A very British tradition
Newark School of Violin Making has an alumni list that reads like a Who’s Who of the violin world. As it celebrates its 50th anniversary,...
top of page
Mar 3, 2022
Death of a salesman
The death of violin expert Norman Rosenberg marks the end of an era and raises questions for the violin world There are some people who...
Sep 5, 2016
Birth of a salesman
Car boot sales offer a brilliant lesson in salesmanship, and for this rookie also raised questions about buying and selling violins I’m...
Jan 28, 2016
A musical tonic for the soul
A trip to the Musical Instrument Museum in Arizona offered profound and uplifting insights into the human condition, and interesting...
Oct 8, 2015
George Eliot on violin-making obsession and the genius of Stradivarius
To mark the UK's National Poetry Day, 8th October, here's George Eliot's great poem about violin making and the obsession with which...
Sep 4, 2015
Thomas Demenga: ‘Sometimes I think we’re producing too many musicians at conservatoires’
The Swiss cellist Thomas Demenga discusses the fierce competition in today’s music world, how students should spend less time online and...
Jun 22, 2015
Violin Utopia in Oberlin
As some of the world's finest violin makers gather in the small university town of Oberlin, Ohio, to share their knowledge at the annual...
Jun 11, 2015
Let’s show modern instruments some #love
The Elbow Music social media campaign puts modern instruments in the spotlight My recent article about Frank Peter Zimmermann’s dilemma...
May 25, 2015
Brave new violin world
A new collection of specially commissioned unantiqued instruments offers hope of a new Zeitgeist around modern violins. Will top soloists...
Mar 26, 2015
18 ways to support musicians
I have an article in today's Financial Times about music philanthropy, for which I spoke to some of the legion of generous souls who help...
Feb 23, 2015
The case for modern instruments
As two top violinists are forced to give back the classic instruments they've been borrowing, should more performers consider modern...
Feb 4, 2015
Spain’s Stradivarius quartet
A weekend in Madrid provided the perfect opportunity to view some unusual Stradivarius instruments There is a lot to do in Madrid –...
Sep 12, 2014
When Guarneri met Stradivari
I'm currently reading this charming book about Guarneri 'del Gesù', written in 1974 by Leonard Wibberley. I found it on a bookshelf and...
Sep 5, 2014
The art of ageing
Whether you're a maker or a player, or just worried about getting old, you should see the Matisse cut-outs exhibition The Matisse...
Sep 4, 2014
The science of violin making
There are many different tribes of violin makers, in my experience. Conservatives, Futurists, Archivists, Geometrists, Philosophers,...
Aug 22, 2014
The real secret of Stradivarius?
I had a lovely morning yesterday talking to cellist Natalie Clein for two forthcoming articles – about her new Saint-Saëns disc, for...
Aug 11, 2014
James Ehnes on violin obsession and existential crisis
My latest interview for Cozio, with violinist James Ehnes, has just gone live, so please go and visit. He had so much to say about his...
Jul 23, 2014
Charles Beare – violin expertise ‘not the real thing’
At first I thought this New Yorker article about the Carpenter family by Rebecca Mead was going to be a puff piece, but it turns out to...
Jul 15, 2014
Stradivarius violin blind tests – do they matter?
A really interesting article about wine in the New Yorker suggests striking parallels between how we choose wine and our attitudes to...
Jun 26, 2014
Arnold Steinhardt: ‘Don’t put your parents in hock to buy a violin’
A couple of weeks ago I interviewed Arnold Steinhardt, leader of the Guarneri Quartet for 40 years, for the Cozio website. Steinhardt is...
bottom of page