Editor Laurie Niles is writing a diary from Shanghai about the inaugural Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition and her impressions of China. Bookmark this page and read it this week and next!

Interview with the composer of the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto -- an East-meets-West piece that everyone had to play for the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition semi-finals. Zhanhao He and fellow Shanghai Conservatory students wrote it in the 1950s, to help Chinese people to relate to violin music. Plus impressions from the semi-finals.

Laurie Niles found out, when all 18 semi-finalists at the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition played "The Butterfly Lovers" Violin Concerto! (Hint: it's actually quite a privilege, when they are all top-level players - like American Sirena Huang, pictured at right -  with top-level instruments!)

Here is a chance to watch some of the finest young violinists of today from around the world. Find live performances Aug. 28 and 29 and Sept. 1 and 2, and archived performances from previous rounds.

Where did the beat go when I was playing that trill? LA Phil's Paul Stein talks about how to keep your trills in time.

This week on the Week in Reviews... reviews of performances by Joshua Bell, Christian Tetzlaff, Pekka Kuusisto, and Noah Bendix-Balgley.

Here is a new interview with editor Laurie Niles on building violinist.com and talking with top violinists - thanks Seth Hanes of The Musician's Guide to Hustling!

Just in time for the new school year, we are bringing back our luthier directory. Here's how violin makers can become a part of it, and here's our source for connecting with violin makers and restorers.