Strings Stories

This story was written by David Templeton for the May-June 2024 issue of Strings magazine and is read by editor Megan Westberg.

It’s shaping up to be a major milestone year for violinist Philippe Quint. The Russian-born musician turned 50 in March, right around the time he celebrated the 30th anniversary of his professional United States debut. More than 33 years after defecting to the United States from Leningrad, the two-time Grammy nominee has given hundreds of live performances and produced more than 15 albums, including the acclaimed Chaplin’s Smile (2019) and Korngold: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 (2009).

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This story was written by Thomas May for the May-June 2024 issue of Strings magazine and is read by editor Megan Westberg.

Nature sings in the work of countless composers in the Western classical tradition. The calls and flutterings of birds, spine-tingling thunder, falling raindrops: Vivaldi transformed a repertoire of found sounds from the natural world into some of the most memorable moments in The Four Seasons. But growing awareness that humanity’s relationship with nature has gone astray in the wake of the Industrial Revolution and modern capitalism could already be discerned long before we started becoming accustomed to unrelenting news of environmental catastrophe. 

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This story was written by Megan Westberg for the March-April 2024 issue of Strings magazine and is read by the author.

Venice isn’t a place easily rendered. It is a place where imagination and reality blend, and not always harmoniously, where the past and present sit side by side. And to a certain extent, Kobekina wanted to represent Venice as it is and was, but she wasn’t particularly interested in approaching that idea in a literal way. 

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This story was written by David Templeton for the March-April 2024 issue of Strings magazine and is read by Megan Westberg, Editor.

“I would try to figure out which composer it was all on my own,”  Grammy-nominated violinist-composer Curtis Stewart says, speaking from his apartment in New York. “But the real reason I would do that, close my ears when the DJ was talking, is that I’d realized, early on, that knowing ahead of time if I was listening to Tchaikovsky or Bach or whoever would change how I listened to it. It changes the feeling you have. It changes the sense of exploration.” 

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This story was written by Scott Flavin for the March-April 2024 issue of Strings magazine and is read by the author.

How important is your relationship with your grandparents? Has it influenced who you are or your life’s path? What if you hardly knew or never met them?

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This story was written by Greg Cahill for the March-April 2024 issue of Strings magazine and is read by editor Megan Westberg.

“I love that film and soundtrack music aren’t limited by preconceptions or genres,” says cellist, composer, software developer, and entrepreneur Tina Guo, 38, whose extensive film work includes the 2022 Academy Award–winning soundtrack to Dune. “Anything goes, and experimentation or seeking to always do something new is so wonderful and so exhilarating—depending on the project, anything from classical to electronic to heavy metal to country to new age to tribal to jazz. Literally anything. People used to tell me that I should ‘stick with one genre,’ but this is the perfect playground for me to release all of my creative energy.”

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This story was written by Megan Westberg for the January-February 2024 issue of Strings magazine and is read by the author.

The first thing you have to understand about the bowed psaltery is that it takes the shape of a triangle. A rather acute isosceles triangle, in fact, strung elegantly with a minimum of 32 strings that sing with bright silvery voices...

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This story was written by Maddie Denton for the November-December 2023 issue of Strings magazine and is read by the author.

"I’m excited about this tune because I think it’s danceable, which is ultimately my goal anytime I play a fiddle tune."

In the latest submission to our popular On My Music Stand column, fiddler and recording artist Maddie Denton discusses "Jenna McGaugh."

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This story was written  by Megan Westberg and is read by the author.

 “I was, of course, like many people, struck by her eloquence, her incredible aura, and also by her poem,” says Vogler. “I started reading more of her poetry and also some articles she wrote, and then at some point, I thought, ‘Wouldn’t she be the most fantastic contemporary answer in poetry to Bach’s music?’”

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This story was written by Megan Westberg for the November-December 2023 issue of Strings magazine and is read by the author.

From music to video production to marketing to merchandising, the Absinthe project has been a personal, local affair. “One of the goals of Absinthe is that I hope it will inspire other classical musicians to maybe think outside the box, take risks, do something creative that maybe you’re thinking of doing. It’s OK to combine interests. It doesn’t dilute you as a player in any fashion, I think,” Hersh says.

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