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.
