February 12, 2026 • 10:18 am 0
From The Strad:
The enigmatic-looking album title 17(67) pairs a fragment of internet slang with the year in which Tommy Mesa’s Nicolò Gagliano cello was made. Recorded with pianist Yoon Lee, the album places that rare instrument in dialogue with music shaped by different eras, traditions and cultural contexts.
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January 31, 2026 • 10:30 am 0
Ahead of their Carnegie Hall appearance together on Sunday, February 1, with the Colorado Symphony, I spoke with Itzhak Perlman and Peter Oundjian for The Strad about their enduring friendship and shared musical values:
A few weeks before their reunion on stage at Carnegie Hall with the Colorado Symphony, Itzhak Perlman and Peter Oundjian reflected on a relationship shaped over many decades. They spoke from different locations – Perlman from Florida, where he was leading this year’s edition of the Perlman Music Program, and Oundjian from his home in Connecticut – ahead of their joint appearance on 1 February, which marks both the orchestra’s first performance at Carnegie Hall in nearly half a century and a return to shared music-making for two artists whose connection began in mentorship and has evolved into enduring friendship.
Filed under: Colorado Symphony, conductors, The Strad, violinists
January 30, 2026 • 10:26 am 0
I spoke with Minnesota Orchestra principal violist Rebecca Albers for The Strad about preparing the North American premiere of Donghoon Shin’s Threadsuns – a viola concerto inspired by Paul Celan’s poetry, which she performs this weekend. Fabien Gabel conducts. Given everything happening in Minnesota right now, the piece feels heartbreakingly timely.
In a moving decision, the Minnesota Orchestra also announced a change to the program in response to tragedy in the community. Opening the concerts is the Adagietto from Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, offered in memorial for Alex Pretti and Renee Good, and shared “with love for our audience and our beautiful city” on a program that explores resilience and the search for “songs to sing” amidst darkness.
January 16, 2026 • 11:44 am Comments Off on ‘The Struggles of Our Time Are Ours to Own’: Curtis Stewart
Virginia Symphony Orchestra premieres Curtis Stewart’s I wouldn’t stop there: in the words of a KING this weekend. He spoke with The Strad about the work:
Curtis Stewart embodies a distinctly contemporary vision of the classical violinist today. On stage and off, he operates with a directness that resists polish for its own sake, favouring instead a sense of immediacy and responsibility. As a violinist and composer in equal measure, with education central to his work, he treats classical music as something to be actively made, not simply handed down….
Filed under: American music, The Strad, violinists
December 26, 2025 • 12:24 pm Comments Off on ‘Pur ti miro’: Martin Stegner on Listening, Balance, and Freedom
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The Berliner Philharmoniker violist Martin Stegner discusses reimagining early music for sheng, viola and double bass on Pur ti miro, an ECM New Series release bringing together Wu Wei (sheng), Stegner and Janne Saksala (double bass) in an unconventional but remarkably cohesive trio.
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Filed under: early music, The Strad, viola
December 18, 2025 • 4:18 pm Comments Off on Making the Violin Sing: Gil Shaham on Three Concertos Written for Him
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…
Filed under: new music, The Strad, violinists
December 6, 2025 • 4:07 pm Comments Off on ‘Something Deeply Human and Expressive Breaks Through’: Leila Josefowicz on Thomas Adès’s Violin Concerto
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…
Filed under: The Strad, Thomas Adès, violinists
December 2, 2025 • 1:03 pm Comments Off on A New Sound Takes Shape: Leonard Fu on Joining the Juilliard Quartet
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 Comments Off on Gathering around the Hearth: Inside the Miró Quartet’s New Holiday Album
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….
Filed under: holiday, string quartet, The Strad
November 26, 2025 • 3:32 pm Comments Off on Richard O’Neill and Jeremy Denk in Recital
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.
Filed under: Beethoven, review, Seattle Chamber Music Society, The Strad, viola
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MEMETERIA by Thomas May 