News

BLACKROCK, IRELAND — Sean Keegan has announced the upcoming release of A Bird Never Flew on One Wing, his debut recording of Irish Traditional Music on mandolin, tenor banjo and fiddle. A noted performer, engineer and producer, Keegan has worked with many of the most prestigious ...

WUPPERTAL, GERMANY — Mike Marshall has announced the release of Mike Marshall Mandocello Solo J​.​S. Bach Cello Suite #2 BWV 1008, available for purchase on Bandcamp. The release of Suite #2 comes on the heels of last year's release of J.S. Bach Cello ...

BAARN, THE NETHERLANDS — Pentatone Music and Alon Sariel have announced a June 24 digital release for Plucked Bach, an exploration of Bach's cello suites performed on mandolin, arch-lute, chitarra Spagnola, liuto attiorbato and oud, concluding with Sariel's own Bach-inspired Mandolin Partita.
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POMONA, CALIF. — Eastman Strings has announced the availability of their new MDO605 octave mandolin.

About the new offering, Eastman's spokesman told us, "We will see the first small batch heading out to dealers in late July ...

SAARBRÜCKEN, GERMANY — Charlotte Kaiser, an award winning mandolinist currently studying at The Hochschule für Musik Saar (University of Music Saar), has announced the release of her debut solo recording entitled Poems for Mandolin, which includes works of Ludwig ...

If you are reading this article today, please join us in rejoicing on the 100-year anniversary of the issuance of the F5 mandolin; an instrument sparked by two eagles, whose fire was fanned to an inferno by a third.

Steve Gilchrist with Lloyd Loar signed F-5 #70281. Photo credit: Roger H. Siminoff.

About the author: Luthier, Orville Gibson and Lloyd Loar historian, author, inventor, and acoustician Roger H. Siminoff makes ...

CREMONA, ITALY — The Second Annual Cremona Musica International Exhibitions and Festival will be held here September 23-35. One of the most important music fairs in Europe and the hometown of Antonio Stradivari, the exhibition includes high-quality musical instruments, including "Mandolini in Mostra," an international event focusing on mandolin. ...

İZMIR, TURKEY — Telemann's Op. 2 Flute Sonatas for 2 Flutes Arranged for Mandolin is the title of a new recording from mandolinist Bulent Yazici, available on many prominent streaming platforms.

As one of the most productive ...

BOLOGNA, ITALY — Tactus Records, The Italian classical music label, has announced the release of Giovanni Battista Gervasio - 6 Duets for Two Mandolins, Op. 5, performed by the ensemble De bon parole: Marco Giacintucci (1st mandolin), Francesco Marranzino and Luca Dragani ...

Photo credit: Steve Levine

Back in 1969, the mandolin seemed poised to become a sustaining part of rock 'n roll and popular music. Over the next three years, no lesser lights than the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Band, the Grateful Dead, and Rod Stewart would produce one or more songs that featured the instrument. Each of the albums went platinum. And Stewart's classic "Maggie May" simultaneously topped the pop charts in the U.S., U.K, Canada, and Australia.

The instrument's future in popular music seemed bright. Until suddenly it wasn't.

Over the ensuing seven decades, the mandolin has retained its beloved place in folk, country, and bluegrass, even ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA. — Andy Statman's 1986 recording Nashville Mornings, New York Nights, long out of print, has been was rereleased by Rounder Records last month on a number of streaming platforms. Originally released in LP format, it was never made available ...

PORT TOWNSEND, WASH. — Acoustic Disc has announced the release of The Tony Rice Unit Live at the Birchmere in download format.

On October 13, 1987 the legendary master of acoustic guitar, Tony Rice, played two inspired sets with his band at the Birchmere, one of the country's premiere intimate ...

BRUSSELS — Raffaele La Ragione and Arcana Music have announced the release of Mandolin On Stage, an album containing the four best-known mandolin concertos, which appear in a new light here thanks to the use of three different period mandolins.
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FAIRFAX, CALIF. — Peghead Nation has announced the launch of their newest course, Brazilian Choro Mandolin with Ian Coury.

Coury has been accruing professional awards and accolades since 2014, when he shared a stage with Brazilian choro legends Armandinho ...

LONDON — Hyperion Records and mandolinist Jacob Reuven have announced a May 6 release for The Mandolin Seasons, Reuven's most ambitious project to date.

With the supporting cast that includes accordion, harpsichord and eighteen string players from the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by Reuven's close friend and musical ally ...

KAILUA, HAWAII — KR Strings and the Mandolin Cafe are announcing the giveaway of a Mandolindo Scholar 4-string mandolin that will go to one lucky winner in the near future.

Registration for a chance to win will commence from a link on the Mandolin Cafe homepage at 7:00 a.m. Central ...

URBANA, IL — The University of Illinois Press has announced an April 26 release for Mark Hembree's memoir On the Bus with Bill Monroe - My Five-Year Ride with the Father of Blue Grass.

A backstage audition led Mark Hembree into a ...

WESTMINSTER, MD. — Common Ground on the Hill has opened registration for Mandolins on the Hill, a 3-week series of classes, jams, concerts and festivals, located virtually and in-person on the beautiful campus of McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland. Weeks 1 (June 27 - July 1) & 2 (July 4-8) are virtual, ...

PORT TOWNSEND, WASH. — Red Hot Strings Workshop, a celebration of Hot Jazz, 1930's Swing, Western & Hawaiian Swing that includes workshops, master classes and jamming returns by popular demand May 25-29 at Fort Worden State Park. Registration is now open!

Please ...

BIG RIVER, SASKATCHEWAN — The Northern Lights Bluegrass and Old Time Music Camp and Festival has announced plans for their Music Camp to be held at the Ness Creek Site on August 15-19 followed by the Festival on August 19-21.

Music Camp registration and Festival Early Bird tickets ...

PORT TOWNSEND, WASH. — Acoustic Disc has announced the release of Tiny Moore Live! Recorded at Larry Blake's 12/20/80 in download format only. Moore, on electric mandolin and fiddle is accompanied by Dick Whittington on piano, Robb Fisher on bass and Vince Lateano on drums in a collection that is perhaps the ...

NASHVILLE, TENN. — In a move legal scholars are calling unprecedented, Gibson Brands, Inc. has filed suit against itself in Federal Court for the Middle District of Tennessee for building and selling substandard knock-offs of iconic musical instruments pioneered by Gibson ...

ATASCADERO, CALIF. — Siminoff Books has announced the publication of The Art of Tap Tuning, 2nd edition, by Roger Siminoff, an in-depth treatise how to build great sounding acoustic stringed instruments by voicing their structure.

Originally released ...

TORONTO — Andrew Collins has announced an April 5 release date for his new solo recording Love Away The Hate, a collection of 10 original compositions. The project will be available in CD format and as a download along with the sale of ...