MEMETERIA by Thomas May

Music & the Arts

December 18, 2025 • 4:18 pm 0

Making the Violin Sing: Gil Shaham on Three Concertos Written for Him

Gil Shaham with Bright Sheng and Leon Botstein

A new Strad interview with Gil Shaham about Premieres, his forthcoming album of violin concertos written for him by Scott Wheeler, Bright Sheng, and Avner Dorman:

Premieres, Gil Shaham’s new release on Canary Classics, brings together three violin concertos written expressly for him and realised in close collaboration with conductor Leon Botstein and The Orchestra Now. Recorded at Bard College’s Fisher Center, the album reflects a network of long-standing artistic relationships and a shared belief in the concerto as a living, evolving form…

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Filed under: new music, The Strad, violinists

December 6, 2025 • 4:07 pm 0

‘Something Deeply Human and Expressive Breaks Through’: Leila Josefowicz on Thomas Adès’s Violin Concerto

Leila Josefowicz; photo: Tom Zimberoff

Leila Josefowicz reflects on her long relationship with Thomas Adès’s violin concerto, now out in her live recording with the Minnesota Orchestra and Thomas Søndergård. My interview for The Strad:

Leila Josefowicz has made contemporary music central to her career, performing new scores with the same conviction others reserve for the classics. Over the past two decades, she has built lasting partnerships with composers who expand the violin’s expressive language, and has inspired concertos from composers ranging from John Adams and  Esa-Pekka Salonen to Luca Francesconi…

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Filed under: The Strad, Thomas Adès, violinists

December 2, 2025 • 1:03 pm 0

A New Sound Takes Shape: Leonard Fu on Joining the Juilliard Quartet

Leonard Fu; photo: Eric Tsai

UPDATE: The concert on December 4 will be livestreamed here at 7.30pm EST.

The Juilliard String Quartet gives its first New York performance with new violinist Leonard Fu on Thursday. I interviewed him for The Strad about joining the storied ensemble and about the program they will perform:

As the Juilliard Quartet makes its New York debut in its new formation, newly appointed second violinist Leonard Fu reflects on tradition, renewal and shaping the ensemble’s evolving voice…
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Filed under: Juilliard, music news, string quartet, The Strad

November 28, 2025 • 3:35 pm 0

Gathering around the Hearth: Inside the Miró Quartet’s New Holiday Album

Miró Quartet: Daniel Ching (violin), Joshua Gindele (cello), John Largess (viola) and William Fedkenheuer (violin); photo: Barry Carlton

I interviewed John Largess, violist of the Miró Quartet, about the ensemble’s new holiday album:

Celebrating 30 years together, the Miró Quartet swaps concert halls for the fireside with Hearth, a collection of festive songs newly arranged by fifteen leading composers. Violist John Largess talks about collaboration, nostalgia and what togetherness means after three decades on the road….

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Filed under: holiday, string quartet, The Strad

November 26, 2025 • 3:32 pm 0

Richard O’Neill and Jeremy Denk in Recital

Jeremy Denk and Richard O’Neill; photo: Jorge Gustavo Elias

Seattle Chamber Music Society presented Richard O’Neill and Jeremy Denk in a sold-out recital Sunday. Here’s my review for The Strad:

Seattle Chamber Music Society brought the inaugural season of its new Signature Series to a compelling close with this sold-out recital by violist Richard O’Neill – best known as a member of the Takács Quartet – and pianist Jeremy Denk.

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Filed under: Beethoven, review, Seattle Chamber Music Society, The Strad, viola

November 11, 2025 • 12:56 pm Comments Off on Concert review: Tafelmusik with Rachel Podger

Concert review: Tafelmusik with Rachel Podger

Rachel Podger with members of Tafelmusik; photo: Jorge Gustavo Elias

Early Music Seattle presented a stimulating evening with Tafelmusik and the inimitable Rachel Podger. My review for The Strad:

Early Music Seattle, the region’s principal presenter of period performance, welcomed Tafelmusik for the Seattle stop on its twelve-city tour of the North American West Coast – aptly titled ‘Brilliant Baroque’. With principal guest director Rachel Podger leading from her baroque violin, the sixteen-member ensemble offered a sequence of works shaped, in part, by an aesthetic of translation and rearrangement – whether from solo to chamber forces or from the opera stage to more intimate instrumental settings. 
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Filed under: early music, review, The Strad

October 24, 2025 • 5:00 pm Comments Off on Sharing the Spotlight: The Isidore Quartet at Honens 2025

Sharing the Spotlight: The Isidore Quartet at Honens 2025

The Isidore Quartet at Honens: Adrian Steele, Phoenix Avalon, Joshua McClendon and Devin Moore, with finalist Carter Johnson in the centre; photo: Jorge Gustavo Elias

–> Follow the final round and announcement of awards starting at 7pm MDT on the Honens livestream here.

Tonight is the final round at the 2025 Honens International Piano Competition. I spoke with violinist Phoenix Avalon of the Isidore String Quartet about the experience of partnering with each of the three finalists in last night’s first round of the finals. Here’s my interview for The Strad:

For a string quartet, sharing the spotlight with fellow chamber musicians is second nature – but not usually in circumstances like this. The New York City-based Isidore Quartet took the stage last night (23 October) for the chamber-music final of the 2025 Honens International Piano Competition, held at the Jack Singer Concert Hall in the Werklund Centre, downtown Calgary, Alberta. ..

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Filed under: competitions, Honens International Piano Competition, pianists, string quartet, The Strad

October 7, 2025 • 1:19 am Comments Off on Happy Birthday! Yo-Yo Ma at 70

Happy Birthday! Yo-Yo Ma at 70

Yo-Yo Ma © Brantley Gutierrez

The legendary cellist was born on 7 October 1955. The Strad takes a look at some moments of the cellist’s unparalleled career over the decades…

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Filed under: music news, The Strad, Yo-Yo Ma

October 6, 2025 • 1:15 pm Comments Off on JACK Quartet Celebrates Helmut Lachenmann at 90

JACK Quartet Celebrates Helmut Lachenmann at 90

JACK Quartet in rehearsal with Helmut Lachenmann; courtesy of JACK Quartet

To celebrate the 90th birthday of German avant-garde composer Helmut Lachenmann, the JACK Quartet perform his three string quartets in a single evening at Columbia’s Miller Theatre – and reflect on their long association with his radical sound world. My interview with the ensemble for The Strad:

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Filed under: JACK Quartet, string quartet, The Strad

September 18, 2025 • 4:48 am Comments Off on Opening Night at Boulez Saal in Berlin

Opening Night at Boulez Saal in Berlin

Christian Tetzlaff and Leif Ove Andsnes open the Pierre Boulez Saal season; photo: Peter Adamik

I reviewed opening night with Christian Tetzlaff and Leif Ove Andsnes at Berlin’s Pierre Boulez Saal for The Strad:

In his famously mischievous binary, Ned Rorem asserted that ‘the entire solar system is torn between two aesthetics: French and German’ – with the kicker: ‘If you agree with all this, you’re French. If you disagree, you’re German’. …
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Filed under: Brahms, Maurice Ravel, Mozart, pianists, Pierre Boulez Saal, reviews, The Strad, violinists

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