Editor's letterCHARLOTTE SMITH It’s not often that a child

ContributorsWENJIE CAI (Making Matters, page 70) is a

SOUNDPOSTLetters, emails, online comments

You raise me upAn online community founded by and for women in lutherie has grown in leaps and bounds over the past three years. What are the benefits for the female contingent?

OBITUARIESANDRÁS ÁGOSTON Violinist András Ágoston died aged 74

New registry for fine instruments launchedA free, international public registry for fine instruments is

Basic instinctA violin concerto exploring society’s response to drastic events

COMPETITIONS1 Natalie Loughran 2 Dmitry Serebrennikov 3

Room for manoeuvreA new stop designed to offer freedom of movement and reliable stability

GOING STRONGPirastro’s Stark G and D double bass strings

SAFETY FIRSTD’Addario has designed a guard to protect rosin

Life lessonsThe Argentinian cellist explains why staying true to oneself and constantly evolving make for a fruitful career

Hybrid modelThe 2021 Princess Astrid International Music Competition worked around the continuing pandemic restrictions with online preliminary rounds followed by a live final on 18 November. Tim Homfray travelled north to witness some compelling performances

DRAMATIC flairFrench Baroque violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte has released four albums in a little over a year. He shares with Charlotte Gardner the origins of his dream of uncovering the works of long-forgotten composers – and how that project has come to fruition

SMALL BUT beautifulIn the extensive literature concerning Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, there is very little about one of his more remarkable innovations: a refinement of the bow frog design that can be seen on many examples from his workshop. Michel Samson explains how the so-called ‘Alard’ bow was designed to make life easier for players and makers alike

AGAINST THE ODDSPierre Baillot battled against financial hardship and suffered personal tragedy, yet he became a leading exponent of the 19th-century French violin school. Martin Wulfhorst reveals his importance as an instrumentalist, pedagogue and compose

GOOD AS NEWThe second album from the United Strings of Europe features original arrangements of existing works by artistic director Julian Azkoul – but more than this, the works are thematically linked by transformation and loss, as he tells Toby Deller

THE WELL HARMONISED MOULDThe logic governing the structure of Stradivari’s violins remains a mystery. André Theuni s and Alexandre Wajnberg take a fresh look at his moulds to find an intriguing system of proportions, utilising the tools and measuring systems of his day

EVOLUTION OF A PARTNERSHIPSix years ago, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire head of strings Louise Lansdown established a partnership with a music centre in Soweto to launch the Arco project, providing in-person and online lessons for South African string students. Here she reflects on the importance of the scheme and on how it has developed

SINETHEMBA NGIBA – ARCO VIOLINIST, AGED 21TOP PHOTO JAN REPKO. BOX OUT PHOTO ARCO

NJABULO NXUMALO – ARCO DOUBLE BASSIST, AGED 21My love of music started from a very

VIHUELA DE ARCOA close look at the work

A tool to measure string tensionHow luthiers can create a device to find the optimum tension of a string – and a few good reasons to use it

MY SPACEA peek into lutherie workshops around the world

The price is right Points of interest to violin and bow makers

BRUCH’S ROMANCE OP.85Violist and composer Konstantin Boyarsky considers nerves, narrative and the influence of the opera in his discussion of this late Romantic piece

New perspectives on bow curves for double bassNew perspectives on bow curves for double bass

ReviewsYour monthly critical round-up of performances, recordings and publications

ReviewsRECORDINGS

ReviewsBOOKS

From the ARCHIVEViolin pedagogue Percival Hodgson advocates a system of pattern recognition to help young players, rather than the laborious method of learning the names of notes

IN THE NEXT ISSUELeonidas Kavakos The violinist discusses his new

PHILIPPE GRAFFINFor the Elgar Violin Concerto, the French violinist has taken advice from Yehudi Menuhin, Josef Gingold and Roger Norrington – as well as the composer’s original manuscript