons. Apparently, the much-ballyhooed Mozart Effect only works if you learn to play an instrument, according to an article last week in the LA Times.

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Congratulations to violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, who, according to this story about canceling a performance with the Springfield Symphony, appears to be expecting.

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Four concerts next week in Carnegie Hall will feature the various faces of the Kronos String Quartet, which will perform one concert that features of all works by Terry Riley; another concert with electronics and toy instruments; another with an Arctic theme, and then the last concert with Central Asian and Korean artists. The New York Times featured the quartet in an article that goes in to depth about these projects.

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Former Wall Street Journal writer Joanne Lipman described in the New York Times last week how she dusted off her viola to play in a concert to honor her childhood teacher, Jerry Kupchynsky (“Mr. K"), a hard-driving music teacher who brought so many people together, people who still feel their bond of music.

From Terez Mertes
Posted on March 5, 2010 at 4:30 AM

So very sorry to hear about David Soyer, but SO VERY HAPPY to hear about Yura Lee's win. Congratulations, Yura! Thanks for the news, Laurie.

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