Death of a viola legend, 84
slippedisc.com
Michael Tree, aged 84, died in New York. He was co-founder of the Guarneri Quartet and mentor to many viola players.
Monthly archive
April 2018 rare-string instrument intelligence
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7 headlinesRussell Crowe’s $104k violin leads Sydney auction in divorce sale
billboard.com
The article covers Russell Crowe’s auction in Sydney where a Leandro Bisciach violin sold for AU$135,000 ($104,000). The sale was part of Sotheby Australia’s auction titled The Art of Divorce, held on Crowe’s 54th birthday. A nearby costume from the same movie fetched AU$115,000, and the bid for Captain Jack Aubrey’s dress uniform exceeded expectations.
Hungarian cellist is upstaged by a centuries-old Strad
washingtonpost.com
The Washington Post review discusses István Várdai performing at the Phillips Collection, accompanied by a special guest, with the focus on a centuries-old Stradivarius cello dating from 1673. The instrument is described as the oldest surviving cello crafted by Antonio Stradivari and has been played by Várdai for about 18 months.
Violin belonging to Russell Crowe sells for £89,500 at auction
thestrad.com
The Strad reports that a 1890 Leandro Bisiach violin owned by Russell Crowe, used in the 2003 film Master and Commander, fetched AU$164,700 including buyer’s premium, about £89,500 or US$126,000, at Sotheby’s Australia charity auction in Sydney.
Violins of Hope: Master luthiers, father and son, restore instruments played during the Holocaust
knoxnews.com
The article discusses Amnon Weinstein, a master violin maker, and his son restoring instruments from the Nazi era known as the Violins of Hope; the instruments, including violins and cellos, travel worldwide to bear witness to the six million victims, with 66 instruments documented in the collection.
BREAKING | 17 year old VC Young Artist Kevin Zhu awarded 1st prize at Paganini Competition
theviolinchannel.com
Kevin Zhu, a 17-year-old VC Young Artist from the United States, was awarded 1st prize at the 2018 Paganini International Violin Competition in Genoa, Italy. Fedor Rudin (France) and Stephen Kim (United States) won 2nd and 3rd prizes, with other prize recipients listed among the participants. Zhu will receive €20,000 and invitations to perform on Paganini’s 1743 Guarneri del Gesu violin, among other debuts.
SQ partners with J.A. Beare for loan of the finest instruments during the quartet’s 35th anniversary , Shanghai Quartet
shanghaiquartet.com
The Shanghai Quartet received a loan of four fine Italian instruments from J.A. Beare’s International Violin Society in March 2018 to coincide with the ensemble’s 35th anniversary. The instruments include a 1714 Stradivari Violin ‘Kneisel, Grün’, a 1729 Guarneri del Gesù violin named ‘The Stratton’, a 1700 Matteo Goffriller viola, and a 1690 Stradivari cello, played by Weigang Li, Yi-wen Jiang, Honggang Li, and Nicholas Tzavaras respectively.