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• Simon Hewitt Jones, Violinist

  English concert violinist. Asking essential questions about what's happening to music and the arts, and the role of the violin in contemporary world culture.

• Contact Me: T: +44 (0) 20 7060 0607 E: shj [at] courtlanemusic [dot] com W: www.courtlanemusic.com Instant: Message My iPhone

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Some big concerts in 2009. Hope to see you at one of them! Details here.

The most boring of problems… a connection failure with the server (don’t ask me what that means).
Anyway, sorry if you didn’t get the webcast. But we did tape it, so highlights may/will follow.

As I begin working towards bringing you a constant stream of live performances and videos, I’m going to test-webcast a couple of concerts, including a trial broadcast tonight which should be watchable via the internet TV thing on this page.
No guarantees - this is purely a test, so there may be transmission problems - and there’s only […]

I stopped blogging when I was in Palestine, and that was over a month ago. I will start again soon.
In the meantime, I’m delighted to announce that the Imogen Holst CDs will be released very soon, but early copies are now AVAILABLE (yes! really!) so if you’d like to be one of the first to […]

In Ramallah now, it’s so easy to forget that you’re in a conflict zone, because during the day everything is so vibrant and normal-looking. But take a step outside the city and you can run into trouble.
It’s early Sunday morning here, and our (American) artistic director just came into the office (Sunday’s a working day […]

The educational structures and musical experiences that are being instigated in the West Bank by Al Kamandjati, Barenboim-Said Foundation, National Conservatory etc. [and indeed in other countries by other organizations and individuals] are, when done right - and things aren’t always yet done right - the most direct mechanisms for instilling creativity and a thirst […]

I didn’t do any teaching beyond the occasional masterclass during the last few times I was here. But this time, I volunteered to teach for a couple of afternoons.
It took me at least half an hour with the first student to realize that calling the strings ‘G, D, A, and E’ wasn’t going to cut […]

Back in Ramallah for some concerts, & also some teaching this time which is interesting. Concerts in Ramallah / Jerusalem on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
Nice to see they’re laying down arms for a bit. Hopefully that means that some of the 1million Gazans will have at least something to eat/cook/fuel/treat diseases with…. I’m very hopeful […]

I was amused by this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7400109.stm
Wine can affect the way music is played too.
I was talking to someone the other day actually, about an event, and I had to explain that I was attending in a ‘professional capacity’. They didn’t seem to understand what it meant, so I defined it as being able to play in […]

Once upon a time there was a boy who really liked buses. He really, really liked buses.
He loved the way they turned. He loved the way they parked. He loved the way they moved gracefully in the hands of the right driver.
As soon as the boy was old enough, he learnt how to drive, and […]

Hello again

I stepped out of the taxi and into a pool of blood. To my right, a butcher was hacking away at an animal corpse that was hanging above the pavement. Opposite, foul-smelling crates of offal cluttered up the roadside, and a herd of goats munched forlornly as they waited, unknowingly, to begin their own sacrifices.

The […]

I have many varied blog posts drafted and ready to unleash upon you, but I’m going to hold them over until after Christmas, when many changes will happen here, and new things will start.
In the meantime, I will be returning to the Middle East in the second week of December for a Baroque Music Festival, […]

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My Blogbreak has come to an end! I’ve cleaned up a few bits and pieces on the site, and put in a proper homepage. Look forward to communicating with you all again. Onward…

I have to lock myself away for two months to work on some projects for the Autumn. I won’t be blogging much until the end of June. See you soon.

I was just browsing the website of my Alma Mater, and noticed that my left hand (see the big picture, left) appears to have become the new image for lunchtime concerts!
In other news, Court Lane just relaunched this. And from the stats I’m seeing coming in, everyone’s talking about it.
Many ideas to share with you […]

Well, I said that in the month off from performing I’d expand my teaching studio, and I’m delighted to have done so by over 400%, which I am not altogether displeased with, as they say (read my guiding principles on this old post from last year). I can only take on a few more people […]

Norman Lebrecht must appreciate the irony of commentating on a medium, the purpose of which often seems to be to commentate on the kind of commentary that he uses to commentate on that same medium!
The last of his BBC Radio 3 shows is worth listening to, and is online until Sunday at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/lebrechtlive/index.shtml
One thing that […]

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