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Katariina Maria Kits

November 27, 2016, 8:38 am
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Katariina Maria Kits (Katariina Kits) is an Estonian violinist born (in Tallinn, Estonia) on May 2, 1995.  She is known for having more than 815,000 views on a YouTube post when she was only 15 years old.  Here is that post.  Unless I am seriously mistaken, she is still a student at one of five music conservatories (I don’t know which one) in Trossingen, Germany, although she has been concertizing since she was a teenager.  She is also known to love violin competitions.  I do not know at what age she first began her violin studies but in 2002 she entered the Tallinn Music School.  She was 7 years old.  Her first teacher there was Marge Lille.  She has studied (in masterclasses) with Pavel Vernikov* in Italy and Alf Kraggerud in Norway.  Kits won second prize in the Estonian National String Competition when she was barely 11 years old.  A year later she won second prize in the Enescu Violin Competition in Romania.  She has already toured Europe and Australia as soloist with different orchestras.  Here is an outstanding video of hers playing the 5th Mozart concerto in a competition.  It is a mesmerizing and memorable performance (second to none) and it is not yet on YouTube.  It is quite possible (although I don't know for sure) that Kits has a twin brother who is a cellist with whom she sometimes performs.  Kits speaks three languages fluently - German, French, and English. As do other young prominent violinists, she plays a modern violin made in Cremona, Italy, in 2007. 
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December 25, 2016, 8:31 am
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Higinio Ruvalcaba (Rodolfo Higinio Ruvalcaba Romero) was a Mexican violinist, conductor, and composer born (in Yahualica, Jalisco) on January 11, 1905.  He is probably the best-known Mexican violinist of all time, although not the best-known Mexican classical musician.  His first lessons began at age 4 with his father, an upholsterer and cellist and member of the local band.  He began playing violin left-handed because one of his first teachers played left handed (with the bow held by the left hand) and simply had the young child imitate him.  Later on, while still very young, Ruvalcaba studied with Federico Alatorre, Ignacio Camarena, and Felix Peredo (Director of the String Academy in Guadalajara), three violinists from Guadalajara.  With these teachers, he was obligated to switch from left-handed playing to right-handed playing.  (In the history of violin playing, there are extremely few left-handed players, although there a few left-handed players who play right-handed – concert violinist Caroline Goulding is one.)  He gave his first public performance at age 5 at the Degollado Theatre in Guadalajara.  Several sources state that his father took him around taverns and dance halls to earn money to help support the family.  He was also a street musician for some time.  There are many other classical musicians who did the same as kids – Johannes Brahms, Theodore Thomas, Carl Nielsen, and Marie Hall come to mind.  According to one source, Ruvalcaba made his formal debut with the Guadalajara Symphony playing the first Bruch concerto (the one in g minor) at age 11 – another source says age 10 and still another says age 12.  In 1916, he became a member of the string orchestra directed by Peredo and also joined Peredo’s string quartet as first violinist – Peredo (who had been playing first violin) switched himself to second violin.  In 1918, Ruvalcaba joined the Guadalajara Symphony where he played cello and viola in addition to violin.  He was 13 years old.  In 1920 (some sources say 1922) he relocated to Mexico City.  He entered the National Music Conservatory in 1922.  He was 17 years old.  There, he studied with Mario Mateo, a Spanish violinist, until 1925.  It has been said that he joined the YMCA and took up boxing and physical fitness at that time.  It has also been said that he fractured the middle finger of his left hand and lost visual acuity in his right eye as a result of boxing.  For a while – probably while still a student and shortly thereafter – he played in a local band (conducted by Miguel Lerdo De Tejada) where he was obligated to wear a police uniform and also (sometimes) play guitar.  He had also founded, back in 1921, a string quartet which took his name – Cuarteto Clasico Ruvalcaba.  As far as I know, it remained active until 1942 but it only gave concerts in Mexico.  Ruvalcaba joined the second violin section of the National Symphony in Mexico City in 1928.  He was 23 years old.  In 1931, he soloed with this orchestra playing Wieniawski’s second concerto.  In 1935, he became concertmaster of the National Symphony.  He was 30 years old.  Five years later, he was fired by conductor Carlos Chavez for insubordination.  A similar thing happened to concertmasters Scipione Guidi (in 1942 in St Louis) and Max Bendix (in 1896 in Chicago) under conductors Vladimir Golschmann and Theodore Thomas, respectively.  One source states Ruvalcaba was also concertmaster and conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Mexico City – presumably after his stint with the National Symphony - although I could not verify that information.  Several sources state that for 25 years (1942 to 1967), Ruvalcaba played first violin with the famous Lener Quartet (Joseph Smilovitz on second, Sandor Roth but later Herbert Froelich on viola, and Imre Hartmann on cello) but some sources say he joined the quartet in 1959.  Still others say he joined the quartet in 1948, after the first violinist (Jeno Lener) died.  The actual documented date Ruvalcaba joined the quartet is (October) 1942 – it gave its first concert on December 4, 1942, at the Palace of Fine Arts.  (The Lener Quartet, which was founded in 1918 and very famous in its time, was the first to record all of Beethoven’s string quartets.)  Many sources state that Ruvalcaba loved to play chamber music, a fairly common sentiment among concert violinists.  Ruvalcaba ultimately concertized in Japan, Europe, and the U.S., playing under famous conductors such as Erich Kleiber, George Solti, Sergiu Celibidache, and Antal Dorati.  He gave world premieres of many works by Mexican Composers (some of which were dedicated to him), including the violin concerto by Hermilio Hernandez in 1968.  He also formed a duo, in 1946, with pianist Carmen Castillo Betancourt who also became his third wife in that year.  He briefly held the post of Principal conductor of the Puebla Symphony Orchestra; although I was not able to determine which years he held the post.  Ruvalcaba was also a studio musician for many years, participating in well over 200 film soundtrack recordings.  As a composer, Ruvalcaba began early in his career, writing about 14 string quartets by age 15.  He wrote eight more after that.  Of that total (22), numbers 2, 4, and 6 survived.  The others were either destroyed or lost.  Quartet number 6 was composed in 1919 but not premiered until November 17, 1955 (by the Lener Quartet in Mexico City.)  Here is one movement from the work.  He also wrote three (or four) violin concertos, a bass concerto (Concierto Miramon), a piano quintet, two string sextets, many works for violin and piano, many salon pieces for piano (some including voice), a transcription of 22 of Paganini’s 24 Caprices for violin and piano (I don’t know which two he left out), and a symphonic poem.  You can listen to his gypsy dance for violin and piano here.  I do not know whether Ruvalcaba ever owned or played a modern violin or an old, Italian violin such as a Guadagnini, Guarnerius, or Stradivarius.  Here is an audio file of Ruvalcaba playing Manuel Ponce’s violin concerto – it appears to be a studio recording.  In 1970, Ruvalcaba suffered a massive heart attack and collapsed while playing Bach’s E major concerto.  As far as I know, he never played in public again.  He was 65 years old.  Ruvalcaba died (in Mexico City) on January 15, 1976, at age 71.  
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Augustin Dumay

January 22, 2017, 6:19 pm
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Augustin Dumay is a French violinist, teacher, and conductor born on January 17, 1949.  He has enjoyed an international career since 1979, although he has spent most of his time in Europe and Japan.  He has recorded most of the standard repertoire (a repertoire consisting of about 15 concertos plus a few sonatas by the upper crust of composers for the violin – Bach, Vivaldi, Brahms, Mozart, Beethoven, Franck, Prokofiev, Strauss, and Debussy) on more than forty discs.  Dumay has appeared with most major orchestras and conductors in the most important and prestigious venues around the world.  He began his studies as a child but with whom I do not know.  He entered the Paris Conservatory when he was 9 years old.  After two years at the Conservatory, he studied privately with a few teachers, including Nathan Milstein and Arthur Grumiaux.  His public debut came at age 14 at the well-known Montreux Festival in Switzerland.  Orchestras he has conducted include the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia (since 2003), the Salzburg Camerata, the Picardie Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony, the Kansai Philharmonic, the Sinfonia Varsovia, and the English Chamber Orchestra.  It has been said that none other than Herbert von Karajan gave him conducting lessons.  He has taught at the Queen Elizabeth College of Music in Brussels.  Here is a YouTube video of him playing the seldom heard Mendelssohn concerto for violin in d minor. 
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Eduardo Asiain

February 26, 2017, 8:43 am
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Eduardo Asiain (Eduardo Hernandez Asiain) was a Spanish violinist born (in Havana, Cuba) on May 17, 1911.  He is best known for his interpretations of the works of Pablo Sarasate and for being one of the longest-lived violinists in history, in the style of Roman Totenberg.  He began his studies with his father, a violinist and composer, at a very early age.  He gave his first concert at age 7.  At age 14, after receiving first prize in violin at the National Conservatory of Havana, he became concertmaster of the Havana Symphony.  If that is factual (I could not verify it from more than one source), he joins Paul Kochanski in being the youngest concertmaster (of a professional orchestra) in history.  In 1932, Asiain, along with his family, moved to Spain.  He was 21 years old.  In Madrid, he studied with Enrique Fernandez Arbos and Antonio Fernandez Bordas.  He later graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid, obtaining special mention and receiving the Pablo Sarasate Prize.  The major part of his career was spent in Europe although he did perform outside of Europe a few times.  His discography is limited although his recordings of Sarasate’s music are still highly praised.  He founded the Chamber Orchestra of San Sebastian but I could not ascertain in what year that was.  In 1968, he became first violinist of the RTVE (Spanish Corporation for Public Radio and Television) Quartet.  From 1977 onward, he received various medals and honors from the Spanish government.  He played an Amati violin constructed in 1633.  Here is a YouTube audio file of Asiain playing music by Sarasate and here is another.  Asiain died on May 11, 2010, at (almost) age 99.

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Henry Holst

April 30, 2017, 7:27 am
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Henry Holst was a Danish violinist and teacher born (in Saeby, Denmark) on July 25, 1899.  He spent quite a bit of time in England but is not related – as far as I know – to the other Holst.  He was probably the first violinist to play (in 1921 with the Berlin Philharmonic) three concertos in the same concert program – before Yehudi Menuhin, Henryk Szeryng, Szymon Goldberg, and Raymond Cohen did it.  Holst must have begun his violin studies while still very young but I don’t know how young nor with whom.  In 1913, he was admitted into the Royal Danish Academy of Music.  He was 14 years old.  His teachers there were Axel Gade (son of Niels Gade) and violinist/composer Carl Nielsen.  At age 18, he made his debut playing Henri Vieuxtemps’ first violin concerto, the longest violin concerto Vieuxtemps ever wrote.  He then studied further with Hungarian violinist Emil Telmanyi.  After that, he traveled to Berlin to study with Willy Hess, a German violinist who played far and wide during his career, including the U.S.  In 1923, Holst became concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic.  He was 24 years old.  He quit that post in 1931 and went to live in England where he taught at the Royal Manchester College of Music.  There, he founded the Henry Holst String Quartet which he disbanded in 1941 to start the Philharmonia Quartet which itself was disbanded in 1952.  He was also active as a soloist.  Holst gave the European Premiere of the Walton violin concerto, a work which had been championed by Jascha Heifetz for a time, in 1941.  Holst also gave the world premiere of the revised version of the concerto in 1944.  The Walton concerto is very seldom played now.  In 1945, Holst moved to London to teach at the Royal College of Music.  He was 46 years old.  Holst moved back to Denmark in 1954 where he taught at the Royal Danish College of Music.  I don’t know how many years he was there but it must have been quite a few.  Henry Holst died on October 19, 1991 at age 92, largely forgotten. 
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Henri Dupont

May 28, 2017, 9:19 am
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Henri Dupont (Henri Joseph Dupont) was a Belgian violinist, conductor, composer, and teacher born (in Ensival) on January 3, 1838.  Brahms was five years old that year and Belgium itself was almost a brand new country at that time.  Other than that he has a very recognizable surname, Dupont is not known – with regard to the violin - for anything in particular.  Belgium has for generations produced many spectacular violin virtuosos but Dupont is not one of them.  His name is most often mentioned as a conductor of opera – according to several sources, he conducted many outstanding performances in England (Covent Garden) which today (had they been filmed for posterity) would probably be acclaimed.  He received his training from the conservatories at Liege and Brussels – I don’t know how early he began his violin studies nor who his teachers were.  In 1863 he won the Belgian version of the Rome Prize (Prix de Rome) for composition.  He was 25 years old.  After that, he took off on a study tour throughout Europe which lasted four years – this excursion was probably subsidized by the Belgian government, although I am not certain of that.  In 1867, he became concertmaster of the Warsaw Opera House.  He was 29 years old.  In 1871, he took a similar post at the Imperial Theatre of Moscow.  One year later, he was back in Brussels where he was hired as professor of harmony at the Conservatory while simultaneously serving as concertmaster of the Monnaie Theatre (Theatre Royal de la Monnaie or Royal Theatre of the Coin – a theatre dating back to 1700.)  He also served as conductor there beginning that same year.  He was 34 years old.  He also guest conducted operas at the Royal Opera House in London many times.  In 1873, he took over as director of the Popular Concerts (Concerts Populaires) from none other than Henri Vieuxtemps (who had become incapacitated as the result of a stroke that same year.)  Dupont was made a member of the Royal Academy of Belgium in 1899.  He died on December 21, 1899, at age 61, just ten days before the start of the Twentieth Century.  
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Vanya Milanova

June 25, 2017, 7:21 am
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Vanya Milanova is a Bulgarian violinist, teacher, painter, and author born on January 12, 1954.  According to at least one source, she was the first female violinist to record, in 1985, at age 31, the complete (24) Caprices for solo violin by Nicolo Paganini.  That sounds rather unusual but it just might be true.  I didn’t bother to confirm it by checking further.  Surprisingly, she is the first Bulgarian violinist about whom I have written and that is highly unusual too.  Milanova is also known for having a huge repertoire.  Her career has taken her around the world several times and she has performed with most of the world’s great orchestras and with some of the leading conductors of her generation in over fifty countries.  Although her discography is not extensive, there are quite a few YouTube files of her live performances.  Milanova took third prize in the 1973 Paganini Violin Competition (in Genoa, Italy) and third prize in the 1974 Tchaikovsky Competition (the same one where the late Eugene Fodor took second prize.)  She was known as a child prodigy - her main teachers were Peter Arnaudov (State Music Academy) in Bulgaria and Yfrah Neaman (Guildhall School of Music) in England.  Her 2016 autobiography is titled Wit and Wisdom of a Violinist but is presently out of print.  Many of her abstract paintings can be seen on her Facebook page.  Milanova has taught at Bilkent University in Turkey, among other schools.  Here are two YouTube files of her performances, including the complete recording of the Paganini Caprices.  
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Suna Kan

July 16, 2017, 4:17 pm
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Suna Kan is a Turkish violinist and teacher born (in Adana) on October 21, 1936.  She is very likely the best-known Turkish violinist, having concertized throughout the world for many years, appearing with many high profile orchestras, artists, and conductors, including Zubin Mehta, Walter Susskind, Arthur Fiedler, Yehudi Menuhin, Pierre Fournier, and Igor Bezrodny.  She began her studies at age five, making her first public appearance at age 9, playing Mozart’s Turkish concerto (number 5) and Viotti’s most popular violin concerto - number 22 in a minor – with the Presidential Symphony Orchestra – I don’t know who was on the podium.  (Viotti’s 29 concertos have been recorded by Italian violinist Franco Mezzena, in case you’re interested.)  Kan’s initial teachers included Walter Gerhard, Lico Amar, and Izzet Albavrak.  At age 13, she began studying at the Paris Conservatory, graduating in 1952.  She was 16 years old.  She then began her international career.  In 1971, Kan was named State Artist by the Turkish government.  She was also one of the founders of the Ankara Chamber Orchestra at about the same time.  Kan has also received meritorious awards from the French government.  In 1986, she became violin professor at Bilkent University in Ankara.  She was 50 years old.  Her most famous pupil is probably Ertan Torgul, concertmaster of several American orchestras.  A violin competition which was very recently inaugurated is named after Kan.  Although her discography is not extensive, she has recorded several CDs of concertos and other music by her countrymen, whom she champions.  Here is the third movement of Ulvi Erkin’s violin concerto.  
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Jacob Dont

August 27, 2017, 7:22 am
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Jacob Dont (Jakob Dont) was an Austrian violinist, composer, and teacher born (in Vienna) on March 2, 1815.  Although he was a well-known musician in his day, he is now mostly remembered as a composer of several violin etude books.  His father, Joseph Valentin Dont, was a cellist who was well-acquainted with Beethoven.  I don’t know who Dont’s first teachers were but he eventually studied with Josef Bohm and Georg Hellmesberger, Sr. at the Vienna Conservatory.  (Josef Bohm was also the teacher of Joachim, Ernst, Hubay, Remenyi, and Grun.  Interestingly, there are two Georg Hellmesbergers and two Josef Hellmesbergers – all four were related and all four were violinists.)  In 1831, Dont joined the Hofburgtheater orchestra and three years later the Vienna Hofkapelle.  He began concertizing while still a teenager but decided against a solo career.  One source states he taught at the Academy of Art (Akademie der Tonkunst) and the Seminary at St Anna at around this time, although I have no idea what or where those places are - I suspect they are both located in or near Vienna.  He simply continued to play in the imperial orchestras until he was appointed violin professor at the Pedagogical Institute in Vienna in 1853.  He was 38 years old by then.  In 1871 (some sources say 1873) Dont became violin professor at his old school, the Vienna Conservatory.  He was now 56 years old.  Ironically, Dont’s many instructional books for violin were not allowed to be used at the Conservatory.  His Opus numbers 17, 18, 20, 33, 35, and 37 are his best known works for violin studies – most violin students are familiar with these etudes.  Dont also wrote considerable vocal music, some chamber music, piano music, and solo works for violin and piano.  Almost all of this music was published during his lifetime.  His most famous pupil is Leopold Auer, the Hungarian violinist and pedagogue.  This fact alone makes Dont nearly immortal as a musician and violinist.  Dont died (in Vienna) on November 17, 1888, at age 73.  
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Pekka Kuusisto

September 17, 2017, 6:05 pm
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Pekka Kuusisto is a Finnish violinist, composer, conductor, and teacher born (in Espoo, Finland – a small city ten miles west of Helsinki) on October 7, 1976.  He is known for presenting unusual programs of music which are quite eclectic while maintaining their seriousness.  He has been known to sing at his recitals.  He also sometimes uses an undulating bow stroke which produces a subtly different sound.  As strange as it might sound, Kuusisto was the first (and – up to the present time - the only) Finn to win, in 1995, the Sibelius Violin Competition.  He was 19 years old at the time.  Here is a YouTube video of his performance at the competition.  Kuusisto began his studies at age 3.  His first teacher was Geza Szilvay at the East Helsinki Music Institute.  (Szilvay is well known for teaching young children.)  Four years later Kuusisto enrolled at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.  One of his teachers there was Tuomas Haapanen.  Nine years later, he studied for four years at Indiana University with Miriam Fried and Paul Biss (husband of Miriam Fried.)  He finished his studies there in 1996.  He was 20 years old.  A very curious anomaly about Kuusisto’s career is that his discography is rather slim given his extreme virtuosity as a musician.  (That is very striking and reminds me of Norwegian violinist Mari Samuelsen’s discography which is also rather slender.)  Besides solo concertizing, Kuusisto regularly participates in music festivals around the world and often performs with ensembles focused on contemporary music.  Here is a video of a concert with Kuusisto conducting the Australian Chamber Orchestra in a performance of modern music, including electronics – one of the pieces shows the strings using what look like practice mutes, not regular mutes.  As far as I know, Kuusisto’s violin is still a 1752 G.B. Guadagnini. 
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Rusanda Panfili

October 1, 2017, 7:10 am
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Rusanda Panfili is a Moldovan-Romanian violinist, actress, dancer, singer, teacher, and arranger born (in Chisinau, Moldova – Chisinau is about 80 miles Northwest of Odessa, Ukraine) on November 1, 1988.  She is known for her extreme versatility and ease in performing in very different styles (genres) and for being one of very few contemporary violinists who arrange music for their own performance and their own style.   Many violinists from the past (to name a few: Cesar Thomson, Eugene Ormandy, Maud Powell, Paul Kochanski, Arthur Hartmann, Elias Breeskin, Nathan Milstein, Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz) used to do just that but the current generation has forgotten that tradition.  An indication of her diverse interests in music can be understood by knowing that she has collaborated with artists ranging from Aleksey Igudesman to Vadim Repin and everyone in between.  Panfili is also one of very (very) few living violinists fluent in five languages – German, Russian, English, Romanian, and Spanish.  Panfili began her violin studies with her mother at age 3 in Bucharest, Romania, where her family had relocated after living in Moldova for a number of years.  Though there were quite a few teachers involved in her early training (at the George Enescu Music School in Bucharest), her mother (who had studied violin but was not a professional violinist) remained her main tutor and inspiration.  At age 11, Panfili began studying in Vienna, Austria at the well-known Vienna Conservatory with Alexander Arenkow, a pupil of David Oistrach.  (None other than Dimitri Shostakovich worked with Arenkow on his late string quartets - Arenkow was the leader of the Glinka String Quartet.)  Three years later, she transferred to the University of Music and Performing Arts (in the same city) to begin studying with Christian Altenburger.  She was 14 years old.  By that time, Panfili had already made her professional debut, at age 12.  She had also already won a major violin competition in Italy, at age 10, the age at which it can be said she began her professional life.  By her late teens, she had already toured Europe, Russia, Japan, and Latin America.  She has stated that she likes uniqueness – if you see one of her YouTube videos, you will understand perfectly what that means.  Among the works in her extensive repertoire is Piazolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, a work full of extraordinary difficulties for the soloist as well as the orchestra.  Here is one of many YouTube videos with Panfili in a performance of Sarasate’s Gypsy Airs.  In addition to her solo career, Panfili leads a group of musicians known as Panfili and Friends which has its own schedule of concerts.  Panfili’s violin is one constructed (in 1927) by the French maker Rene Cunne (better known as Renato Conni.)  The photo is courtesy of StefanPanfili, photographer of (mostly) European Artists and Musicians.  
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Peter Rybar

November 12, 2017, 7:49 am
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Peter Rybar was a Czech violinist and teacher born (in Vienna, Austria) on August 29, 1913.  His playing style was not showy and flashy but he was very well regarded as a soloist and concertmaster - Rybar’s recordings (mostly produced prior to 1960) are now collector’s items.  (His recording of the Bach Double Concerto (for two violins) with Henryk Szeryng is probably the best I have ever heard.)  Nonetheless, as were so many other artists of the time, he was eclipsed by the likes of Heifetz, Ricci, Oistrakh, Menuhin, Milstein, Francescatti, Kogan, Grumiaux, and a few other soloists who performed in the limelight during the same period.  Like Szeryng, he became fluent in seven languages, although (ironically) English was his mother tongue.  His first teacher (a pupil of both Otakar Sevcik and Cesar Thomson) was his mother.  He then studied in Geneva and Leipzig with teachers whom I don’t know anything about.  He eventually (in 1929, at age 16) ended up at the Prague Conservatory where he spent three years (perhaps more.)  One of his teachers there was Josef Suk - the elder Josef Suk (1874-1935.)  (There are three Josef Suk: the grandfather (composer and son-in-law of Antonin Dvorak); the father (an engineer but also an accomplished amateur violinist); and the son (the well-known concert violinist.)  Rybar also later (from 1934 onward) studied with Carl Flesch in Paris.  By then, he had already begun his concertizing career (at age 19) and been playing professionally for at least two years.  He toured Europe many times and became known for playing the Bach Sonatas and Partitas for unaccompanied violin to which he had dedicated more than a year of study during a sabbatical in Portugal.  Although he did not premiere the piece (Samuel Dushkin did in Berlin), Rybar was the first to play the Stravinsky violin concerto (composed in 1931) in Prague and in Paris.  He was also the first to record the Goldmark and the Viotti (number 22 in a minor) concertos.  In 1937 (some sources say 1938), he was hired as violin professor at the Winterthur Conservatory (one of the oldest in Europe) and as concertmaster of the Winterthur Symphony in Switzerland.  He was 25 years old.  (Winterthur can almost be considered a suburb of Zurich.)  In 1952, he formed a duo with his wife who was a pianist.  He retired from his posts (as well as first violinist in the orchestra’s string quartet) after about 30 years.  In 1970, he was persuaded to abandon his retirement to become concertmaster of the Orchestra of the Suisse Romande in Geneva.  At the same time, he began teaching at the Geneva Conservatory.  He was 57 years old by then.  In 1980, he left the orchestra but I don’t know if he left the conservatory as well.  He often gave recitals with pianists Wilhelm Backhaus, Edwin Fischer, and Helene Boschi.  He also sometimes partnered with Clara Haskil as well (who often accompanied Arthur Grumiaux) in recitals and recordings.  Rybar last played in public in 1986.  His discography is not extensive but it fills at least two dozen CDs and includes the standard concertos as well as some not-often-heard works like the Tartini d minor concerto and the Schumann concerto.  A few of his hard-to-find recordings are priced at over one thousand dollars.  Here is a YouTube audio file of the Tartini concerto.  Rybar died in Lugano, Switzerland, on October 4, 2002 at age 89.  
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Tibor Serly

December 10, 2017, 2:56 pm
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Tibor Serly was a Hungarian violinist, violist, conductor, composer, and teacher born (in Losone, Hungary) on November 25, 1901.  He studied with some of the greatest musicians of the late nineteenth century, including Jeno Hubay and Zoltan Kodaly.  Although he was an orchestral violinist for many years, he is now mostly remembered as a composer and the arranger of the Bartok viola concerto.   Serly’s first teacher was his father who was a composer of theatre works and conductor as well.  Interestingly, Serly began his studies in the U.S. since his family brought him here as a very young child.  He played in pit orchestras in New York (which his father conducted) until he was 21 years old, at which time he returned to Hungary (in 1922) to study at the Liszt Academy in Budapest.  His main teachers there were Jeno Hubay, Zoltan Kodaly, and Leo Weiner (teacher also of Fritz Reiner, Georg Solti, and Janos Starker.)  Serly graduated from the academy in 1925.  He was 24 years old.  He then returned to the U.S. and played in the Cincinnati Symphony (as violist from 1926 to 1927 under Fritz Reiner), in the Philadelphia Orchestra (as violist – one source says violinist - from 1928 to 1937 under Leopold Stokowski and Eugene Ormandy), and the NBC Orchestra (as violist from 1937 to 1938 under ill-tempered Arturo Toscanini.)  It has been said that Stokowski appointed Serly Assistant Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1933 – perhaps it is true.  (I made an inquiry of the Philadelphia Orchestra to confirm that but they never responded.)  After 1938, Serly mostly devoted his time to composition, conducting, and teaching.  He was 37 years old.  His friendship and professional association with Bela Bartok began in 1925 (in Hungary) - he met with him sporadically thereafter.  However, Serly was in regular and frequent contact with Bartok between 1940 and 1944, after Bartok came to the U.S.  Serly completed Bartok’s viola concerto from many sketches which Bartok didn’t have time to assemble himself prior to his death.  (The concerto has subsequently been further revised by Bartok’s son Peter Bartok and violist Paul Neubauer as well as by violist Csaba Erdelyi – every edition is quite different so that an orchestra must be careful to use the same edition as the soloist when performing it.)  Serly also completed the last 17 bars of the third piano concerto – some say he merely orchestrated the last 17 bars of the piece – others say he orchestrated the entire piece.  Serly’s own works are now very seldom played but he remains an important figure in modern music because he promoted atonal and other non-traditional ways of putting notes together to form a whole.  He became a professor at the Manhattan School of Music (New York) but taught at other institutions as well.  Serly was one of many musicians who became well acquainted with poets and other artists of that period, including the notorious Ezra Pound and his violinist-lover, Olga Rudge.  (Few people know that Ezra Pound was also a composer.  It has been said that Rudge discovered 300 of Vivaldi’s forgotten concertos in Italy and thus greatly helped the resurgence in interest in Vivaldi’s music.)  Serly helped Pound organize concerts in Rapallo, Italy, to which he frequently traveled.  As late as 1976, Serly was still publishing books on music theory which are now not widely known.  He wrote a viola concerto in 1929 and that work is still sometimes played.  He also wrote a violin concerto.  His other works remain quite obscure.  He died after being struck by a vehicle (some sources say it was a car) while visiting London in 1978.  His exact date of death is October 8, 1978.  He was 76 years old.  
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Franz Benda

January 14, 2018, 7:03 pm
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Franz Benda was a Czech violinist, teacher, writer, and composer born (in Benatek, Bohemia) on (approximately) November 22, 1709.  It has been said that his 1763 autobiography is an excellent source for information regarding the lives of many important musicians of his time, including the great J.S. Bach.  Benda was one of many family members who became indistinguishable from the musical arts, down to the present day, in the same vein as the Bach family.  This musical tradition (or music dynasty) was started by Franz Benda’s father, Jan Benda.  In addition, the family gave rise to at least two female composers, a rarity in those days.  Franz Benda spent much of his career working at the court of Frederick the Great, the Prussian (German) King – in fact, Benda died the same year as his benefactor.  Benda received his earliest music education from his father.  At age nine, he was engaged as a singer at the St Nicholas Monastery in Prague.  At age 10 he ran away from home and settled in Dresden where he also found work in the choir of the Royal Chapel.  He also began to study the violin while there.  At age 12 he returned home and joined the choir of the Jesuit College in Prague.  In 1726, at age 17, he began playing violin in orchestras engaged by various members of the nobility situated in or near Vienna – in effect, he was a free-lance violinist since he also played for social events such as weddings and fairs.  In Vienna, he continued to study the violin, most notably with a court musician named Johann Gottlieb Graun, a violinist who had studied with the famous Italian violinist Giuseppe Tartini.  Two years later, Benda moved to Warsaw with a group of musician friends and was eventually appointed concertmaster of the Chapel orchestra in Warsaw.  He remained there until the orchestra was dissolved after their patron died.  Benda moved to Dresden after that.  He was either 22 or 23 years old by that time.  Finally, he entered the service of the Crown Prince Frederick (who later became Frederick the Great) in 1733 – one source says 1732.  He was either 23 or 24 years old.  Henceforth, he participated in countless concerts with the King, often working alongside C.P.E. Bach who was the King’s harpsichordist for many years.  Although he spent most of his time in Potsdam, Benda met J.S. Bach while working in Dresden.  (One source states that Benda played 50,000 concertos over the course of forty years – an utterly ridiculous statement on the face of it.)  Benda was appointed concertmaster of the orchestra in 1771 – he was 62 years old.  Three of his brothers eventually joined him as members of the orchestra.  For at least two decades between 1740 and 1760 (approximately), Benda toured Germany as a soloist while in the employ of his patron.  He also had many violin pupils, among them being Johann Peter Salomon, the man who became Haydn’s impresario in London.  In addition to exercises and study books for the violin, Benda composed many symphonies, concertos, and sonatas, many of them (understandably) for flute.  YouTube has some files of his recorded output.  His composition style bridged the gap between the Baroque and the Classical epoch.  Franz Benda died on March 7, 1786, at age 76, five months before his famous benefactor.  
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Joseph Lendvay

February 18, 2018, 6:29 am
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Joseph Lendvay (Jozsef Lendvay) is a Hungarian violinist and conductor born (in Budapest) on November 7, 1974.  He is best known as a crossover violinist who is very successful as a traditional classical violinist and a gypsy fiddler.  He often performs with his own gypsy band – a group of five or six players – two violins, cello, cembalom, bass, and guitar.  He (probably) began his violin studies with his father, a very popular gypsy violinist.  By age 14, he was already playing some of the most difficult standard works for classical violin.  He studied at the Bela Bartok Conservatory in Budapest as well as the famous Franz Liszt Academy, also in Budapest.  He has won numerous European-based violin competitions; the Koln International Violin Competition and the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition are among them.  In 2002, the President of the Hungarian Republic awarded him the Golden Cross for his artistic contributions to the nation.  He was 28 years old.  It has been said that due to his classical training, his folkloric interpretations sound lighter and more virtuosic and, because of his folkloric roots, his classical performances are more emotional and powerful.  Lendvay was concertmaster of an orchestra called the Philharmonic of Nations (founded by pianist and conductor Justus Frantz in 1995) for a time.  Here is a YouTube video of Lendvay and Vadim Repin playing Csardas.  Here is another where he is playing Gypsy Airs by Sarasate – the harmonies have been altered in several places and the accompaniment includes some traditional folk instruments.  You may likely want to watch it more than once in order to appreciate some of the unusual bowings and fingerings which Lendvay uses.  Finally, here is one where Lendvay plays the Tchaikovsky concerto. 

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Igor Ozim

March 11, 2018, 12:16 pm
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Igor Ozim is a Slovenian (Yugoslavian) violinist and teacher born (in Ljubljana) on May 9, 1931.  (Ljubljana – formerly in Yugoslavia - is now in Slovenia and it is its capital.)  He is widely known as a violin pedagogue rather than as a touring concert violinist, although that is how he began his career.  He started violin lessons in his native city with Leon Pfeifer (a student of Otakar Sevcik) at the Academy of Music at age 8.  However, by that time, he had already been studying violin for three years but with someone I don’t know anything about.  When he was 18, after graduating from the academy, he traveled to England to study with Albert Sammons at the Royal College of Music (commonly referred to as the RCM.)  He followed that up with two years of study with Max Rostal, either as a private student or at the Guildhall School of Music where Rostal was a teacher.  Ozim was now 20 years old.  In 1951, he won the Carl Flesch International Violin Competition.  After that, Ozim made his formal debut in England – first in a recital at the Wigmore Hall in London and then in Liverpool, playing the Mendelssohn e minor concerto with the Liverpool Philharmonic.  In 1953, he won another violin competition (the ARD Competition, in Munich, in its second year of existence.  The name ARD in German is a very long name but translates to something like “German Consortium of Public Broadcasters.”  Technically, every German household is a member of the ARD since fees charged by and paid to the ARD are not optional; they are mandatory.)  He was 22 years old.  Ozim then embarked on a concertizing career which eventually took him to the Far East, Australia, the U.S., Europe, and Russia.  He has appeared with top orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Symphony, the London Philharmonic, the Warsaw Philharmonic, and many others.  His repertory ranges from early Baroque to contemporary and includes approximately 60 concertos.  Understandably, he has premiered many works by Slovenian composers.  His recordings are few but cover some of the standard repertoire as well as many contemporary, modern works.  He continues to tour as a much-respected violin pedagogue, holding master classes in several countries.  Ozim has held teaching posts at the Advanced Music School in Cologne (Germany), the Advanced School of the Arts in Bern (Switzerland), and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria.  His most famous pupils are probably Richard Tognetti and Lea Birringer.  Here is a YouTube audio file of the Mozart Rondo in C with Ozim and the Ljubljana Symphony Orchestra. 

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Johann Peter Salomon

April 1, 2018, 8:02 am
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Johann Peter Salomon was a German violinist, composer, arranger, conductor, teacher, and concert impresario, born (in Bonn) on or about February 20, 1745 – he was christened (baptized) on February 20 so it’s a sure thing he was born a few days before that.  Salomon spent more than half of his career in England.  To say that he was a well-rounded musician is quite an understatement; nevertheless, nowadays, he is remembered for two things: (1) he was born in the same house as Ludwig Van Beethoven and (2) he persuaded Joseph Haydn to visit London - twice.  It has been said that he had a unique style of playing, especially in chamber music with his string quartet.  He must have had more than one teacher but I only know of one: Franz Benda, a member of the Benda musical dynasty.  By age 13, he was playing violin in the court orchestra, presumably in Bonn since that was where his benefactor (Clement August, a lover of the arts) presided.  Salomon also made a brief concert tour as a soloist (begun in August, 1765) which took him to Frankfurt and Berlin.   By age 20, he was concertmaster of the orchestra in the court of Prince Heinrich of Prussia (Germany), a brother of Frederick the Great, presumably in Rheinsberg, a town which is about 40 miles north of Berlin.  (An interesting thing about Prince Heinrich is that he almost became King of the United States.)  While working for Prince Heinrich (a period which lasted about 15 years), Salomon composed many works, among which were a number of operas, all of them now forgotten.  Sometime in 1780, after his patron had suddenly disbanded his orchestra, Salomon visited Paris and from there decided to travel to London.  He was 35 years old.  There, he gave his first concert at Covent Garden, as conductor and violinist, on March 23, 1781.  From that day forward, Salomon was very active in English musical life, giving concerts as leader (concertmaster), violin soloist, conductor, composer, organizer, and quartet player.  How he became fluent in the English language is unknown to me although it has been reported that he was actually fluent in four languages.  He also found time to teach privately.  As far as the famous Haydn visits to England, I was able to ascertain, from various sources, everything that follows.  After Joseph Haydn had become internationally popular from the dissemination of much of his music, several persons in England tried to persuade him, since the early 1780s, to visit and to present concerts there.  These efforts were all unsuccessful because Haydn was still under contract to one of the Esterhazy Princes (for whom he ultimately worked thirty years) and was very loyal to him.  Regarding a visit or tour, Salomon had also corresponded with Haydn for a while and had even sent a personal emissary but that trip had not been totally successful.  So Haydn remained out of reach.  As luck and coincidence always play a part in everybody’s life, so it was with Salomon.  After a particular trip that he made to Italy (to secure the services of several opera singers for a London event) – being the well-known and energetic impresario that he was – Salomon stopped in Cologne on his way back to London.  While there, he read in the newspapers that the good Prince Nikolaus from Esterhazy (Haydn’s employer) had died (in Vienna, on September 28, 1790.)  Salomon immediately seized the opportunity to seek Haydn out and ask him (again) to come to London.  This time, Haydn agreed.  After signing an agreement and figuring out the logistics, they left Vienna on December 15, 1790.  It was a Wednesday.  On their way to England, they stopped by Bonn to pay their respects to Beethoven, which they did on December 26, 1790.  Salomon had known Beethoven much earlier (in their Bonn days) and by this time he had also programmed some of his works for his London concerts.  They were good friends.  Haydn had never met Beethoven.  In any case, Haydn and Salomon crossed the English Channel (from a point in Calais, France) on or about January 1, 1791 (a Saturday) and shortly thereafter arrived in London.  Salomon was 45 years old.  The rest is history.  Haydn went on to write 12 symphonies for Salomon’s concerts in London and other works as well.  Salomon would soon be at work arranging most of these symphonies for small chamber ensembles.  One such work is the symphony number 104 which Salomon arranged for string quartet, flute, and double bass.  It may be that these arrangements were not artistic endeavors but a purely commercial venture on Salomon’s part.  Salomon’s arrangements were available to the public before any orchestral parts were even printed.  (In his contract with Salomon, Haydn had given up all rights to those works he composed in London for Salomon’s concerts.  However, Haydn was paid very handsomely for his efforts.)  In March of 1813, Salomon and a few other English musicians and patrons of the arts founded what was called the Philharmonic Society, which still exists today.  It was a de facto sponsor and/or administrator of a professional symphony orchestra and choral society which established concerts which were regularly presented to and for the general public and not associated solely with the aristocracy.  The orchestra did not have a name but it could very well have had a name if they had thought of one.  Salomon conducted its first concert in March of 1813.  He was 68 years old.  As far as I know, Salomon was active as a violinist, composer, teacher, impresario, arranger, and conductor until the day he died.  As a composer, his most famous work is probably the opera titled Windsor Castle, written in 1795.  All of his other compositions (including his many arrangements) have been neglected and forgotten.  It has been said that Salomon played a Stradivarius violin which Corelli had played before him but I could not substantiate that from more than one source.  It has also been said that Salomon gave the Jupiter nickname to Mozart’s last symphony, number 41.  Perhaps it is true.  Salomon’s most famous pupils are Franz Anton Ries (Beethoven’s violin teacher and father of pianist Ferdinand Ries) and George Pinto, English violinist, pianist, and composer.  Salomon died on November 28, 1815, after a brief illness brought on by an accident.  He was 70 years old.  Here is a Vimeo file of Salomon’s Romance in D for violin, played by English violinist, Simon Standage.  The photo is courtesy of ArtUK and Oxford University.  
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Alexander Markov

May 6, 2018, 7:23 am
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Alexander Markov is a Russian (some would say American) violinist, composer, and teacher born (in Moscow) on January 24, 1963.  Although his repertoire is very extensive, he is best known for his performances (in concert, on CD, and DVD) of the 24 Paganini Caprices.  One YouTube video of his performance of the last Caprice has over 6 million views.  In fact, Markov’s playing of the pizzicato section of this Caprice sometimes leaves the audience so spellbound they interrupt the performance with rapturous, spontaneous applause – as the New York Times music critic recently explained it: “…the dazzling left-hand pizzicato variation drew a vigorous ovation midway through the work.”  Markov also plays a six-string electric violin in a rock band which he co-founded.  He co-wrote a unique rock concerto for his own use which he has had great success with.  I don’t think a commercial recording of this concerto is yet available.  Markov’s violin studies began at age 5.  His father (concert violinist Albert Markov) was his first (and most influential) teacher.  By age 8 he had already appeared in public.  His family emigrated to the U. S. when he was 12.  He continued studying with his father for many years.  At age 16, he made his Carnegie Hall debut in New York.  (Two sources state that he made his Carnegie Hall debut on October 9, 1983, at age 20.  He himself has said he made his debut at age 16.  I do not know how the difference can be reconciled.)  At age 18, he began studying with Juilliard teacher Ivan Galamian.  Galamian died a few months afterward.  (Emanuel Vardi used to tell a joke that he killed Leopold Auer because Auer died a few months after Vardi began taking lessons with him.)  At age 19 (1982) Markov won second prize (most sources say the Gold Medal) at the famous Paganini Competition (Genoa, Italy) and five years later he received the Avery Fisher Career Grant.  As a result of his Paganini Competition award, he was granted the use of Paganini’s own 1743 Cannone Guarnerius for a recital performance.  (Other violinists who have played this famous violin are Leonid Kogan, Schlomo Mintz, Eugene Fodor, Salvatore Accardo, Maxim Vengerov, Gerard Poulet, Regina Carter, Dmitri Berlinsky, and Ruggiero Ricci.)  Markov’s concertizing has taken him to all corners of the world and to most of the world’s great concert halls and orchestras with top conductors on the podium.  As do most concert violinists, he also participates in music festivals far and wide.  He also frequently gives masterclasses all around the world.  He has recorded for the Erato and Warner Classics labels.  His recordings are easy to find on the internet.  Although he used to play a Guarnerius Del Gesu violin, Markov has been playing a 1970 Sergio Peresson violin for some time.  He recorded the 24 caprices on that violin.  I have heard it up close - it is indistinguishable from any Strad or Guarneri violin.  Here is a YouTube video of the Paganini Caprice number 5 with Markov using the original bowings.  The photo is courtesy of the Alexander Markov website. 
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Kristof Barati

June 10, 2018, 6:40 am
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Kristof Barati is a Hungarian violinist and teacher born (in Budapest) on May 17, 1979.  Although born in Hungary, he and his family spent a few years in Venezuela (for reasons unknown) and he even began violin lessons there with his mother at age 5.  By age 8 he was giving concerts with orchestras in Venezuela.  I don’t know at what point the family moved from Venezuela to Europe but several sources state he performed in France at age 11.  Sometime after or before this, he relocated to Hungary to study at the well-known Franz Liszt Academy.  Exactly what year that was is unknown to me.  His teachers at the academy were Miklos Szenthelyi and Vilmos Tatrai.  By 1995, at age 16, he began entering violin competitions at which he was very successful, placing either first, second, or third at all of them.  In 1996, he began studying privately with a little-known professor of violin, Eduard Wulfson, in Paris.  Music critics frequently praise his musicianship (artistry) in addition to his phenomenal technical prowess.  In addition to his world-wide concertizing, he also takes part in important music festivals in Italy, France, Switzerland, and elsewhere as a chamber music player.  Barati’s discography is not yet extensive, but his recordings of the first and second Paganini concertos are among the best.  His recording of the Mozart concertos (all five) has also been very highly praised.  Although he has played other very fine and valuable violins, for about 14 years (from 2003), he played (and recorded with) the Lady Harmsworth Stradivarius violin constructed in 1703.  I don’t know if he is currently using that instrument.  He is known for being a very strong chess player and avid photographer.  Barati has taught at the Sorbonne in Paris and at other venues as a masterclass professor.  Although he has not (as far as I know) performed all 24 Paganini Caprices at a single recital, he has performed all six Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin by Bach in one (very lengthy) recital (in France, then again in Russia.)  Here is a link to the entire recording of the Mozart concertos, courtesy of Brilliant Classics recordings.  Here is a YouTube video of a movement from the Bach Sonata number 1. 
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Antal Zalai

July 8, 2018, 7:08 am
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Antal Zalai (Antal Szalai) is a Hungarian violinist, composer, and teacher born (in Budapest) on January 31, 1981.  He is known for what has been described as a perfect technique and refined artistry.  He is a former child prodigy who was offered his first recording contract while still a teenager and his musical education is very broad.  Zalai began his violin studies with his father and mother at age 5.  From age 7 to age 14 he studied, in Budapest, with Laszlo Denes.  His other teachers in Budapest were Josef Kopelman and Peter Komlos.  In fact, it has been said that he acquired his 1733 Stradivarius violin from Professor Komlos.  That violin had been owned by another Hungarian violinist, Gyorgy Garay, who is now almost completely forgotten.  Zalai graduated from the Royal Conservatory in Brussels in 2009.  He was 28 years old.  However, Zalai had been concertizing since age 12.  Along the way, he had participated in masterclasses given by Erick Friedman, Pinchas Zukerman, Tibor Varga, Lewis Kaplan, Isaac Stern, Gyorgy Pauk, and an assortment of other concert violinists.  He made his British debut in Liverpool in 2008.  That same year he made his debut in Berlin.  The venues he has played in include Carnegie Hall (New York), the Musikverein (Vienna), the Philharmonie (Berlin), and the Moscow Conservatory.  Zalai has toured almost the entire globe and played with some of the most famous names in the conducting world.  He also frequently conducts masterclasses wherever he performs.  As are so many violinists, he is a chess player.  The cadenzas he plays are very frequently his own.  Here is a YouTube video where he teams up with Russian violinist Marianna Vasileva to play the violin duos by Shostakovich – Zalai plays the second violin part.  These duos are written in a style which we do not associate with the famous Russian composer.  The (intense and emotional) performance is easily the best on YouTube.  This othervideo is also quite unique and interesting. 
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