Editor’s letterANGELA LYONS When Chad Hoopes won the Junior

ContributorsITZEL ÁVILA (Making Matters, page 72) is a

SOUNDPOSTLetters, emails, online comments

Open for businessAmerica’s concert halls have flung open their doors to welcome back audiences – who are still showing reluctance to return. What can orchestras do to alleviate their concerns?

NEWS IN BRIEF‘Musical segregation’: Nigel Kennedy pulls out of Classic

OBITUARIESSEBASTIAN HESS German cellist Sebastian Hess has died

In a new lightA quartet revelling in the peculiarities of Beethoven

COMPETITIONS1 Maria Ioudenitch 3 Seiji Okamoto 4 Yo-Yo

Against the grainA modified beechwood that gives ebony a run for its money

RED HOTViolin Varnish Italy’s new rosin-based oil varnish uses

FORCE OF NATUREThis plant-based, biodegradable and low-to-medium-traction rosin has been

Life lessonsThe celebrated American solo bassist discusses the importance of expression and communication in music making

Back to businessFollowing 2020’s Summer Season of broadcasts, this year’s Sun Valley Music Festival returned to free live performances, much to the delight of its thousands of fans, writes Laurence Vittes

STATE OF INDEPENDENCEChad Hoopes launched his career with a spectacular win aged 13 in the Junior division of the Menuhin Competition in 2008, but in subsequent years, the forward-looking, innately positive US violinist has deliberately taken less obvious paths to musical success, as he tells Toby Deller

A RACE FOR CHANGEStill now, in the 21st century, black people are inadequately represented within classical music. Pauline Harding talks to string players in America about lingering social oppression and what the wider community can do to bring about progress

SOUNDS LIKE A MATCH?If someone makes an exact copy of a Stradivari, will it sound like a Stradivari? Sam Zygmuntowicz attempts to answer the question by making duplicates of the ‘Titian’ and ‘Willemotte’ Strads, as well as the ‘Plowden’ Guarneri ‘del Gesù’

A QUESTION OF BALANCEItalian violinist Fabio Biondi’s new album of Bach Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin marks a unique opportunity to challenge established interpretations and beliefs surrounding these seminal works,

BOWS ON THE BAYWith a large and growing music community, the San Francisco Bay Area became a hotbed of violin and bow making talent in the early 20th century. Raphael Gold tells the stories of the most prominent bow makers of the day

WHEN WORLDS COLLIDEIn the Baroque and early Classical eras a succession of Scottish and Italian composers took an interest in fusing Scots fiddle and song melodies with Italian art music structures. Kevin MacDonald investigates the trend

IN FOCUS: JOHN FRIEDRICHA close look at the work of great and unusual makers

Making a custom cutter for a Parisian-eye ringA necessary piece of equipment to tackle an uncommon problem in bow repair

MY SPACEA peek into lutherie workshops around the world

Fifth harmoniesIf 5ths are driving you nuts, it may be to do with your violin nut. Itzel Ávila explains how luthiers can help by customising the piece at the top of the fingerboard to the player’s hand

BRAHMS STRING QUARTET NO.3 OP.67Richard O’Neill of the Takács Quartet looks at the first and third movements of this well-loved B flat major work, where the viola is thrown into a rare spotlight

Working on open stringsExercises to help you build up a strong, reliable right hand, with a consistently beautiful sound

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

RECORDINGSTHÈME RUSSE BEETHOVEN String Quartet no.7 in F

BOOKSThe Paganini of the Double Bass: Bottesini in

From the ARCHIVEFROM THE STRAD NOVEMBER 1911 V OL.22 NO.259

JEFFREY SOLOWBrahms’s First Symphony was the piece that inspired the American cellist to dedicate his career to music, and prompts a reminiscence of his teacher Piatigorsky