Prone to Violins

Boris Kuschnir is a Russian violinist and teacher born (in Kiev, Ukraine) on October 28, 1948. More than anything, he is known as a violin pedagogue and chamber music player. Several of his students play in the Vienna Philharmonic and some have international careers as soloists. Just as Arthur Hartmann and Tivadar Nachez knew so many of the musical luminaries in their day, Kuschnir does in his own time. As far as violinists go, Kuschnir’s website is probably the most comprehensive on the internet. I don’t know at what age he began his violin studies but, as a young man, he studied with Boris Belenky and Valentin Berlinsky at the Moscow Conservatory. He also studied with David Oistrakh. In 1970, he founded the Moscow String Quartet. He was 22 years old. In 1981, he left Russia and settled in Austria, where one of his first jobs was playing concertmaster of the Bruckner Orchestra in Linz (about 110 miles west of Vienna.) In 1984 he began teaching at the Vienna Conservatory. He was 35 years old. That same year, he founded the Vienna Schubert Trio (1985-1993, with Claus Schuster on piano and Martin Hornstein on cello.) In 1993, he founded the Vienna Brahms Trio with Orfeo Mandozzi (cello) and Jasminka Stancul (piano.) The trio is probably still active. He co-founded the Kopelman Quartet in 2002. This group is interesting because the first violinist lives in New York, the second violinist lives in Vienna, and the violist and cellist live (in different cities) in Spain. Here’s a YouTube video of the quartet playing (in Cyprus) the eighth string quartet of Dmitri Shostakovich. In addition to judging at many violin competitions around the world, Kuschnir also plays at music festivals far and wide, including the Spoleto, the Verbier, and the Salzburg Festivals. His best known pupils are probably Alexandra Soumm, Julian Rachlin, Nicolas Znaider, and Lidia Baich. There are many YouTube videos of Kuschnir in performance. Here is one of them. Since 1991, Kuschnir has been playing a Stradivarius from 1698 (or 1703, according to several sources) nicknamed La Rouse Boughton.

Daniel Stabrawa is a Polish violinist, teacher, and conductor born (in Krakow) on August 23, 1955. He is very well-known as the concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic and easily one of the best concertmasters in the world. In addition, as almost all concertmasters have done for centuries, he performs as soloist or chamber music player as often as he can. Stabrawa began his violin lessons at age 7. He later studied with Zbigniew Szlezer at the Music Academy in Krakow. He entered the Paganini violin competition in 1978 and came in a respectable sixth place. He became concertmaster of the Polish Radio Symphony in Krakow in 1979. He was 24 years old. He probably worked somewhere else prior to this but I don’t know where. In 1980 he again entered the Paganini violin competition and again came in sixth place. He first joined the Berlin Philharmonic in 1983. He was 28 years old. Herbert Von Karajan was chief conductor back then. Three years later, Stabrawa was appointed concertmaster – actually one of three concertmasters. (German orchestras usually hire three concertmasters considered equals – they are known as first concertmasters. They also hire two or three concertmasters of lower rank. It is very unusual for all three first concertmasters to be present for even a few concerts; however, it is also highly unusual for all three first concertmasters to be absent at the same time so this arrangement guarantees that a first concertmaster is always available to play. Therefore, an associate or assistant concertmaster rarely gets to sit in the first chair.) In 1985, Stabrawa began playing – as first violinist – in the Philharmonia Quartet (with Christian Stadelmann on second violin, Neithard Resa on viola, and Jan Diesselhorst on cello - Dietmar Schwalke replaced Diesselhorst in 1999. All are Berlin Philharmonic players.) Here is a YouTube video of the quartet playing a movement from the second of Beethoven’s Opus 59 quartets. The quartet recently completed recording all of Beethoven’s string quartets. Stabrawa taught at the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic for fourteen years - from 1986 to 2000. In 1994, he took an interest in conducting. He began conducting the Capella Bydgostsiensis Chamber Orchestra in 1995 (possibly 1994) and conducted it for at least seven years, although I do not know if he is still conducting that ensemble. It resides in Bydgoszcz, Poland, about 225 miles northeast of Berlin and 175 miles northwest of Warsaw. He has been quoted as saying that he actually conducts very little, which is understandable given the heavy concert schedule maintained by the Berlin orchestra. He has stated: “If you can direct, that helps a lot as concertmaster. Orchestra musicians have always felt they could do better than the conductor. But when you stand in front, you realize: Conducting's like playing the violin, you have to have an incredible technique; you need to know how it works. Every little wrong movement is transferred to the orchestra. Conducting is as hard as playing violin.” In 2008, he founded the Stabrawa Ensemble Berlin. As far as recording, Stabrawa has recorded most of the orchestral repertoire as a concertmaster, though he has also recorded some solo works. His solos in Korsakov’s Scheherazade are second to none (and I should say I have heard quite a few.) His sound has always been described as being very beautiful. You can judge for yourself here (in a short video, playing one of Jeno Hubay’s concertos with his Berlin colleagues) and here, playing a Wieniawski piece (Opus 20.) This one features him with Nigel Kennedy playing a little-known duo concerto by Vivaldi. Stabrawa has played a violin by Francesco Ruggeri from 1674 and might still be playing it - of that I am not certain.

Melanie Clapies is a French violinist, teacher, and composer born (in Paris) on December 16, 1981. She is one of less than a handful of concert violinists who currently write works for their own use, in the style of so many violinists of past generations – Tartini, Corelli, Nardini, Geminiani, Biber, Vivaldi, Locatelli, Mozart, Leclair, Paganini, Viotti, Lipinski, Gavinies, Spohr, Wieniawski, Joachim, Ernst, Vieuxtemps, De Beriot, Conus, Enesco, Ysaye, Kreisler, Spalding, and Markov are among them. In fact, the tradition of the violinist-composer has so much been neglected that violinists do not even write their own cadenzas to concerti anymore. Clapies does. As did Bronislaw Huberman so many years ago, Clapies has had a good number of teachers. She began her violin studies at age 5 in Paris and later, in the southern coastal city of Toulon, beginning at age 8, with Solange Dessane (Toulon is located about 520 miles south of Paris but only 25 miles west of Saint-Tropez.) Her public debut came at age 14. She later studied with Pavel Vernikov and Christophe Poiget at the Lyon Conservatory. She graduated in 2003. While studying in Lyon, she also studied with John Glickman at the Guildhall School in London as an exchange student. She later entered the Paris Conservatory where she was a student of Ami Flammer and Claire Desert, graduating in 2011. Clapies also received her Master’s from Yale University in the US this year (2014.) Her chamber music studies were under the tutelage of the world-famous Tokyo String Quartet and the Emerson String Quartet. Clapies has already taught at the conservatories in Toulon and Bordeaux, and at the Alfred Cortot Music School in Paris (Zino Francescatti, Pablo Casals, Charles Munch, Jacques Thibaud, and Paul Dukas were once teachers there.) She has also founded (with French cellist Yan Levionnois) a Chamber Music Festival in Burgundy, France. Clapies has performed most extensively in England, France, Italy, Russia, Canada, and the US. Leonard Bernstein once said that “music can name the unnamable and communicate the unknowable.” In a similar vein, Clapies has stated that her compositions are attempts to catch something from the inexpressible. She has also stated the following: “To me, a good interpreter is a researcher, someone able to find new ways to express and reveal what the pieces possess. I find a direct path to composition from there. For me, composing is a means by which to interrogate my surroundings; to make deeper my relation to it.” She formerly played a Tommaso Carcassi violin and a modern violin by Italian luthier Carlo Colombo Bruno but her current violin is a Joseph Gagliano from 1781. Nonetheless, Clapies also plays an authentic (period instrument) baroque violin on occasion. Among the works in her extensive repertoire is one of my favorites – the Schumann concerto. Here is her recording of the second movement from it on YouTube with the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra. You will immediately notice that her playing is intensely poetic. Her recordings include a collection of duo works – in a more contemporary vein - for violin and cello, available here. She is currently organizing a piano trio in New York as well as a project which will feature the music of Ravel which combines music and mime. In addition, Clapies is also interested in conducting! In her upcoming performances of the Beethoven concerto, she will be using her own cadenza. (There are at least ten cadenzas to the Beethoven concerto out there (Kreisler’s and Joachim’s being the most played) and Heifetz used his own too (some of it borrowed from Leopold Auer), but there are no contemporary violinists who play their own original cadenzas so this will be a unique joy for her audiences.) Photo of Melanie Clapies is used courtesy of Francois Olivier de Sardan.

Lydia Mordkovitch (Lydia Shtimerman Mordkovitch) was a Russian violinist, violist, and teacher born (in Saratov) on April 30, 1944. She spent much of her later career in England. She began her violin studies at the local music school in Kishinev (Kishniev or Kishinyov), a city in Moldova where her family returned after World War Two. Since Kishinev was a shambles during the war, her mother fled as far as she could (980 miles eastward, all the way to Saratov, in this case) to get away from the fighting forces. Mordkovitch may have been six or seven years old when she first began her studies. I didn’t take the trouble to find out. Beginning in 1960, at age 16, she studied briefly in Odessa (Ukraine) at the Stolyarski School of Music. (Odessa is only 96 miles southeast from Kishinev.) She then moved her studies to the (Nezhdanova) Odessa Conservatory. One of her teachers there was Monzion Mordkovich, a violinist I had never heard about before. [Please see comments below] She was there two years and graduated. She was 18 years old. Later still, she entered the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. She was 24 years old by then. Her main teacher there was David Oistrakh. In fact, when she first met Oistrakh to prepare for her entrance exam, he asked her why she had “come so late,” referring to her age. From 1968 to 1970, she was Oistrakh’s teaching assistant as well. From 1970 to 1973 she taught at the Institute of Arts in Kishinev. A couple of sources say she studied there between those same years but that is highly unlikely – Mordkovitch was already an established violinist by then. In Israel, she taught at the Academy of Music in Jerusalem between 1974 and 1979. Mordkovitch made her British debut on January 7, 1979, playing the Tchaikovsky concerto with the Halle Orchestra (Manchester, England) conducted by Walter Susskind. She moved to England permanently in 1980. She was 36 years old. All the while, she was concertizing in Europe, England, Russia, Israel, and the US. Her American debut came in 1982 with the Chicago Symphony (in Chicago.) George Solti was on the podium. In 1980, she began teaching at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. In 1995, she began teaching at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Mordkovitch made over sixty recordings, mostly under the (British) Chandos label. Some of them are unique in that they feature works for violin which are seldom heard – John Veale’s violin concerto, for instance. Her recording of the Shostakovich concertos won awards from British and French music critics. Most of her recordings are easy to find on the internet. Her best-known pupil is probably British violinist Pip Clarke. Mordkovitch played a 1746 Nicolo Gagliano violin for many years but she would use other instruments as well (mostly Strads and Guadagninis on loan from friends or the Royal Academy), especially when recording. Here is a YouTube audio file of her recording of the first Szymanowski concerto. Mordkovitch died on December 9, 2014, at age 70.

Jose Luis Garcia (Jose Luis Garcia Asensio) was a Spanish violinist born (in Madrid) on February 25, 1944. He is best known for being the concertmaster of the English Chamber Orchestra for about 25 years. Just as the names Ferdinand David, Raymond Gniewek, Glenn Dicterow, Norman Carol, and Richard Burgin unfailingly bring up the names of their respective orchestras (the Gewandhaus, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Boston Symphony, respectively), Garcia's biography is inextricably linked to the history of the ECO. He spent nearly his entire career in England. His first studies were with his father beginning at age 6. If he studied with anyone else in Spain, I do not know who that was. In 1960, he received first prize at the Sarasate competition in Pamplona. He was 16 years old. Thereafter (in 1961) he traveled to London to study with Antonio Brosa at the Royal College of Music. He appeared in concert in a Vivaldi concerto (for four violins in B minor) at a Proms concert (in 1963) at age 19 with the BBC Symphony. Malcolm Sargent was on the podium. Two years later, in 1965, he joined the pit orchestra of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. In 1967, he toured South America with the English Chamber Orchestra (playing Principal Second Violin.) However, by then, he had already (intermittently) played several concerts with the orchestra. In 1968, he was appointed associate concertmaster of the orchestra. He was 24 years old. In 1970, he made his second debut as a soloist at another Proms concert. On that occasion, he played Michael Tippett’s Fantasia Concertante (on a theme by Corelli) with the English Chamber Orchestra, of which, as previously mentioned, he was then Associate Concertmaster. The composer was on the podium. By that time, Garcia was already teaching at the Royal College of Music, where he had begun teaching at age 22, being the youngest to ever get a teaching appointment at that school. (Garcia taught at the Royal College of Music until 1982 - a total of fifteen or sixteen years.) At age 23, he led the string section for one of the Beatles’ most famous albums. With the English Chamber Orchestra, Garcia would also conduct and perform as soloist. He eventually toured almost every country in the world. Although he recorded as a soloist, he far more frequently recorded as an orchestral leader with the ECO. His best-known solo recording is probably Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. He also recorded Mozart’s five concertos and the Bach Double Concerto with the ECO. The recordings are easily found on the internet. It has been said that the English Chamber Orchestra is the most recorded chamber orchestra in the world, having recorded more than 1,500 individual works, even though multiple recordings of the same works (the Mozart piano concertos, for instance) are probably included in that number. (Although the orchestra generates quite a bit of revenue on its own, the orchestra also has an outstanding Patron - the Prince of Wales.) Garcia never wavered from his romantic interpretations of baroque works, unlike other British chamber ensembles (the English Concert, the Academy of Ancient Music, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, English Baroque Soloists, etc.) which embraced the period instrument (authentic performance practice) musical movements beginning in the late 1960s. It is quite interesting that in 1983-1984 Garcia offered his services to the musical establishment in Spain to conduct master classes free-of-charge (in Spain) but never got a call in response. Later on – between 1992 and 1999 – he taught at the Queen Sofia School of Music in Madrid and conducted the school’s orchestra with which he also toured extensively. Garcia studied conducting with Sergiu Celibidache. Among the orchestras he guest conducted (outside of England and Spain) are the National Symphony (Washington, D.C.), the Detroit Symphony, and the Israel Chamber Orchestra. He also guest conducted the Ft Worth (Texas, USA) Chamber Orchestra many times, beginning with a concert going back to October of 1977. His last concert with that orchestra was probably in October of 1992. As does another famous concertmaster in the U.S. (from the Boston Symphony), Garcia loved golf. He was also one of the very few musicians (and possibly the only violinist anywhere) who owned a Rolls Royce automobile. Garcia played the (Fritz) Hirt Stradivarius from 1704, also known as the Prince (Serge) Obolensky Strad and now known as the Hirt-Garcia Strad. Among the many other violins he played was a modern violin constructed by American luthier Terry Borman. (Among the many players who also play Borman violins are Pinchas Zukerman, Jaime Laredo, Pamela Frank, and Joseph Silverstein.) The Strad is presently owned by a private collector but is on loan to American violinist Esther Yoo. If there are any videos of Garcia's myriad solo concerts out there, they have not yet been uploaded to YouTube. Garcia died on August 11, 2011, at age 67. (Photo is courtesy of the English Chamber Orchestra)

Barnabas Kelemen is a Hungarian violinist and teacher born (in Budapest) on June 12, 1978. He is known for having won the prestigious Indianapolis Violin Competition in 2002. His repertoire is very extensive and includes Schumann’s concerto and Bruch’s second concerto which are seldom heard live. Kelemen also plays a great deal of contemporary music. On May 2, 2013, he premiered (in New York’s Carnegie Hall) a long lost concerto by Mihaly Nador, composed in 1903 (and revised in 1941-42) but never performed. Reviewers of the performance compared Kelemen to Heifetz. The audience applauded after each movement of the concerto, which is not typical, especially in the case of more modern works. Kelemen began studying violin at age six with Valeria Baranyai. He entered the Franz Liszt Academy at age 11 and studied with Eszter Perenyi. He graduated in 2001. He was 23 years old. By then, he had already won first prize in the Mozart Violin Competition in Salzburg (1999.) Three years after winning the Indianapoliscompetition, he began teaching (in 2005) at the same school from which he graduated. In 2010, he founded (with his violinist wife Katalin Kokas) the Kelemen Quartet. (Among violinists who married other concert violinists are Olga Kaler, Adele Anthony, Marina Markov, Ruth Posselt, and Elizabeth Gilels.) The Kelemen Quartet has also received top prizes at chamber music competitions. In addition, several of Kelemen’s recordings have also received awards from music periodicals and critics. Interestingly, except for the cellist, the Kelemen Quartet players sometimes switch places with each other – alternating between first violin, second violin, and viola. Kelemen has taken conducting lessons from Leif Segerstam and has already conducted a few concerts in Europe. He often appears in the dual role of soloist-conductor with chamber orchestras. Needless to say, Kelemen has toured the world several times (and continues to do so) as a soloist and with the quartet. In 2014, he began teaching at the Advanced School for Music and Dance in Cologne, Germany. Here is a YouTube video of his playing a well-known Mozart sonata. It shows how different his temperament and style are from a more conventional concert violinist but you be the judge. After winning the Indianapolis competition, Kelemen played the 1683 Stradivarius (Martinelli Stradivarius) that all Indianapolis competition winners get to use for four years. (The Martinelli was “restored” in 2014 and is currently being played by Jinjoo Cho) Kelemen is currently playing a Guarneri (del Gesu) constructed in 1742.

Sascha Jacobsen was a Russian violinist and teacher born (in Helsinki, Finland) on December 10, 1895. Jacobsen’s birthdate is also given as November 29, 1895 and December 11, 1895. Little is known of his early life. It has been said that he grew up in St Petersburg. He has been often confused with another violinist (from Philadelphia) named Sascha Jacobson. A humorous song written by George Gershwin in 1921 includes his (first) name (along with those of Jascha, Toscha, and Mischa – Russian violinists Heifetz, Seidel, and Elman, respectively.) It is known that he enrolled at Juilliard in 1908 where his main teacher was Franz Kneisel. He graduated from Juilliard (Institute of Musical Art) in June of 1914 (some sources say 1915.) He was 18 years old. (A fellow-student of his was Elias Breeskin.) In February of 1915, Jacobsen played parts of Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnol at an Aeolian Hall concert. On November 27, 1915, he made his official recital debut at Aeolian Hall playing (among other things) Saint Saens’ third concerto. After the announced program was concluded, he had to play numerous encores and he received very favorable reviews the following day. He first soloed with the New York Philharmonic on March 9, 1919 (at age 23) playing Bruch’s first concerto with Walter Damrosch conducting. Jacobsen concertized as a soloist between 1915 and 1925. He began teaching at Juilliard in 1926. After being hired, he almost immediately formed the Musical Art Quartet which disbanded in 1945, after almost 20 years of concert activity. Recordings of this quartet are not hard to find. Jacobsen also did solo recordings, although mostly of short works for violin and piano. A well-known recording of his is the Chausson concerto for string quartet, violin, and piano with Jascha Heifetz as violin soloist. You can listen to that recording here. He moved to Los Angeles (California, USA) in 1946 and taught at the Los Angeles Conservatory but at other music schools as well. From September 1947 and May 1949, he was guest concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Some sources say he was concertmaster up to 1952 but I could not confirm that. It has been said that Albert Einstein was one of Jacobsen’s pupils. (Einstein also took lessons from Toscha Seidel.) Jacobsen’s most famous pupils are probably Julius Hegyi and Zvi Zeitlin. Among the violins he played are the Red Diamond Stradivarius (1732), the Cessole Stradivarius (1716), the Windsor Stradivarius (1717), a GB Guadagnini (1779), another GB Guadagnini (1772), and a Del Gesu Guarnerius constructed in 1732. Jacobsen died on March 19, 1972, at age 76.

Adele Anthony is an Australian violinist and teacher born (in Tasmania) on October 1, 1970. She is known for having won first prize in the (fifth) Carl Nielsen violin competition in 1996 (at age 25) and for being the wife of Gil Shaham, with whom she frequently performs. Twelve years before that, at age 13, she had won the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Instrumental Competition – she played the Sibelius concerto on that occasion. Soon afterward, she played the Tchaikovsky concerto in a concert sponsored by the same organization. That concert in 1983 is considered her Australian public debut. Anthony began her violin studies at age 3. She studied at the University of Adelaide with Beryl Kimber. In 1987, she came to the U.S. to pursue further study at Juilliard (New York City) where her main teachers were Hyo Kang, Felix Galimir, and Dorothy Delay. According to one source, she studied at Juilliard for eight years, having received funding from several benefactors, including the Starling Foundation. However, she was an active concert artist even while she was still at Juilliard and still maintains a very active solo concert career. Her repertoire is very extensive and includes all of the standard violin literature in addition to many contemporary works less frequently heard by audiences. As do almost all concert violinists nowadays, Anthony also plays chamber music at various festivals throughout the world, but especially in New York, where she resides. She has recorded for various labels and among her notable recordings are those featuring violin concertos by Carl Nielsen, Ross Edwards, and Nicolo Paganini. Anthony plays a Stradivarius violin constructed in 1728. Here is one of her YouTube audio files featuring the work of Ross Edwards – a refreshing and unusual new work for the violin. A few Stradivarius violins (perhaps one hundred or so) have been given names which have remained attached to the instruments for many years but – as far as I know – this one has no specific name. I have heard it up close a number of times and it has a wonderful sound. Perhaps later on, it will be known as the Anthony Stradivarius.

Pamela Frank is an American violinist and teacher born (in New York City) on June 20, 1967. She is now best known as a chamber music player and teacher, although she has performed as a soloist with many of the world’s top orchestras and conductors. In the early 2000s she had to stop performing due to a serious (hand) injury suffered in 2001. In that regard, she joins (among others) Rodolphe Kreutzer, Jascha Heifetz, Bronislaw Huberman, Fritz Kreisler, Erick Friedman, Maxim Vengerov, Emanuel Vardi, Kyung Wha Chung, Hilary Hahn, and Jacques Thibaud, each of whom had their career interrupted by hand or arm injuries. After extensive rehabilitation, she returned to the stage in August of 2012. She has taught at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore (since 2003), the Curtis Institute (since 1996) in Philadelphia, and the State University of New York. She has also served on several juries of violin competitions around the world and played at various music festivals, including the well-known Verbier, Salzburg, and Ravinia festivals. Frank has also frequently given masterclasses in Europe, Israel, Canada, and the U.S. She is fluent in German, French, and (of course) English but is one of the few violinists who does not have a website. Frank began her studies at age 5, studying violin privately with Shirley Givens for about eleven years. She then studied further with Szymon Goldberg (1909-1993) and Jaime Laredo. Her formal (public) debut took place in 1985 at New York's Carnegie Hall with the New York String Orchestra under Alexander Schneider. She was 18 years old. She had been a section player with that ensemble since the age of 15. Frank later debuted a second time in Carnegie Hall playing a recital there in April of 1995. She graduated from the Curtis Institute in 1989, presenting her graduation recital on February 15, 1989, playing works by Bach, Ysaye, Kreisler, Schubert, and Beethoven. She first appeared with the New York Philharmonic on October 27, 1994, playing the Dvorak concerto. Leonard Slatkin was on the podium. Her second and last appearance with the orchestra was on December 1, 1998. On that occasion she played Mozart’s third concerto. Andre Previn conducted. On September 11, 1996, she appeared with the Berlin Philharmonic alongside cellist Clemens Hagen playing the Double Concerto by Johannes Brahms. Daniel Harding was on the podium. She was 29 years old. Her father, the pianist Claude Frank (1925-2014), often accompanied her in recital. (Leonid Kogan and his pianist daughter (Nina) often played together too.) In December of 1997, she and her father presented the entire Beethoven sonata cycle at London's Wigmore Hall. Frank’s discography is not extensive although it includes the complete Mozart concertos and the complete Beethoven and Brahms Sonatas. Her playing is featured in the soundtrack to the movie “Immortal Beloved.” Among other violins, Frank has played a Guarnerius Del Gesu from 1736 known as the Wieniawski. Here is a YouTube audio file of one of her Beethoven performances. Photo is courtesy of Nicolas Lieber

Jinjoo Cho is a Korean violinist and teacher born (in Seoul) on July 12, 1988. She is well-known as the winner of several violin competitions around the world (2005, 2006, 2010, 2013, 2014), the Indianapolis being the most important among them. It is the nature of competitions that in 2012, Cho entered the Queen Elizabeth (of Belgium) violin competition and did not make it to the finals. (Igor Pikayzen, a very successful violinist with a brilliant technique did not make the semi-finals in that same competition (that year), although he later won other competitions. Erick Friedman came in sixth place in the Tchaikovsky competition in 1966…, and so it goes.) Cho has – for the most part - studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) and the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Her main teachers have been Paul Kantor (for four years), Jaime Laredo, Zakhar Bron, Arnold Steinhardt, and Mark Steinberg. She began her violin studies at age 5 and later attended the Korean Art School. Cho came to the US at age 14 and enrolled at the CIM almost immediately. In Cleveland, she also attended the Gilmour Academy, a private (boarding) school. At age 26 (September, 2014), she won first prize in the Indianapolis International violin competition. As a result, she is performing on the Gingold Stradivarius of 1683 (also known as the Martinelli Stradivarius), a four year loan from the competition. Prior to winning the Indianapolis, she had been concertizing for many years (since the age of 16) and had gained extensive experience in orchestral work and chamber music playing due to her attendance at various summer music camps. Her technique has been described as stunning and her playing as being full of passion. She has been quoted as saying: “I think the importance of music is that it enables you to reach places in your heart that you might otherwise never reach. It promotes soul searching. Music also helps you see part of yourself and better understand people even in diverse situations. Once you've experienced profound art, I really feel you are a citizen of the world. You have a whole other means of traveling to different times and places that have shaped lives.” Here is one YouTube videoof her playing with piano accompaniment – the seldom-heard Francis Poulenc violin sonata.

Vilde Frang (Vilde Frang Bjaerke) is a Norwegian violinist and teacher born (in Oslo) on August 19, 1986. She is known for having successfully made the jump from child prodigy to mature violin superstar. That transition does not always prove successful for artists. In addition to being technically brilliant, her playing has been described as being fresh, seductive, sinewy, inspired, voluptuous, and possessed of startling emotional sincerity. A highly regarded music critic went so far as to say that he had never heard such a great violinist since the late Jascha Heifetz. Her playing is rhythmically and tonally flexible, not straight-laced, predictable, and pedantic. She began her violin studies at age four, on a violin built by her father, a professional bass player. By 1993, she was a student at the Barratt Due Institute of Music (founded in 1927) in Oslo. She was 7 years old. Her teachers there were Stephan Barratt Due, Alf Kraggerud, and Henning Kraggerud. Frang made her public debut at age ten with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (some sources say Norwegian Chamber Orchestra.) She graduated from the Barratt Due Institute in 2002. In 1999, aged 12 (or 13), she debuted with the Oslo Philharmonic, playing Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy. Mariss Jansons was on the podium. The concert was a great success and her career took off after that. However, from 2003 to 2009, Frang studied further with Kolja Blacher at the Advanced School for Music and Theatre in Hamburg and with Ana Chumachenco at the Kronberg Academy in Kronberg (about ten miles from Frankfurt, Germany.) She debuted with the London Philharmonic in 2007. Her first album was released in 2009. She records exclusively for EMI/Warner Classics and has received numerous awards for her recordings, including the Diapason d’Or, Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, Classical BRIT, and the ECHO Klassik Award. As far as I know, Frang has never entered any violin competitions. In 2010, Frang received an award of 1 million NOK (Norwegian Krone – about 175,000 U.S. dollars) from a large Norwegian business enterprise. She also received an award of 75,000 Swiss francs (approximately 79,000 U.S. dollars) from Credit Suisse (international bank) in 2012. The award included a performance with the Vienna Philharmonic at the Lucerne Festival. She made her BBC London Proms debut in August, 2013, playing Bruch’s first concerto. She was 26 years old. By now, Frang has played with virtually every major orchestra in the world and been accompanied by most major conductors. She has also played recitals or made solo appearances in all of the world’s important venues, including those in China, Japan, Korea, Austria, Belgium, England, France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Russia, and the U.S. Frang now teaches at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. One of her violins is one constructed in 1864 by J.B. Vuillaume, a maker not considered to have the status of a Guarneri, a Stradivari, or even a Guadagnini. She has also played (since the summer of 2013) the 1709 Stradivarius known as the Engleman Strad. Frang has made the following interesting comment regarding her artistic perspectives: “I need things to worry about. I need some resistance and struggle. That’s part of my music making. I think talent has a lot to do with knowing how to be inspired. Inspiration is really the most important thing. ” On April 1 and 2, 2015 (last week) Frang was to have played the Korngold concerto with the Toronto Symphony (and James Conlon) but had to cancel due to “scheduling difficulties.” What that really means is anyone’s guess since concerts are scheduled (and contracts are signed) very far in advance (sometimes three years in advance) in order to avoid this sort of difficulty. Perhaps all it means is that her concert managers are disorganized, although that is extremely unlikely. Here is a YouTube video of one of her performances. Photo is courtesy of Marco Borggreve, photographer of (mostly European) musicians.

Vladimir Cosma is a Romanian violinist, composer, and conductor born (in Bucharest) on April 13, 1940. He is one of several musicians who began their careers as violinists and digressed to other (musical) endeavors. In France, he is well-known as a prolific film composer although he is a composer of classical (concert) works as well. Perhaps he can be compared to Victor Young, American violinist-composer. There is scant information about Cosma’s career as a violinist other than that he began his violin studies while still quite young and he graduated from the Bucharest Conservatory of Music and then moved on to the Paris Conservatory in 1963. In Paris, he also studied with Nadia Boulanger, the famous French teacher. Up until about 1968 (between 1964 and 1967 approximately), he played in orchestras and toured as a concert violinist. After that, he focused on composition and (necessarily) on conducting. He credits a meeting with French composer Michel Legrand with his entry into the world of soundtrack composing. He was 28 years old by then. It has been said that one of his grandmothers (I don’t know which one) studied with the famous piano player, Ferruccio Busoni. According to one (usually-reliable) source, Cosma is the composer of more than 300 scores for films and television programs. Another source puts the number at 150. He has conducted a number of orchestras outside of the recording studios though mostly in France. The French government has bestowed several honors on him as he is considered a national artistic treasure. Several of his scores have also been awarded the French equivalent of an Academy Award. As you can see from the photo, Cosma has never entirely given up the violin. Whether he has or has ever had any pupils is something I do not know. He is on record saying that melody is the most important thing in a composition. In an interview, Cosma was quoted as follows: “In a few centuries, we shall see what will come of the serial experiments and of these [atonal] composers. I think that all this decadence of the Viennese romantic music is an end and not a beginning as, for such a long time, Boulez and the promoters of new music wanted to make us believe.” Here is a YouTube audio file of one of his film works featuring the Berlin Philharmonic - I don't think I need to identify the violin soloist because you will immediately recognize it is the inimitable Ivry Gitlis.

Stefan Gheorghiu was a Romanian violinist and teacher born (in Galatz) on March 23, 1926. Although he concertized around the world, he spent most of his time playing and teaching in Romania. As most professional violinists have done, he began his violin studies very early in life – at age 5. He later (at age 9) became a student at the Royal Conservatory in Bucharest and later still at the National Conservatory in Paris, studying with Maurice Hewitt, a violinist I had never before heard of. He completed his studies in Moscow under the tutelage of David Oistrakh. In 1946, he became violin soloist with the George Enesco Philharmonic in Bucharest. He also formed the Romanian Piano Trio. He was 20 years old. Using Bucharest as his home base, he toured various parts of the world (mostly Europe and Russia), championing the music of Romanian composers, especially George Enesco, recording several first editions of their works. In 1960, he was appointed violin professor at the University of Music (Music Academy) in Bucharest. He was 34 years old. Among his many pupils are Angele Dubeau, Corina Belcea, and Silvia Marcovici. Gheorghiu died on March 17, 2010, at (almost) age 84.

Hagai Shaham is an Israeli violinist and teacher born (in Haifa) on July 8, 1966. For reasons I know nothing about, he has never left Israel as his home base, as have so many other concert violinists – Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Guy Braunstein, Jonathan Berick, Lydia Mordkovitch, Vadim Gluzman, and Ivry Gitlis, to name a few. He is also known for recordings of little-known works by Joseph Achron. Shaham is often asked whether he is closely related to American violinist Gil Shaham – he is not. Shaham began his violin studies at age 6. He later studied (from age 12) with Ilona Feher (1901-1988) in Tel Aviv - it has been said that he was her last student. He also studied with Emanuel Borok (the highest-paid concertmaster in the world), Elisha Kagan, and Arnold Steinhardt. Shaham has taught at USC (in the US - 2007), the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and Tel Aviv University, among other places. He has also given numerous master classes throughout the world. His recording labels have included Decca, Chandos, Hyperion, Naxos, Nimbus, and Biddulph. His Achron recordings are on the Hyperion label – some of these works have never before been available to the general public. It has been said that he found these forgotten works (in manuscript form) at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. These recordings have been highly praised. One reviewer stated that “through the richness of his tone, superior vibrato usage, expressiveness of phrasing and top-drawer facility, he fulfills his potential in striking fashion. It is a treat to hear such tonally satisfying violin playing when commonplace sound, even among accomplished artists, is so prevalent." Another has stated that he has “an impressive a technique as anyone except Heifetz…” In 2009, he formed a piano trio with Arnon Erez (piano) and Raphael Wallfisch. Since then, the trio has toured regularly but mostly in Europe. Hereis a YouTube video of him playing a well-known piece by Jeno Hubay.

Gyorgy Garay was a Hungarian violinist, teacher, and music editor born (in Rakospalota) on December 2, 1909. He is now a very obscure violinist who was well-known in his day. His first teacher was Joseph Bloch at the Budapest Academy of Music. Garay was 9 years old when he started his studies. Three years later, he was a student of Oscar Studer. In 1925, he began studying with Jeno Hubay and graduated a year later. Interestingly, his public debut took place in Vienna (1926.) He made his debut in Hungary (Budapest) in 1927. Garay soon gravitated toward a career in chamber music, playing violin in the Hungarian Trio from 1927 to 1930. Between 1930 and 1933, he was first violinist with the Garay Quartet. In the 1930s, he developed a second career as a soloist in Europe. Between 1940 and 1945, he was a violinist with the Fovarosi Orchestra in Budapest. He became principal violinist at the Hungarian State Opera House in 1945 and stayed until 1951. From 1951 to 1960, he was concertmaster of the National Philharmonic (State Concert Orchestra) – this orchestra may or may not be the same orchestra which exiled itself (to Germany) in 1956 and became the Philharmonia Hungarica. From 1949 to 1961, Garay was also a violin teacher at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. In 1960, he became concertmaster of the Radio Symphony in Leipzig (MDR Symphony Orchestra.) While there, he also taught at the Mendelssohn Academy of Music. Henceforth, he performed less and less as a soloist. He gave many premiere performances of new works (mostly by Hungarian composers) and recorded some of these works as well. Here is one of several of his audio files on YouTube - the violin concerto (1973) by Wilhelm Neef. Garay died (in Leipzig) on May 15, 1988, at age 78. His violin was a Stradivarius of 1733 – as far as I know, it bears no name.

Boris Belkin (Boris Davidovich Belkin) is a Russian violinist and teacher born (in Yekaterinburg – aka Sverdlovsk) on January 26, 1948. He began his violin studies at age 6. One year later, he made his first public appearance with Kiril Kondrashin on the podium. He was a student at the Central Music School (for specially gifted children) in Moscow, a branch of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory. At the Moscow Conservatory, his teachers – among others – were Yuri Yankelevich (teacher also of Leonid Kogan, Ilya Kaler, Zakhar Bron, Vladimir Spivakov, and Ruben Aharonyan), Maya Glezarova (assistant to Yuri Yankelevich), and Felix Andrievsky. He began his concertizing career in Russia while still a student, a very common practice everywhere. In 1974, at age 26, he left Russia and settled in Western Europe. (He had applied to take part in the Paganini Competition in Genoa but the authorities denied him a visa so he then applied to emigrate to Israel and from there, he made his way to Belgium.) He has appeared with virtually every major orchestra in the world. He performed the Tchaikovsky concerto with the New York Philharmonic and Leonard Bernstein on April 22 and 24, 1975. On June 6 and 7, 1978, he played the Tchaikovsky concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic. Belkin's discography is not extensive by any measure but it includes the rarely performed Strauss concerto. He began teaching in Italy – at the Accademia Chigiana (founded in 1932) – in 1986. He also teaches in the Netherlands at the Advanced Music School (College of Music) in Maastricht (about 90 miles south east of Amsterdam – the city is a lot closer to Cologne, Germany and Brussels, Belgium than it is to Amsterdam.) Belkin has played a Stradivarius from the Russian State collection, a 1754 Guadagnini, and two modern violins (1994 and 2007) by Roberto Regazzi. For many years, he has used a bow made by a famous maker - Daniel Tobias Navea Vera. Here is one of Belkin’s YouTube files.

Stefi Geyer (Steffi Geyer) was a Hungarian violinist and teacher born (in Budapest) on June 28, 1888. Although a very popular and distinguished violinist in the early part of the century, she is better known for her relationship to Bela Bartok, one of the greatest composers of the 20^th Century. Bartok dedicated his first violin concerto (composed in 1907 but not published until 1959) to her, although she never performed it in public. It is said she had the only copy of the score and did not release it until very late in her life, after Bartok had died. Her violin studies began at age three – her father was her first teacher. From age seven she studied with Kalman Adolf, an obscure violinist. At age ten she began studying at the Budapest Academy of Music with Jeno Hubay, one of the most respected violinists and teachers of the time. Geyer began concertizing in Hungary and Austria at age twelve. Her studies with Hubay ended in 1902. She was fourteen years old. She toured Europe frequently and was admired for her intelligent and elegant interpretations of a very wide repertory. She moved to Vienna in 1911. In 1919 she settled in Zurich. She was very busy playing throughout Europe, giving over 100 concerts in the 1922-23 season alone. She toured the U.S. in 1924, although not for the first time. Geyer taught at the Zurich Conservatory from 1934 to 1953 (one source says 1923 to 1953.) In 1935 she was appointed concertmaster of the Sacher Chamber Ensemble. She became the concertmaster of the Collegium Musicum in Zurich in 1941. Beginning in 1938, she would often play in the orchestra of the Lucerne Festival. She played a 1742 Guarnerius (del Gesu) violin known as the Soldat. The violin has an interesting history. Her recordings from the 1930s are numerous but somewhat hard to find. Here is a YouTube audio file of one of her recordings from the year 1927. Geyer died in Zurich on December 11, 1956, at age 68.

Susanne Lautenbacher is a German violinist and teacher born (in Augsburg) on April 19, 1932. She is known for being an advocate of baroque music before it was in vogue. She is also known for recording seldom heard works – the works of Locatelli, Biber, Rolla, Hummel, Viotti, Weill, Schorr, and Reger for example. One of her early teachers was Karl Freund in Munich. She later studied with Henryk Szeryng. She recorded for many labels and her discography is fairly extensive – her recording activity spans more than forty years. She was the violinist of the Bell’ Arte Trio as well. She taught for many years (beginning in 1965) at the Stuttgart Conservatory. Here is an audio file of one of her recordings, a concerto by Pietro Antonio Locatelli, a virtuoso, mysterious, and elusive violinist of the 18^th Century. Lautenbacher herself is becoming an iconic figure for her thoughtful, incisive, and engaging interpretations.

Ottorino Respighi was an Italian violinist, composer, and musicologist, born (in Bologna) on July 9, 1879. Although making a living by playing the violin for many years, today, he is known for his very popular tone poems – The Pines of Rome, The Fountains of Rome, and The Roman Festivals among others. He also composed at least eight operas which are not as popular. Respighi was very prolific and his music still sounds modern, even 80 years after his death. His father was his first teacher of both violin and piano. Respighi later entered the Music Lyceum in Bologna where he studied violin with Federico Sarti. He graduated in 1899. He was 19 years old. He then traveled to Saint Petersburg, Russia to play principal viola in the Russian Imperial Theatre. The Russian Revolution would not occur until seventeen years later. He took advantage of his stay there by studying composition with Rimsky-Korsakov. After returning to Bologna, he took a degree in composition, perhaps from the same institution. However, his principal income came from playing violin. Until 1908, he was first violinist of the Mugellini Quartet. He also spent time playing in Germany. Upon returning from Germany, he turned his attention, almost completely, to composition. He settled in Rome in 1913 and used it as his base of operations for the rest of his life. He also began teaching composition at the Rome Conservatory that year. Whether he ever gave violin lessons is unknown to me. By 1917, he had become famous as a composer. In 1923, he was appointed Director of the Conservatory. Here is Heifetz’ rendition of Respighi’s violin sonata in B minor – first movement. Respighi died on April 18, 1936, at age 56.

Aida Stucki was a Swiss violinist and teacher born (in Cairo, Egypt) on February 19, 1921. She was a concert violinist who, like countless others, settled down to a teaching career, although she continued to perform as a soloist and chamber musician even as she taught many world class violinists. One of her teachers was Stefi Geyer, Bela Bartok’s beloved muse. Another was Carl Flesch. She began violin lessons at age 10, with Ernst Wolters, concertmaster of the Winterthur (Switzerland) Symphony Orchestra. Stucki made her public debut at age 13, playing Mozart’s third concerto, although I don’t know where it took place – I’m guessing either Winterthur or Zurich, Switzerland. Stucki’s concertizing career began in 1940. She was 19 years old. She began teaching at the Winterthur Conservatory in 1948. In 1959, she founded a string quartet with her violinist-husband, Giuseppe Piraccini. The two would often trade places, alternatively playing first or second violin. As far as I know, the first string quartet to regularly alternate first and second violin parts between violinists was the Jacobsohn String Quartet – it was founded in Chicago in (approximately) 1890. Stucki frequently partnered with pianist (and violinist) Clara Haskil to perform as a duo. Nevertheless, Haskil also performed with other violinists, including Isaac Stern, Joseph Szigeti, Henryk Szeryng, Eugene Ysaye, George Enesco, and Arthur Grumiaux. In 1983, Stucki fell and broke both of her wrists. She had to stop concertizing but continued teaching. She left a substantial discography which is easy to find on the internet. Among her many hundreds of students are Manrico Padovani, Anne Sophie Mutter, Noemi Schindler, and Matthias Enderle. From some recordings I've heard I concluded she must have played a pretty good violin but I was not able to find out what it was. Stucki died on June 9, 2011, at age 90.