May 20, 2026 • 9:20 am 0
Always a pleasure to speak with cellist and composer Paul Wiancko. Looking ahead to his third season leading the chamber music series at Spoleto Festival USA, he shared some thoughts on the series and what’s in store for the 2026 edition, which opens on May 22:
Filed under: chamber music, Spoleto Festival USA, The Strad
May 10, 2026 • 9:41 am 0
Peter Sheppard Skaerved speaks to The Strad about his new recording of Michael Hersch’s epic Zwischen Leben und Tod cycle:
British violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved, known for his wide-ranging repertoire and interdisciplinary work, discusses the challenges and rewards of recording Hersch’s monumental cycle engaging with the paintings and drawings of Peter Weiss…
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Filed under: American music, new music, The Strad, violinists
May 2, 2026 • 10:52 am 0
Another remarkable concert during my recent New York trip: on its current 50th-anniversary tour, the Australian Chamber Orchestra stopped at Carnegie Hall with a substantial program including the world premiere of John Luther Adams’s complete Horizon for string orchestra. Here’s my review for The Strad:
For its 50th-anniversary tour stop at Carnegie Hall, the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) made a notably bold move. Rather than rely on safely familiar repertoire spiced with a token contemporary addition, the ensemble devoted half the programme to the world premiere of Horizon by John Luther Adams, a two-part composition that spans some 40 minutes, in which change registers in minute, often barely perceptible shifts….
Filed under: Australian Chamber Orchestra, John Luther Adams, review, Schubert, The Strad
April 15, 2026 • 7:30 am Comments Off on ‘A Rendez-Vous with Silence’: Cellist Camille Thomas on Making Her New Album at Tippet Rise Art Center
I interviewed Franco-Belgian cellist Camille Thomas for The Strad about the creation of her new album Rendez-vous, a project that she and pianist Julien Brocal conceived during a recent residency at Tippet Rise Art Center.
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Filed under: cellists, The Strad, Tippet Rise
April 6, 2026 • 12:11 pm Comments Off on Session Report: Midori on Recording Works by Robert and Clara Schumann
For the April 2026 edition of The Strad, I spoke with Midori about her album of music by the Schumanns, with Festival Strings Lucerne and Daniel Dodds as well as pianist Özgür Aydin:
For many violinists of Midori’s generation, Robert Schumann’s Violin Concerto in D minor occupies an ambiguous position on the edge of the core repertoire. ‘As a young violinist making my way through the repertoire for my instrument, I encountered a healthy portion of Romantic concertos – Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Bruch, Dvořák, Brahms and others,’ she notes. ‘But the Schumann Violin Concerto? It is missing from the list without that being overly noticed.’ It was only later, she reflects, that the concerto gradually took its place alongside those more familiar works….
Filed under: Clara Schumann, Schumann, The Strad, violinists
April 1, 2026 • 9:07 pm Comments Off on New Roger Reynolds Album
I had the pleasure of interviewing violinist Irvine Arditti for The Strad about his role in this fantastic new release of music by Roger Reynolds from Ekkozone records (for which I also wrote the liner note essay). He performs in WISDOM’s Sources, an expansive duo for violin and viola.
You’ve known Roger Reynolds and his music for many years now. Tell us a little about how you first connected and how your friendship and collaboration developed.
Irvine Arditti: Roger appeared at one of our concerts in Huddersfield’s new music festival in the early ’80s. We were playing music of Xenakis, whom I later found out Roger admired as much as I did. We were then a young, promising group rapidly gaining a reputation, and Roger offered us a quartet gratis if we agreed to programme it as much as we could.
Filed under: Arditti Quartet, Roger Reynolds, The Strad
February 19, 2026 • 10:13 am Comments Off on György Kurtág at 100
In celebration of his centenary, The Strad recounts György Kurtág’s musical upbringing and shares words from leading string players about their experiences with the composer and his music.
Filed under: Kurtág, music news, The Strad
February 12, 2026 • 10:18 am Comments Off on Beauty Unbound by History: Cellist Tommy Mesa Explores the Many Voices of His 1767 Gagliano
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 Comments Off on ‘Once a Musician, Always a Musician’: Itzhak Perlman and Peter Oundjian in Conversation
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 Comments Off on “Finding Hope in a Desolate Landscape”
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.
Arts & Culture Stories from NPR
MEMETERIA by Thomas May 