Founded in 2004, the UK’s Worshipful Company of Musicians’ (Musicians’ Company) Prince’s Prize was established to mark the installation of the former Prince of Wales as an Honorary Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians in 2003.  Awarded annually, the prize recognizes a promising young instrumentalist or singer amongst the Company’s Award winners.  The Northumbrian bass-baritone Michael Ronan has received an award of £5,000, with a silver medal after being judged the most promising artist from the Company’s award winners this year by a panel of adjudicators.  Addi ..read more

  To be held annually in Shanghai, China, the Z+ International Chamber Music Festival presented 8 concerts at the Shanghai Symphony Hall in April, 2024. The event was founded by Chinese-American pianist Zee Zee (Zhang Zuo), who also serves as its artistic director. Several of the concerts were streamed here on The Violin Channel. Audiences are invited to watch the festival finale concert on May 11 at 1 PM (ET). We sat down with Zee Zee to get an inside look at her newest initiative.   Tell us about the Z+ Music Festival. When was it created and what is its main mission ..read more

  The School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University has welcomed Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) concertmaster David McCarroll to its faculty. He will serve as an Artist Lecturer in Violin and will begin teaching in the Fall 2024. McCarroll already has a strong teaching pedigree, having lectured at the Mozarteum University Salzburg, and given masterclasses at the San Francisco Conservatory, the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. McCarroll’s education included studies at the Yehudi Menuhin School, New England Conservatory of Music, and ..read more

  Germany's International Anton Rubinstein Competition for Junior Violin was held on May 5, 2024, in Düsseldorf. The competition is open to violinists of any nationality between the ages of 8 and 15. The finalists had the opportunity to borrow an Italian violin and a French bow from the Blatov Foundation. These include a 3/4 violin by Carlo Bergonzi II from 1780 in Cremona, a violin by Bernardo Calcagno from 1743 in Genoa, a violin bow by Eugène Sartory, and a 3/4 violin bow by Louis Morizot. First Prize of €1,000 was won by Jayda Lu (Australia) and Valerie Bai (USA). Second Prize of ..read more

  Uto Ughi, who is widely considered to be one of the greatest living Italian violinists, has been recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award from Italy's Chamber of Deputies. He received the award during a short ceremony held at the Ministry of Culture by the President of the Culture Commission of the Chamber, the Hon. Federico Mollicone, in the presence of the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano and Natascia Chiarlo, Vice President of the newly formed Uto Ughi Foundation, which was established last October. The ceremony also provided an opportunity for Ughi to highlight his "Conce ..read more

  Born in 1962 in California, Steve Albini’s family moved around often before settling in Missoula, Montana. Albini was introduced to punk rock as a teenager and drew influence from bands such as the Ramones, The Sex Pistols, Pere Ubu, and Devo.  A pioneer in punk and experimental rock music since the 1980s, Albini’s catalog spans decades of records from bands and artists such as Slint, Jesus Lizard, Low, Mogwai, and Joanna Newsom.  Albini often dismissed the term “producer,” and refused to take royalties from the albums he worked on, requesting that he be credited with “Recorde ..read more

  The UK's Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) recently announced that Angela Dixon will become its new Chair. She succeeds John Gilhooly, who has been RPS Chair for the last fourteen years alongside his work as Artistic and Executive Director of Wigmore Hall. Dixon has worked in classical music administration for a quarter of a century. From 1999, she was the classical music programmer at the Barbican Centre, where her championing of living composers such as Thomas Adès and Steve Reich earned her several awards for programming. She became the Barbican's Head of Music in 2011 and worked on t ..read more

  Founded in the 1940s by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, the Britten Pears Arts organization in Suffolk, England, takes after the founders’ wish that the arts and music be useful and available to all.  The organization’s three-year £13.4 million capital program will ensure that legacy and see that its buildings and sites have improved accessibility and are financially and environmentally sustainable. Additionally, Britten Pears Arts received an award of £750,000, from the Arts Council England from its newly-announced government funded Capital Investment Program, of which it w ..read more

  Canada's Concours musical international de Montréal (CMIM) is currently underway until May 16 in Montreal, Quebec. 388 pianists from a total of 38 different countries applied to take part, and just 24 young players were selected for the first round, which you can watch here. Today, the jury announced the 10 pianists moving on to the Semifinal round: Elias Ackerley Michelle Candotti Antonio Chen Guang Jaeden Izik-Dzurko Carter Johnson Jakub Kuszlik  Arisa Onoda Anthony Ratinov Gabriele Strata Derek Wang  In 2024, the CMIM jury is comprised of Zarin Mehta (chair), Dmitri ..read more

  The musicians of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) have announced a vote of no confidence in Jon Limbacher, the orchestra's managing director. The 28 players of the SPCO's union held the vote unanimously following the recent resignation of their Artistic Director Kyu-Young Kim. The union's contract with the orchestra is set to expire this summer, and they are presently negotiating a new contract with SPCO management. SPCO violinist Daria T. Adams told the Star Tribune that last summer, while Kim was away on sabbatical, Limbacher proposed dramatically reducing the number of the orc ..read more