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Arts writing by Thomas May

“Classical music needs a new why…”: Vijay Gupta on His New Memoir, “Restrung”

Vijay Gupta; photo: Kat Bawden

The extraordinary violinist Vijay Gupta has built a career around asking where classical music can matter – and to whom – from the LA Phil to Street Symphony’s work in shelters, clinics, and prisons.

I had the privilege of interviewing Gupta for The Strad about his inspiring new memoir, Restrung, and why, as he puts it, “classical music needs a new why.”

Vijay Gupta had played Carnegie Hall as a child, studied at Juilliard and Yale, and joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic when he was only 19, making him one of the youngest violinists to enter the ranks of a major American orchestra. At an early age, he seemed already to have reached the destination so many young string players are trained to imagine as success…

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Filed under: music news, social justice, The Strad, violinists

‘I Was Terrified of the Blank Page’: Andrew Yee

Caroline Shaw and Andrew Yee; photo: Photo: Anja Schüts

I had the pleasure of speaking with cellist and composer Andrew Yee at the recent Ojai Music Festival for The Strad. We talked about her new album with Caroline Shaw, or, The Whale:

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Filed under: Caroline Shaw, cellists, The Strad

Paul Wiancko and Spoleto Festival USA

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:

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Filed under: chamber music, Spoleto Festival USA, The Strad

‘Hold on, do what you can!’: Peter Sheppard Skærved on Michael Hersch’s ‘Zwischen Leben und Tod’

Zwischen Leben und Tod – excerpt from Movement III, manuscript

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

Australian Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall

Australian Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall; photo (c) Jorge Gustavo Elias

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….

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Filed under: Australian Chamber Orchestra, John Luther Adams, review, Schubert, The Strad

‘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

Session Report: Midori on Recording Works by Robert and Clara Schumann

Photo: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

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….

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Filed under: Clara Schumann, Schumann, The Strad, violinists

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.

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Filed under: Arditti Quartet, Roger Reynolds, The Strad

György Kurtág at 100

György Kurtág receiving honour from the Franz Liszt Academy in Feb 2026; photo: Andrea Webes Felvegi

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.

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Filed under: Kurtág, music news, The Strad

Beauty Unbound by History: Cellist Tommy Mesa Explores the Many Voices of His 1767 Gagliano

Cellist Tommy Mesa; photo: Francesca Sacco

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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Filed under: cellists, The Strad

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