Clarinetist Narek Arutyunian says social media is “the strongest and most direct way for me to communicate with people who are following my music career.”
❑❑Teddy Abrams, the young music
director of the Louisville Orchestra, took a selfie at the White House and tweeted: “Apparently Bo (the First Dog) doesn’t run wild in the #WestWing but it was wonderful to visit @WhiteHouse & promo our @ louorchestra.”
❑❑The violinist Hilary Hahn, who tweets
under the guise of her violin case, recently posted on Twitter: “Big congratulations @NinaTotenberg on the discovery and return of your family’s Strad—AND, I presume, its violin case!”
❑❑The string trio Time for Three posted an Instagram photo with the caption: “Playing the #nationalanthem at the @
americanorchestras.org
keeneland horse races! Incredible feeling [to] play here and to be a part of such a tradition! @ lexingtonphilharmonic.”
❑❑Violinist Joshua Bell blogged for The
Strad about his thoughts on simultaneously playing and conducting Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto for the first time with his Academy of St. Martin in the Fields orchestra, and then tweeted it out to his 10,000 followers @JoshuaBellMusic.
❑❑Displeased with a Berliner Morgenpost
concert reviewer who wrote (incorrectly) that she had a “baby bump,” violinist Lara St. John took to her blog and Twitter with “Lara takes on the Berliner MoPo, schumucky [sic] music world, and gender bias! Whoo.”
It’s easy to keep up with the world’s talented teenage, millennial, and Gen-X musicians, because no matter where they are performing, most of them are posting on Twitter or sharing selfies—sometimes several times daily. Why do they do it? As 23-year-old clarinetist Narek Arutyunian puts it, “Social media is the strongest and most direct way for me to communicate with people who are following my music career.” A distinct advantage for these artists who are just starting out is that most social media is free. And for artists who are always on the road, often traveling from continent to continent, communicating in 140 characters or less on Twitter is quick and efficient. Pianist and Honens Prize laureate Pavel Kolesnikov, 31, sent me a Face-
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