The Piatigorsky Cello Festival

By Andy Fein, Luthier at Fein Violins
and Ivana Truong

Gregor Piatigorsky, affectionately known as "Grisha", was a giant of a man (about 6'5") and a giant of cellists in the mid twentieth century. With hands as large as his stature, he played his cello like it was a supple toy. And he made amazing music! Ivan Galamian once declared Piatigorsky "the greatest string player of all time!"

Piatigorsky playing the Chopin Sonata

Bonnaroo 2012 Stringed Musicians

By Stefan Aune and Angie Newgren of Fein Violins 

The 10th annual Bonnaroo music festival will be held this year from June 7-10 in Manchester, Tennessee. Bonnaroo is well known for its diverse lineups and arts and crafts atmosphere; in addition to the music there are usually artists selling handmade products along with movie screenings and live comedy. From Eminem to Neil Young, Bonnaroo has something for everyone, and it routinely features some of the best and; brightest of bluegrass, folk, and country-tinged rock. We wanted to feature a few of our favorite folk and bluegrass artists performing at Bonnaroo, many of whom include stringed instruments in their sound.

The Avett Brothers

SXSW 2012 - Stringed Instrument Highlights

By Stefan Aune of Fein Violins

Every year the South By Southwest (SXSW) festival descends on the city of Austin, Texas, bringing a deluge of film, music, and other media. The festival is particularly noted for its affiliation with hip musical acts, many of which feature stringed instrument players. Here are some of the stringed-instrument highlights of SXSW for this coming year:

Aiana String Quartet
The Aiana String Quartet, headquartered in Austin, Texas, was recently appointed the Young Professional Quartet in Residence at the University of Texas-Austin. Composed of violinists Roseminna Watson and Hanna Hurwitz, violist Mario Andreu, and cellist Jillian Bloom, each with stunning individual resumes, the quartet is noted for their outreach concerts that have taken them to music academies in California and elementary schools in Mexico. 2012 will see the quartet working with the Redlands Chamber Music Society and the Consortium of Southern California Chamber Music Presenters. If you attend SXSW be sure to check the Aiana Stringed Quartet on March 16th at the Creekside at Hilton Garden Inn, you won't be disappointed.

The Minnesota Orchestra

By Stefan Aune

The Minnesota Orchestra was founded as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, the same year of baseball's first "World Series." The orchestra made it's first of many trips to Carnegie Hall in 1907, and was one of the first orchestras to be heard nationally over the radio, in 1923. The orchestra thrived in the 1950's and 60's under music directors Antal Dorati and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, releasing classic LP's that have since been re-released as compact discs.

Northrop Auditorium, the Minnesota Orchestra's home, until 1974

Carnegie Hall's National Youth Orchestra of the U.S.A.

Written by Andy Fein and Angie Newgren

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? I don't even have to fill in the answer. Every musician already knows this joke. How about if you're a teen, ages sixteen to nineteen? The answer's the same, except now you can become part of the National Youth Orchestra of the U.S.A.

Carnegie Hall

If Only They Had Told Me

 Written by: Amy Tobin of Fein Violins

I have been a musician for nearly all of my life. I started playing the piano when I was three, and then I added the violin to that when I was ten. In fact, I went to college for music, majoring in violin performance.

I love symphonic music, and I love chamber music. When I was studying at Boston University, the faculty there did a great job preparing me, as well as all of the performance majors, for orchestral careers, but nobody ever talked about any other options. In their defense, however, other outside-the-box types of performance careers were not as plentiful or accepted as they are now, so I definitely can't fault them for that. If I had known then what I know now, however......

Fantasy Role Play... Band Camp: for Strings!

Written by Debra Krein of Fein Violins

What? Fantasy role play, you say? Yes. And it's for adults only, of course.

Not to worry, this fantasy role play is nothing scandalous. No, no. This is The Violin Shop, not craigslist, after all!

The fantasy I'm referring to here, is the chance for adult amateur musicians to live out their dreams, with a chance to perform with "the greatest orchestra in the world."^[1]

Schematic design by KPMB Architects

Instruments In Space

Written by Stefan Aune of Fein Violins

Atlantis blasted off today for the last space shuttle mission. It's surprising how many astronauts are also musicians. You might think that performing on a musical instrument and traveling through outer-space would be two mutually exclusive activities. Surprisingly, many astronauts choose to use their limited allotment of personal items to bring instruments with them, and on rare occasions they broadcast their performances back to earth. During a 2011 interview with National Public Radio, astronaut Cady Coleman played her flute for the audience and talked about the important role music plays in her life on the space station.

Cady Coleman isn't the first astonaunt to perform in outer space. In 1993, Space Shuttle Discovery mission specialist and classical flutist, Ellen Ochoa, had a flute performance broadcast back to earth for an educational event.

Magik*Magik Orchestra - Crossover artistry!

By staff at Fein Violins

Magik*Magik Orchestra

Ever wondered if you can really make a living being a classically trained violinist, violist, or cellist? These days, there are more opportunities than just soloing or playing in a symphony orchestra. In fact, the members of the Magik*Magik Orchestra have found a way to be successful musicians by thinking outside the box.

Minna Choi is the music director of the Magik*Magik Orchestra.

'Lady Blunt' Going Once, Going Twice, Sold - For $16 Million Dollars!

Written by: Amy Tobin of Fein Violins

I am a little late in posting my reaction to the recent sale of the 'Lady Blunt' Stradivarius. Perhaps I just needed a little time to process the fact that this gorgeous, near perfect condition, absolutely incomparable violin sold at auction for nearly $16M dollars! Here, let me put the zeros after that so you can get the full effect: $16,000,000

The top of the 'Lady Blunt'

image by Tarisio Auctions

The 'Lady Blunt' Stradivarius is the new record holder.
The almost $16M that it sold for is nearly 4 times the amount of the previous record, set by the sale of the 'Molitor' Stradivarius, for $3.6M, to Anne Akiko Meyers in 2010.

The other astonishing fact about the sale of this instrument, put up at auction by the Nippon Music Foundation,