Read more news stories here
The Los Angeles Philharmonic has announced that Canadian violinist Melody Ye Yuan will join the orchestra in September as its new principal second violin. The violinist joined the orchestra in 2024 as a member of the first violin section.
Yuan began the violin at the age of five in China before moving to Vancouver, Canada, to study with Taros Gabora at nine years old. She studied under David Gillham at the University of British Columbia (UBC) for one year before moving to Boston to join the class of Donald Weilerstein at the New England Conservatory. She went on to study a master’s degree at Los Angeles’ Colburn Conservatory of Music under Martin Beaver.
Yuan made her orchestral debut with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in 2012, and has since regularly performed with the orchestra. She has travelled across North America as well as Germany, Russia, Austria, and China performing as a soloist.
Yuan has also won various prizes, including first prize at the 2009 Yuri Yankelevitch International Violin Competition at the age of eleven, ranking third at the Canadian Music Competition, and winning the UBC Concerto Competition in 2016. In 2020, she was included in CBC music’s ‘30 under 30’ in classical music.
Yuan performs on a 1708 Carlo Giuseppe Testore violin.
In The Best of Technique you’ll discover the top playing tips of the world’s leading string players and teachers. It’s packed full of exercises for students, plus examples from the standard repertoire to show you how to integrate the technique into your playing.
In the second volume of The Strad’s Masterclass series, soloists including James Ehnes, Jennifer Koh, Philippe Graffin, Daniel Hope and Arabella Steinbacher give their thoughts on some of the greatest works in the string repertoire. Each has annotated the sheet music with their own bowings, fingerings and comments.
The Canada Council of the Arts’ Musical Instrument Bank is 40 years old in 2025. This year’s calendar celebrates some its treasures, including four instruments by Antonio Stradivari and priceless works by Montagnana, Gagliano, Pressenda and David Tecchler.