Strings Stories
Strings Magazine
Articles from the pages of Strings Magazine - read aloud by the editor and authors!
Strings keeps you informed on the music, musicians, and instruments that matter. Published since 1986, our editors and expert contributors share stories from the vibrant community surrounding stringed instruments. For teachers and students, amateurs and professionals, players of violin, viola, cello, bass, and fiddle, Strings is your magazine.
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Top 10 Strings Stories Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Strings Stories episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Strings Stories for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Strings Stories episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
05/07/24 • 13 min
This story was written by Thomas May for the May-June 2024 issue of Strings magazine and is read by editor Megan Westberg.
Nature sings in the work of countless composers in the Western classical tradition. The calls and flutterings of birds, spine-tingling thunder, falling raindrops: Vivaldi transformed a repertoire of found sounds from the natural world into some of the most memorable moments in The Four Seasons. But growing awareness that humanity’s relationship with nature has gone astray in the wake of the Industrial Revolution and modern capitalism could already be discerned long before we started becoming accustomed to unrelenting news of environmental catastrophe.
Cellist Anastasia Kobekina Creates an Aural Slideshow of Her Trip to Italy on 'Venice'
Strings Stories
04/26/24 • 10 min
This story was written by Megan Westberg for the March-April 2024 issue of Strings magazine and is read by the author.
Venice isn’t a place easily rendered. It is a place where imagination and reality blend, and not always harmoniously, where the past and present sit side by side. And to a certain extent, Kobekina wanted to represent Venice as it is and was, but she wasn’t particularly interested in approaching that idea in a literal way.
11/22/23 • 13 min
This story was written by Cliff Hall for the November-December 2023 issue of Strings magazine and is read by Megan Westberg, Editor.
Way up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin on the shores of Pickerel Lake is a small cadre of cabins on about 14 acres of bucolic land. Named “Fiddle Sticks,” this compact compound was the birthplace of some of the most valuable American violins ever built. But the output of those violins depended entirely upon how the fish ran.
A Look Inside November-December 2023
Strings Stories
10/25/23 • 2 min
Editor Megan Westberg shares highlights from the latest issue of Strings magazine and gives a behind-the-scenes look at how and why we started this Strings Stories project.
Get your copy of the November-December 2023 issue here. It's available in both print and digital editions. And, to be sure you never miss a new issue, why not subscribe? Strings Stories listeners get a special deal.
Sarah Neufeld, Richard Reed Parry & Rebecca Foon Improvise ‘First Sounds’—An Album 25 Years in the Making
Strings Stories
03/01/25 • 12 min
This story was written by Megan Westberg for the January-February 2025 issue of Strings magazine and is read by the author...
Violinist Sarah Neufeld and cellist Rebecca Foon first met as teenagers at an Ani DiFranco concert. This seems a good place to start, as any discussion of their new album, First Sounds (Envision Records)—on which Neufeld and Foon combine talents with those of multi-instrumentalist Richard Reed Parry—really has to start in the late ’90s, when this trio initially came together. The relationships, you see, came first in the origin story of this project and are inextricably central to it.
10/02/23 • 10 min
This story was written by Brian Wise for the September-October 2023 issue of Strings magazine and is read by Megan Westberg, Editor.
Aleksey Igudesman, the violinist half of comedy duo Igudesman & Joo, is no fan of the ritualized behaviors of classical performance. “Let’s be honest—the whole situation is ridiculous,” he says. “If aliens came down and went into the concert hall, they’d see people walking out dressed like penguins. People bow solemnly and don’t speak. All these weird rituals and self-righteous looks. The music they would get—the music is passionate, funny, fun, diverse. But the whole thing around it?”'
12/01/23 • 15 min
This story was written by Megan Westberg for the November-December 2023 issue of Strings magazine and is read by the author.
Through its repertoire choices and general performing ethos, the Kaleidoscope Chamber Ensemble is hoping audiences have a great time. “Joy! Enthusiasm! Pieces that people haven’t heard a million times!” says Urioste of what she’s excited to share. “We hope that young people, people who love clapping between movements and tapping their feet to the beat, people who have never been to a classical concert before, people who have been to countless classical concerts before but want to hear something they maybe haven’t heard before and smile because our energy is contagious will come to share the music with us!”
12/08/23 • 15 min
This story was written by Megan Westberg for the November-December 2023 issue of Strings magazine and is read by the author.
From music to video production to marketing to merchandising, the Absinthe project has been a personal, local affair. “One of the goals of Absinthe is that I hope it will inspire other classical musicians to maybe think outside the box, take risks, do something creative that maybe you’re thinking of doing. It’s OK to combine interests. It doesn’t dilute you as a player in any fashion, I think,” Hersh says.
Bach and Forth: Cellist Jan Vogler Plans a Collaborative Concert with Poet Amanda Gorman
Strings Stories
12/13/23 • 10 min
This story was written by Megan Westberg and is read by the author.
“I was, of course, like many people, struck by her eloquence, her incredible aura, and also by her poem,” says Vogler. “I started reading more of her poetry and also some articles she wrote, and then at some point, I thought, ‘Wouldn’t she be the most fantastic contemporary answer in poetry to Bach’s music?’”
A Conductor Takes His Place in the (Sort Of) Family Business
Strings Stories
04/19/24 • 4 min
This story was written by Scott Flavin for the March-April 2024 issue of Strings magazine and is read by the author.
How important is your relationship with your grandparents? Has it influenced who you are or your life’s path? What if you hardly knew or never met them?
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FAQ
How many episodes does Strings Stories have?
Strings Stories currently has 24 episodes available.
What topics does Strings Stories cover?
The podcast is about Bass, Music, Music History, Podcasts, Classical Music, Arts, Music Commentary and Performing Arts.
What is the most popular episode on Strings Stories?
The episode title 'A Look Inside November-December 2023' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Strings Stories?
The average episode length on Strings Stories is 11 minutes.
How often are episodes of Strings Stories released?
Episodes of Strings Stories are typically released every 14 days, 10 hours.
When was the first episode of Strings Stories?
The first episode of Strings Stories was released on Oct 2, 2023.
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