Violin Community News 2010, Op. 24

June 30, 2010 at 8:17 PM

Violinist Nick Eanet announced Tuesday that he will leave the Juilliard String Quartet, due to a chronic acute digestive ailment that makes touring very difficult.

The Juilliard Quartet; Nick Eanet is second from right.

"It is with a heavy heart that I must give up my position with the Juilliard String Quartet," he said in a press release from The Juilliard School. "It has been a privilege to make music and work with such wonderful people and musicians. Unfortunately, my health will not allow me to continue but I will remember my time with the quartet as a high point in my musical career." He had been playing first violin with the quartet since September.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/first-violinist-resigns-from-the-juilliarding-quartet/

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Violinist and conductor Jaime Laredo bought a Domenico Montagnana violin for £630,000 last week from Brompton's – a record price for that maker, according to this article in Gramophone UK. The fiddle was well-preserved and retaining its original label, according to the article. The violin was being sold by Dr. Bertrand Jacobs. Before that, it was owned until 1962 by violinist Joseph Roisman, first violinist of the Budapest String Quartet, and also a friend of Laredo's, according to the article. Laredo also plays on a Strad.

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Violinist.com member Adam DeGraff is up to his ears in videos from violinists around the globe who have taken his Rocking Fiddlers Challenge and are trying to learn his arrangement of 'Sweet Child O' Mine', which most people know as a Guns N' Roses tune. Honestly, it looks like a lot of fun, and he's giving prizes to students and amateurs who learn the tune over the next few months, including a $17,500 violin by Jan Van Rooyen worth $17,500, two carbon fiber bows, plus some $20,000 in gift certificates from Shar. The sign-up page is right here, and he'll send you the music. So are you up to learning this?:

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Now that the fiddle is in the news, here's a nice review from April, when violinist Elena Urioste, 20, had the lucky task of taking the “Vieuxtemps” Guarneri – the fiddle that's got a price tag of $18 million – for a ride, playing Ralph Vaughan Williams' “The Lark Ascending” in her debut with the Chicago Symphony. She had it on loan from the Stradivari Society. It looks like a fun fiddle to play, here is a line from the review: “Urioste’s barely audible fade into the distance could not have been more sensitively rendered, the young soloist winnowing her tone to a barely audible filagree.”

From E. Smith
Posted on July 1, 2010 at 2:05 AM

Actually, Nick Eanet is second from right; that's Ronald Copes on the left. :)

From Laurie Niles
Posted on July 1, 2010 at 3:19 AM

Eeek! Thanks, fixed it!

From Michael Pijoan
Posted on July 1, 2010 at 5:05 AM

edit:

darn I might be too late. Oh well, gonna try anyway.

From E. Smith
Posted on July 1, 2010 at 10:09 PM

I just wanted to say how glad I am that you resurrected the News column. And, go, Elena!

From Andrew Pollow
Posted on July 4, 2010 at 10:52 PM

That sweet child of mind video is awesome! I like the arangement alot. It sounds complicated in some places.

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