Steven Staryk

Steven Staryk is a Russian (Ukrainian) violinist, writer, actor, and teacher born (in Toronto, Canada) on April 28, 1932 (Heifetz was 31 years old.)  He may well be – after Ferdinand David - the most famous concertmaster in history.  In fact, in England, he was called (by The Strad) the king of concertmasters.  However, as are a few other concertmasters, he is also a concertizing virtuoso.  He has also appeared, as has Ivry Gitlis, in feature films.  (A well-known incident in his career occurred in 1951, when he was denied permission to enter the U.S. (from Canada) due to his supposed ties to Communism.  He was at the same time also black listed by the Toronto Symphony.  Details are available here.)  He began his study of the violin at age 6 with John Moskalyk and attended the Harbord Collegiate Institute in Toronto.  Later on, he studied with Eli Spivak (a student of Adolf Brodsky) and Albert Pratz at the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto.)  Among his other teachers have been Mischa Mischakoff, Oscar Shumsky, and Alexander Schneider.  Staryk has also been the recipient of many awards proffered by Canada to its most distinguished citizens and artists.  He made his recital debut at age 14 on Canadian radio.  At 17 he made his orchestral debut with the Royal Conservatory Orchestra playing Paganini’s first concerto at Massey Hall.  Thereafter, while freelancing as a studio and solo musician he was also a section player in the Toronto Symphony (1950–1952) and in the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) Symphony Orchestra (1952-1956.)  In 1956, Thomas Beecham invited him to lead the Royal Philharmonic (England), the youngest concertmaster in its history (age 24.)  In 1960, he was the concertmaster for the CBC Symphony Orchestra’s recordings of works by Stravinsky conducted by Stravinsky.  Staryk has also been concertmaster of the Concertgebouw (1960-1963), Amsterdam Chamber Orchestra, Chicago Symphony (1963-1967), and the Toronto Symphony (1982-1986.)  (His longest tenure as concertmaster of any orchestra has been four years.)  However, even as he led hundreds of orchestral concerts, he was also concertizing worldwide.  An especially busy concertizing period came between 1967 and 1972.  He has taught at the Amsterdam Conservatory (1960), Northwestern University (1963), American Conservatory (Chicago), University of Victoria (1973), Vancouver Academy of Music (1972), University of Western Ontario (1977), Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto, Canada - 1975), University of Toronto (1978), University of Washington (Seattle - 1987), and the University of Ottawa (1975.)  In 1968, he became the youngest full professor at Oberlin College Conservatory in Ohio (USA.)  Staryk has recorded over 190 works (up to the year 2003) and has compiled a 30 CD set which is available on the internet - known as the Staryk Anthology.  He is easily in the top five of recorded violinists – including Ruggiero Ricci, Louis Kaufman, and Jascha Heifetz.  This discography has been highly praised and his sound has been compared to Heifetz’.  An unusual bonus is Staryk’s recording of seldom-heard Caprices by Rode, Dancla, Fiorillo, Kreutzer, Locatelli, and Sevcik.  As a chamber music player, Staryk has played with the Oberlin String Quartet, Quartet Canada, the CBC String Quartet, and the Staryk-Perry Duo (with pianist John Perry) with which he recorded the complete Beethoven sonatas.  Staryk also served as the first Canadian adjudicator for the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1982.  Many works have been dedicated to him and been premiered by him.  In 1987, Staryk played the part of Vivaldi in the two-hour documentary drama film about the famous violinist-composer.  There are several videos of his playing on YouTube.  He has owned and played many different violins - the Muntz Strad (1736), the Hochstein Strad (1715), the Wieniawski Strad (1719), the Rode Strad (1721), the Sacconi Guarnerius (1740), a Ruggieri, a Goffriller, a Guadagnini (1768), and a 1610 Maggini among them.  In 2000, Staryk co-authored a book with Thane Lewis about his life as a professional musician, Fiddling With Life.  One of his students is Lenny Solomon, (leader of the group Bowfire.)