The article discusses the Canada Council Musical Instrument Bank, its history since 1985, and how it supports young Canadian musicians through instrument loans. It mentions the 1729 del Gesù violin loaned to Yi-Jia Susanne Hou (recipient in 2003 and 2006), the bank's current holdings of 22 instruments and two bows, and notes about funding, the luthier Ric Heinl, and the open competition process for selecting recipients.
Vijay Gupta, a violinist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, has acquired a Bergonzi-model violin crafted by Eric Benning in 2015, using Bosnian maple from the late 1940s and Northern Italian spruce from the 1920s.
The BlueWater Chamber Orchestra performed a concert at the Breen Center in Ohio City on February 27 conducted by Charles Latshaw, featuring violinist Emily Cornelius and cellist Linda Atherton in Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra. The program also included Arriaga and Beethoven, with Martin Neubert and Cynthia Warren contributing oboe and English horn commentary.
Ingles & Hayday report that a quartet of instruments by Jean Baptiste Vuillaume, consisting of two violins, a viola and a cello named after the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, sold at auction for £960,000 on 15 March. The sale was conducted by Tim Ingles, and the buyer was described as an Asian collector who values the set for its historical significance.
The article reports that a viola and bow were stolen from a musician’s car in Miami, as shared by Greg Falkenstein. It includes the musician’s appeal for help from the local and broader community to recover the instrument and bow and to warn others about the theft.
The Violin Channel reports a 16 9/16-inch Joseph Curtin modern viola stolen in Miami, Florida, on the night of March 18, 2016. The instrument, owned by a member of the Miami City Ballet Orchestra, was left unattended in a car; it is a Guarneri copy labeled Joseph Curtin, Toronto 1982 with serial number 8232, and was accompanied by an Ole Kaneström bow in a black Gewa case.
Timothy Ridout won the 1st prize at the 12th Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, receiving £7,000 (US $10,000), a London recital, and a viola bow. Second and third prizes went to Manuel Vioque-Judde and Wenhong Luo. The competition was founded in 1980 and this year’s jury included Yuri Bashmet, George Caird, Wing Ho, Garth Knox and Thomas Riebl.
Timothy Ridout, a British violist, won the 12th Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition held on the Isle of Man. He received £7,000, a London recital, and a viola bow from Bishop Instruments and Bows Ltd. Second prize of £5,000 went to Manuel Vioque-Judde of France, and third prize of £3,000 went to Wenhong Luo of China.
The article discusses investors increasingly buying valuable violins as a store of value, citing Daniel Hope and the famous 1721 Stradivari Lady Blunt, which fetched 11.6 million euros at a charity auction. It also notes price surges for 1930s-1940s instruments, the role of collectors and banks, and the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben providing historic instruments to young musicians such as Mayumi Kanagawa and mentioning Julia Fischer.
Eric Benning completes a new cello on March 30, 2016. The piece highlights his past motorcycle accident in October 2014 and explains the cello was begun in early 2015 as part of his recovery and attempt to continue making cellos.