Avendis Zildjian Co. of Massachusetts has purchased the Illinois-based Mike Balter Mallet Co. and will move its production into the Newport factory of Vic Firth Co., another Zildjian-owned company.

Drumstick manufacturer Vic Firth Co.’s former factory, at 77 High St. in Newport, sold at auction last week to Waterville boat dealer Hamlin’s Marine. Vic Firth relocated to a new factory across town.

When Vic Firth was growing up, he took weekly lessons on piano, trumpet, clarinet, trombone and drums —plus music theory. Only the drums — and the drumsticks — stuck. Firth, who for 50 years was the ...

During W.W. II there was the uncertainty of whether Avedis's sons would even return from the war. Consequently, Avedis wrote down the 'secret alloy formula' for the very first time and kept the ...

The timpani provides an essential rhythmic pulse for the orchestra. In the case of Everett “Vic” Firth, the iconic timpanist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1956 to 2002, that pulse was artful, ...

Everett “Vic” Firth, a longtime timpanist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra who became renowned among drummers of all stripes as a manufacturer of drumsticks, died July 26 at his home in Boston. He ...