Vanya Milanova

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.  (see comment below)  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.  

Isaac Stern quote

"Outsiders always look for a reason to explain why they are not inside.  They never look in the mirror. Let's face it, the profession I'm in is a very simple and a very cruel one. There is no way that you can create a career for someone without talent and no way to stop a career of someone with talent." - Isaac Stern,  violinist 

Stern was sometimes accused of getting in the way of artists he didn't like. This was part of his response to that criticism.  I think it's very likely that people can and do suppress careers for whatever reasons they may have - professional jealousy, vengeance, financial gain, personal differences....  It happened to Mozart and Zelenka, just to name two. The irony (sometimes) is that those artists who are "black-listed" can (with time) come back and surpass those who tried to stand in the way.  If Stern was ever one of those who actually dampened someone's career, he won't suffer for it - he was too great an artist. 

Ilya Kaler

Ilya Kaler is a Russian violinist and teacher born (in Moscow) on June 2, 1963 (Anne-Sophie Mutter was born 27 days later that same year and Heifetz was already 62 years old and would live an additional 24 years.)  He is known for his unique achievement of winning three major violin competitions, namely the Paganini (1981), the Sibelius (1985), and the Tchaikovsky (1986) competitions, the only one to do so – so far.  At the Central Music School in Moscow he studied with Zinaida Gilels (Anastasia Khitruk and Stefan Jackiw also studied with her. She is Elizabeth Gilels' niece.)  He later studied with Leonid Kogan and Victor Tretyakov at the Moscow Conservatory, and with Abram Shtern privately (in Kiev, Russia and Los Angeles, U.S.A.)  Kaler has been praised (by The Washington Post) as being “a consummate musician, in total control at all times, with a peerless mastery of his violin.”  His recordings of the Paganini Caprices have been described (by American Record Guide) as being “in a class by themselves – combining the perfection, passion, and phrase sculpting of Michael Rabin with the energy, excitement, and immediacy of Jascha Heifetz.”  Kaler has performed with the Moscow, Leningrad, and Dresden Philharmonics; and the Montreal, Seattle, Detroit, Baltimore, Danish, and Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestras among many others.  (For reasons known only to those immediately involved, Kaler has never soloed with the orchestras of New York, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, Los Angeles, or Philadelphia.  He has also never appeared with the top orchestras of London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Vienna, or Paris.  It is an odd and freakish thing that while the concertmasters of these orchestras – none of whom achieves his level of artistry - get to solo with these prestigious ensembles, a phenomenal player like Kaler does not.  It could be the Eugene Fodor phenomenon at work – blacklisting – but who really knows? - there may be other factors at play about which I know nothing.)  From 1996 to 2001, Kaler was concertmaster of the Rochester Philharmonic.  He has toured with a group called the World Orchestra for Peace, an ensemble led by Valery Gergiev – I had not heard of this orchestra until just now.  Kaler has also toured Russia, Europe, the U.S., South America, and Asia, as a recitalist and as a soloist.  With Amit Peled (cello) and Alon Goldstein (piano), he recently formed the Tempest Trio.  The trio has received enthusiastic reviews and has been compared to the legendary Heifetz-Piatigorsky-Rubinstein trio.  Kaler has taught at the Eastman School of Music (Rochester, New York) from 1998 until 2001, Indiana University (Bloomington, Indiana), and (currently) DePaul University (Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.).  As do almost all concert violinists nowadays, Kaler performs frequently at far-flung music festivals in the U.S. and abroad.  His recordings include the concertos of Paganini, Brahms, Dvorak, Glazunov, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, and Shostakovich.  They are very easy to find on the internet.  He has recorded for the Naxos, Melodya, and MCI labels.  YouTube has several videos of his playing, one of which is this Slavonic Dance by Dvorak.  Kaler has played and recorded with the Sennhauser Guarnerius del Gesu (1735 – from the Stradivari Society.)  He has also played and recorded with more modern Joseph Curtin violins (1998, 2003, and 2010.)  Ilya Kaler is married to a concert violinist (Olga Kaler), as is Gil Shaham (Adele Anthony), Albert Markov (Marina Markov), and as were also Leonid Kogan (Elizabeth Gilels), Igor Ozim (Wonji Kim), and Richard Burgin (Ruth Posselt.)  Among Kaler's pupils are Sean Bradley and Daniel Kurganov. 

Regina Carter

Regina Carter is an American violinist, composer, and teacher born (in Detroit, Michigan - U.S.A.) on August 6, 1966 (Heifetz was 65 years old.)  (One source gives her year of birth as 1963.)  She is one of very few women jazz violinists in the world and is known for having received a MacArthur grant in September, 2006 – just as did Leila Josefowicz in 2008.  She is also just one of two jazz violinists on this blog – the other is Stephane Grappelli.  Carter began her violin studies at the age of four.  She attended Cass Technical High School until graduation, playing with the Detroit Civic Orchestra while studying there.  She then studied at the New England Conservatory (Boston) but ended up returning to Oakland University (Rochester, Michigan, on the northern outskirts of the city of Detroit), graduating from that school.  After graduation, she taught in the Detroit Public Schools for one year.  Carter then spent two years in Germany (1985-1987), immersing herself in the world of the jazz clubs there.  Although she had already been dabbling in jazz music performance, her serious entry into that sphere took place in 1987.  She played with the all-female jazz group Straight Ahead, with which she did some recording, until 1994.  In 2001, she played a concert in Genoa, Italy.  She performed that concert playing Paganini’s famous Cannone violin (Guarneri – 1743.)  Camillo Sivori (Paganini’s pupil), Bronislaw Huberman, Ruggiero Ricci, Leonid Kogan, Eugene Fodor, Dmitri Berlinsky, and Salvatore Accardo, have also been accorded that privilege.  As far as I know, she is the first jazz musician, the first female, and the first black violinist to do so.  She also later recorded a CD using this violin.  Coincidentally, until about 2002, the critics had largely ignored her career as a soloist and recording artist.  Carter has also performed with the String Trio of New York and the Black Rock Coalition.  She is the composer of How Ruth Felt, written for Ruth Felt, President of an arts organization (San Francisco Performances) in San Francisco (California, U.S.) for which Carter was Artist-in-Residence for some time.  There are several videos of her performances on YouTube (one of which you can listen to here) and many albums available on the internet through Verve Records. Her violin is a 1747 Storioni.

Eugene Fodor and Fate

Eugene Fodor died young, at age sixty, on a Saturday in late February, 2011.  Perhaps he wanted it this way – the end of what was to have been a great life, from beginning to end.  Eugene Fodor was a great violinist who somehow lost control of himself and his career.  You can read about it here among many other places.  With his credentials, he could have gone anywhere and he did, but only for a time.  Many doors were closed on him for reasons which are not completely understandable – was he black-listed, did his agents let him down, did he antagonize conductors or orchestra managers, did composers not want him playing their works, or was he just simply irresponsible and difficult and not able to cope with the pressures of concert life?  Only those close to him know.  Ever so slowly, though his playing remained brilliant, his engagements got less frequent and less sparkling.  Margalit Fox, in her magnificent New York Times obituary, quotes Susan Davis (Fodor’s widow): “Last year, in despair over his career, he stopped playing the violin entirely.  It was too painful for him.  He felt like his career had been ripped from him, and he didn’t have the great venues to play in anymore. and it just crushed him.”  Ripped from him by whom?  Fate?  The same Fate that brought Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Bizet, Van Gogh, Franz Clement, Joseph Hassid, Guila Bustabo, Toscha Seidel, and Michael Rabin down?  Mozart would have to be the prime example of someone whose unimaginable genius and earthly rewards were as far apart as could be, whose economic status did not come even a little close to matching what he gave the world.  His must have been a frustration beyond imagining.  It’s as if Fate says “this far and no farther.”  Did Fodor have enemies?  Why were the big, important orchestras not calling him?  Only those closest to him know the answer.  Fodor had drug and alcohol addiction problems on and off.  Apparently, even close friends and family could not intervene for his benefit.  Should they blame themselves for not doing more?  Why?  There have been other concert violinists with the same problems and they did not just give up.  Their careers did not suffer.  Henryk Szeryng comes to mind – it is common knowledge that he drank quite heavily, even right before concerts.  It is rumored that Nigel Kennedy has had drug problems, too, and he seems to be doing just fine.  Other concert artists have gone into decline, accepted it, and just moved on, playing music festivals far and wide, founding chamber orchestras, taking up conducting, taking up full-time teaching, starting private academies and so on.  (They are too numerous to mention.  It happens, even in the natural course of getting old.)  For some reason, Fodor could not bring himself to do any of those things.  Only those closest to him know why.  According to some sources, he got ill last summer and seemingly, just decided to die. 

Eugene Fodor

Eugene Fodor (Eugene Nicholas Fodor, Jr.) was an American violinist born on March 5, 1950 (Perlman was about 5 years old.) His career was somewhat uneven and enigmatic. He first took up the violin when he was five and initially studied with Harold Wippler, concertmaster of the Denver Symphony for a number of years. At 10, he made his orchestral debut with that orchestra (playing Bruch's first concerto) and continued his studies with Wippler for another five years. At 15, he enrolled at Juilliard (New York) where he studied with Ivan Galamian. He also soloed with the Detroit Symphony at age 15. Josef Gingold was his teacher at Indiana University a short time later. By this time, he was already concertizing. He was then a student of Jascha Heifetz at USC. It has been reported that Heifetz dismissed Fodor from his class after Fodor refused to get a haircut to Heifetz' specifications (short.)  He was also winning several competitions along the way, including the Merriweather Post Competition in Washington D.C. After picking up first prize in the Paganini Competition in Italy in 1972 at age 22, Fodor became famous. As if this weren’t enough, two years later (1974), he won a Silver Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (no Gold Medal was awarded that year.) Ironically, even with these competition wins and dozens of successful concert tours under his belt, he was never a guest soloist with some of the best American orchestras – Boston, Chicago, and New York, among others. Speculation that Isaac Stern was somehow instrumental in shutting him off from certain venues prevails until this day. Fodor had at least 40 concertos and more than 40 violin Sonatas in his repertoire, in addition to countless miscellaneous works for violin and piano or unaccompanied violin. YouTube has a few videos of his playing.  He also recorded several major works for the RCA, Sony, and Grazioso labels, among others. Fodor married (Susan Davis, with whom he had three children) in 1978 and divorced in 1985 (some sources say 1986.) He married her again in November of 2010.  He was said to have a difficult personality.  Fodor is known for having been selected to play Paganini’s violin (the Guarnerius Cannone of 1743, worth about $40 million) in a San Francisco recital in 1999, on the eve of Paganini’s birthday. (Other violinists who have been granted this honor are Camillo Sivori, Bronislaw Huberman, Salvatore Accardo, Ruggiero Ricci, Leonid Kogan, Dmitri Berlinsky, and Regina Carter) The recital received great as well as cool reviews. He is also known for having been arrested (in Massachussetts) for drug possession in 1989. His latest prize was the European Soloist award in 1999. Some time in 2010, he stopped playing the violin altogether. Fodor died on February 26, 2011, at age 60. His 1736 Guarnerius is now for sale in Europe - on the private market.

Isaac Stern

Isaac Stern was a Russian (Ukrainian) violinist, teacher, and writer born on July 21, 1920 (Heifetz was 19 years old.) His family came to the U.S. when he was less than two years old; he thus received his entire training in the U.S. Other than as a touring virtuoso with a vibrant, robust sound, he is remembered for saving Carnegie Hall from demolition (1960), for his tours of China, and for a comprehensive discography (more than 100 recordings.) Having started music lessons with his mother, he enrolled at the San Francisco Conservatory in 1928 (age 8). One of his first teachers in San Francisco was Robert Pollak, an Austrian violinist who had recently arrived in the U.S. In 1931 (age 11), he studied privately (in New York) with Louis Persinger, who also taught Yehudi Menuhin, Ruggiero Ricci, and Zvi Zeitlin, among others. He returned to the San Francisco Conservatory to study with Naoum Blinder (a student of Adolph Brodsky) for five years. Blinder had taught at Juilliard (New York) between 1929 and 1931. Blinder was concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony until 1957. Stern gave most of the credit for his training to Blinder. Stern made his public debut at the age of 15 (February 18, 1936) with the San Francisco Symphony. Some sources say he played Saint Saenz’ third concerto on this occasion and others say it was the Brahms concerto. Yet another source says he played the Bach Double concerto with his teacher (Blinder.) [His memoirs probably mentions something about this but I haven't read the book and I have no intention of reading it.] The following year, he made his New York Town Hall debut, which did not go well. He returned in 1943 to debut at Carnegie Hall, after which his career took off. Stern soloed with the New York Philharmonic for the first time in 1944. His European debut came in 1948 and his Russian debut in 1956. So influential did he become, that it has long been rumored that he could make or break any classical musician’s career. He was married three times and had 3 children from his second wife. Stern owned several fine violins, including the Ysaye Guarnerius Del Gesu (1740) which he sold three years before he died. He died on September 22, 2001, at age 81.