Sophie Heinrich

Sophie Heinrich is a German violinist, writer, and teacher known for being the first female concertmaster of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra (2019 to 2023.)  Prior to that engagement, she was the concertmaster of the Berlin Comic Opera Orchestra (2012 to 2019.)  The Berlin Comic Opera Company produces operas, light operas, ballets, concerts, and musicals and is known for being very innovative.  She has also served as concertmaster in other German orchestras, including the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the Bavarian State Opera (one of Carlos Kleiber’s favorite orchestras), and the Dresden State Orchestra.  Although she has concertized and taught classes in the U.S., Asia, and South America, Heinrich’s career has for the most part been spent in Europe.  Her webpage is easy to find on the internet.  She began her violin studies at age 4 but I don’t know who her first teacher was.  She later studied at the Hanns Eisler school in Berlin with Antje Weithaas (Director of the Joseph Joachim Violin Competition in Hanover); at the Lubeck University of Music (which is about 150 miles northwest of Berlin) with Thomas Brandis (former concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic and pupil of Max Rostal); and received additional instruction from Reinhard Goebel (at Austria’s Mozarteum), Lothar Strauss (concertmaster of the State Orchestra of Berlin), Gidon Kremer, Midori, and the Artemis String Quartet.  For a time (approximately 2010 to 2017), she was Thomas Brandis’ assistant in Lubeck.  Heinrich has won top prizes at various violin competitions, including the Leopold Mozart competition in 1999, and the Max Rostal Competition in 2002.  She was awarded the Possehl Music Prize in Lubeck in 2008.  Besides concertizing as a soloist and chamber music player, Heinrich currently teaches at a private music school in Feldkirch, Germany, the Stella Vorarlberg Private University.  She is also the leader of the string section at the Grafenegg Academy, located about thirty miles from Vienna.  The Academy takes place during the summer at Grafenegg Castle and involves classes in various disciplines in music.  It is open (via audition) to young musicians from all over the world.  Heinrich’s emphasis in teaching is the encouragement of female leadership.  She is, as are most violinists, fluent in three languages.  She has said that her Bible is Bach, her soul is Haydn (and Mozart), and her passion is Tango.  (Incidentally, other classical violinists who love dancing are: Tai Murray, Maxim Vengerov, Stefan Milenkovich, Rusanda Panfili, and Andrew Sords.  Violinists from the past who, in addition to being musicians were also professional dancers, are Jean Marie Leclair and Joseph de Bologne.)  Here is one of Heinrich’s YouTube videos of a recent concert featuring the popular Mozart Turkish concerto.  Heinrich has played a Stradivari violin from 1698, a G.B. Guadagnini from 1753, and a modern violin by David Bague, a well-known luthier from Barcelona.  (Leonidas Kavakos and Ruggiero Ricci also own violins by this violin maker.  Bague has said that he aspires to create instruments to which nobody can be indifferent, which I think is a very noble attitude toward his craft.)

Linus Roth

Linus Roth is a German violinist born (in Ravensburg, Germany) on May 31, 1977.  (Ravensburg is about 100 miles west of Munich)  In addition to his brilliant technique and uncompromising musicianship, he is known for having saved Polish composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg from oblivion.  From age 15, Roth has been the recipient of many top awards at various violin competitions.  Roth has also won the ECHO KLASSIK Award twice for his recordings under the EMI and Challenge Records labels.  (The ECHO KLASSIK is Germany’s top classical music award.)  In 2013, Roth received Gramophone music magazine’s Editor’s Choice honors for his recordings of Weinberg’s violin concerto, the Concertino for violin and chamber orchestra, and the complete works for violin and piano.  Every Roth recording is easy to find on the internet.  Among many other works, Weinberg also composed three sonatas for solo violin which Roth has also recently recorded.  Although he has spent most of his career in Europe, Roth has played in venues across the world, including North and South America and the Far East.  As is customary for many classical concert artists, he also plays chamber music (in concert) with a wide variety of world class musicians.  Roth began violin lessons at age 5.  He received his first instruction from his mother, who is a cellist.  At age 6, he made his first public appearance.  His first solo performance with orchestra, at which he played the Mendelssohn concerto (the one in e minor), took place at age 11.  The following year, he began lessons in Zurich with Ukrainian-Polish violinist Nicolas Chumachenco, well-known violin pedagogue.  Four years later, at age 16, he began studying with Russian violin Professor Zakhar Bron, in Lubeck, Germany.  (Bron was also the teacher of Vadim Repin, Maxim Vengerov, Mari Samuelsen, and Daniel Hope.)  Beginning at age 20, he started lessons with someone who would become his most influential teacher, Ana Chumachenco, first in Zurich, then in Munich.  (Ana Chumachenco is Nicolas Chumachenco’s sister.)  In 2012, Roth was appointed violin professor at the Leopold Music Center of Augsburg University where he still teaches.  In 2018, he established the Ibiza (Spain) music festival called Ibiza Concerts.  (Ibiza is an island off the eastern coast of Spain – a very short trip by airplane, but a long trip by ferry.)  Toward that end, he is learning Spanish – he already speaks German, English, and Italian.  He also was appointed Artistic Director, in 2020, of the Spring Music Festival at Ochsenhausen, Germany.  (Ochsenhausen is about 60 miles west of Munich.)  I believe all of their concerts will be streamed live in 2021, although I’m not absolutely sure about that.  Up until the end of 2019, Roth maintained an incredibly busy concert schedule.  However, his schedule was disrupted by events which took every artist around the world by surprise.  Not one single artist was spared the consequences of the worldwide events which resulted from the severe Covid-19 pandemic.  However, Roth wisely spent some of his time off doing a lot of recording that does not require an orchestra, including the six works for solo violin by Bach.  I do not know if any of those CDs have been issued yet.  Fortunately, as his website shows, an upcoming concert tour with Anne-Sophie Mutter as partner will relaunch his concert itinerary.  In a recent interview, Roth was asked which two musicians from the past he would most like to meet; his choices were composer Ludwig Van Beethoven and conductor Carlos Kleiber.  Beethoven is not an unusual choice, but Carlos Kleiber is.  As far as I know, Kleiber never appeared with or conducted for any soloists on stage.  His concerts were all-orchestral concerts or operas; same as his recordings.  Nevertheless, many widely-respected musicians (and many music critics) regard him as the best conductor of the twentieth century.  Roth has stated that he “wouldn’t want to discuss anything musical with him; rather, I would ask him about his views on life, spiritual things, and about the aura of certain other people he worked with.  I’m sure he felt these intensely.  In case we would have managed to have some glasses of wine together, I would ask him about his youth in South America, the atmosphere there, and his feelings about coming back to Munich in 1952 to be Korrepetitor [an opera singer’s coach and accompanist] at the Gärtnerplatz Theater München.”  As for Weinberg, Roth first discovered his music in 2010 (one source says 2011.).  He has championed Weinberg’s music ever since and founded (in 2015) the International Mieczyslaw Weinberg Society which promotes Weinberg’s music.  Weinberg’s violin concerto was dedicated to Leonid Kogan, who recorded it in 1959 or 1960.  Here is a YouTube video with Roth speaking briefly about the concerto, including footage of his recording session in Berlin in August, 2013.  Unlike most concert violinists, Roth is not a chess player (he prefers backgammon), but in a matter of a few months, he will join Kristof Barati and Jeremy Constant as being one of the extremely rare people who are both concert violinists and airplane pilots.  Roth maintains his mental and physical stamina by regularly working out at a gymnasium.  (Arabella Steinbacher practices Yoga but, as far as I know, never sets foot in a gym.)  Here is a YouTube video with Roth playing the Bach E major concerto.  Be prepared to experience a very special and unexpected ending to that video.  Here is another fascinating video showing a rehearsal for the recording session of the Tchaikovsky concerto with the London Symphony.  Since 1997, Roth has played the 1703 Dancla Stradivarius, although he played many other violins before that, including a Landolfi of unknown date.  The photo is courtesy of Belgian Photographer Diego Franssens.  

Johann Peter Salomon

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 had 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. (A year later, Mozart would be dead.) Beethoven was not yet famous - he was barely 20 years old.   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.  

Susanne Lautenbacher

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 Antonio Vivaldi from the Four Seasons - Summer, taken at a very leisurely pace. Lautenbacher is becoming (or has already become) an iconic figure for her thoughtful, incisive, and engaging interpretations.  

Henry Schradieck

Henry Schradieck was a German violinist, teacher, conductor, and composer born (in Hamburg) on April 29, 1846.  Johannes Brahms had been born there 13 years earlier.  Schradieck is best known for his many study books for violin (and viola) and for several editions of various works for violin, including the Mendelssohn violin concerto in e minor.  It has been said that he moved frequently and preferred not to remain in one place too long.  Among other violinists, Willy Hess, Mischa Mischakoff, and Steven Staryk did the same thing.  Schradieck received his first lessons from his father, who was a violinist, and first played in public at age 6, possibly age 5.  One source states that in 1854, at age 8, he entered the Brussels Conservatory and graduated in 1858.  He was 12 years old.  It has been stated that Teresa Milanollo paid for his tuition at the conservatory.  His teacher there was Hubert Leonard.  He then went to Leipzig to study with Ferdinand David.  In 1864, he was hired as professor of violin at the Moscow Conservatory.  He remained there for three years and then returned to Hamburg to lead the Hamburg Philharmonic Society Orchestra.  After 6 years, he joined (in 1874) the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig as concertmaster.  Felix Mendelssohn and Ferdinand David had already left the scene – in fact, David had died the previous year.  Schradieck also taught at the Leipzig Conservatory and conducted the theatre orchestra.  He was 28 years old.  In 1883, he came to the U.S and settled in Cincinnati, Ohio.  There, he organized an orchestra and taught at the College of Music.  He returned to Hamburg in 1889 to teach at the Hamburg Conservatory.  Nine years later, in 1898, he returned to the U.S.  He devoted most of his time to teaching in Philadelphia and New York.  Among the oddly interesting things about his career are that he could play all the Beethoven quartets (presumably the first violin part) from memory and he seriously studied the art of violin making.  Among Schradieck’s pupils are Maud Powell, Theodore Spiering, Ottokar Novacek, and Carl Tollefsen.  Schradieck died (in Brooklyn, New York) on March 25, 1918, at age 71.  

Hugo Heermann

Hugo Heermann was a German violinist and teacher born (in Heilbronn) on March 3, 1844.  He taught briefly in the U.S. but spent most of his teaching career in Frankfurt, at the well-known Hoch Conservatory.  He taught there for 25 years - from 1878 until 1904 – but also concertized sporadically.  Joseph Lambert Massart and Joseph Joachim were among his teachers.  At 20 years of age (1864), he established himself in Frankfurt.  Beginning in 1865, he played first violin in the Heermann Quartet (which also used other names) with Fritz Bassermann on second, Adolf Rebner on viola, and Hugo Becker on cello.  As mentioned previously, he became a teacher at the Hoch Conservatory in 1878.  His most famous pupil at the conservatory (by far) is Bronislaw Huberman – that fact alone is sufficient to keep his name in the music history books forever.  In the early 1900s Heermann came to the U.S. and played the Beethoven concerto in his first U.S. appearance on February 5, 1903.  I don’t know which orchestra accompanied him but I do know he played a cadenza he composed himself.  He very soon after played the Brahms concerto with the New York Philharmonic on February 13, 1903 and received very favorable reviews.  It is said to be the first New York performance of the concerto.  Walter Damrosch was on the podium so it was probably the New York Symphony which he played with, although it was later merged with what we now know as the New York Philharmonic.  Franz Kneisel had already played the first Boston performance – possibly the first U.S. performance of the Brahms concerto - on December 6, 1889.  On April 3 of the same year Heermann played the first Bruch concerto with the philharmonic under the same conductor.  His final appearance with the philharmonic was on January 26, 1907 – by then, he had already settled in the U.S.  He played the Beethoven concerto on that occasion.  A critic pointed out that he had made a “deep impression upon the audience, and was rewarded with all the enthusiastic applause which his performance warranted, being recalled again and again.”  Heermann taught at the Chicago Musical College from 1906 to 1909.  He was later appointed concertmaster of the Cincinnati Symphony, where he served between 1909 and 1911.  In 1911, he returned to Europe, taking up teaching; first at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin, and, beginning in 1912, at the Music Conservatory in Geneva, Switzerland.  For many years, Heermann used a 1733 Stradivarius violin which he purchased in 1860.  On or about the year 1888, Heermann acquired another Stradivarius violin presumably made in 1734.  That violin was purchased by Eugene Ysaye in 1895, from whom it was stolen in 1908.  After it was found in a Paris shop in 1925, none other than (violinist) Charles Munch bought it and kept it until 1960.  It was later played by Henryk Szeryng, who bequeathed it (in 1972) to the City of Jerusalem, to be used by the concertmaster of the Israel Philharmonic.  The violin goes by various names but that does not make it hard to trace.  Another Stradivarius which Heermann used and which was constructed in (about) 1734, is now played by Gidon Kremer.  That violin is known as the Heermann Stradivarius.  Heermann also used yet another Stradivarius violin (from about 1700 - the Jupiter Strad) from 1892 to 1895.  According to the Cozio website, that violin is now in the hands of Hollywood studio violinist Arnold Belnick.  Heermann retired in 1922, living mostly in Merano, Italy, where he eventually died on November 6, 1935, at age 91.  

Charles Loeffler

Charles Loeffler (Charles Martin Loeffler) was a German violinist, composer, and teacher born (in Schoneberg, Germany – the outskirts of Berlin) on January 30, 1861.  While claiming to be French (Alsatian), he spent most of his career in the U.S. and rose to prominence before being almost forgotten.  He was resentful toward his native Germany because his father had been imprisoned for being on the wrong political side of things and died in prison.  Not unlike violinist Nicolai Berezowsky many years later, he was considered a major composer in his day but gradually fell out of favor.  Many music critics called him one of America’s greatest composers.  He began his violin studies at about age 9, in 1870.  Several sources state that he entered the Advanced School for Music in Berlin at age 13, that is, 1874.  There, he studied with Joseph Joachim and Edouard Rappoldi.  Composition he studied with Clara Schumann’s half-brother, Woldemar Bargiel.  After three years, he traveled to France where he further studied (presumably at the Paris Conservatory) - violin with Joseph Lambert Massart (pupil of Rodolphe Kreutzer) and composition with Ernest Guiraud, teacher also of Claude Debussy.  Loeffler played in the famous Pasdeloup Orchestra and later on (1979 to 1881) in a private orchestra engaged by Paul von Derwies.  Cesar Thomson also played in this private orchestra although he was not there by the time Loeffler arrived.  Loeffler was 20 years old when he left for the U.S.  One source states Loeffler set foot in the U.S. on July 27, 1881.  By then, he had already lived in Germany, France, Russia, Hungary, and Switzerland.  He soon got a job playing in the New York Symphony.  He also played in orchestras put together for occasional concerts by Theodore Thomas.  In 1882, he was engaged by the Boston Symphony, where he was assistant concertmaster for over twenty years.  Franz Kneisel was concertmaster during most of those years (1885-1903.)  Loeffler played with the orchestra until 1903.  His first appearance as soloist with the Boston Symphony took place on November 20, 1891.  He played one of his own works, his first orchestral composition.  His works were often played by American Orchestras during his lifetime.  In 1905, none other than violinist Karl Halir and composer Richard Strauss presented one of his works for violin and orchestra in Berlin.  It has been said that Loeffler was a very careful and conscientious composer.  Here is one example of a chamber music work.  His music has been described as eclectic, influenced by the Symbolist movement.  He even wrote music for jazz band, possibly the first classical composer to do so.  His most famous work is something called A Pagan Poem.  Opinions vary, of course, but in my estimation, this work is worthy of being included in the repertoire of every orchestra in the world.  As far as I know, the  Pagan Poem has only been recorded 3 times.  As did violinist Richard Burgin much later, Loeffler frequently traveled to France and other parts of Europe.  After leaving the Boston Symphony, he was very active not only composing but in various musical endeavors.  He was on the Board of Directors of the Boston Opera Company at its inception in 1908.  He was instrumental in establishing the Juilliard School of Music in New York in 1924.  Other composers dedicated works to him.  He lived long enough to count George Gershwin among his friends.  After his death, his manuscripts and correspondence went to the Library of Congress.  The rest of his possessions went to the French Academy and the Paris Conservatory.  His best-known students are probably Arthur Hartmann and Katherine Swift (George Gershwin’s lover.)  Loeffler died (in Medfield, Massachusetts) on May 19, 1935, at age 74.  Among other violins, Loeffler played a JB Vuillaume from (about) 1840 and a 1710 Stradivarius now known as the Duc De Camposelice or Camposelice for short.  He used the violin between 1894 and 1928, at which time it was returned to its Boston owner.  That Stradivarius was later owned by Vasa Prihoda, husband of Austrian violinist Alma Rose for a time, and then eventually ended up with the Nippon Foundation until it was sold at auction in 2006. 

Isabelle Faust

Isabelle Faust is a German violinist and teacher born (in Esslingen, Germany – near Stuttgart) on March 19, 1972.  Faust is a supremely gifted artist known for her thorough involvement in both, the early music and contemporary styles of playing, possessed of a markedly identifiable sound who nevertheless maintains an unorthodox view of marketing – she just plays and lets the chips fall where they may.  As one writer puts it, she has an admirable and “refreshingly devil-may-care” attitude.  I do not usually exercise the privilege of writing subjectively on this blog but there are exceptions.  To quote further, Faust delights in “the pure process of producing what I think the composer wants to hear.”  She began her violin studies at age five.  By age 11, she was playing second violin in a string quartet she helped organize.  She kept playing in this quartet until age 15.  She had up to then been studying with Christoph Poppen.  During the summer she would study with Denes Zsigmondy, a Hungarian pedagogue who helped her navigate the (Bela) Bartok violin sonatas.  However, she gives most of the credit for her training to Poppen, with whom she studied between 1988 and 1994 at the Advanced School for Music in Detmold (Germany) (Musikhochschule Detmold.)  Detmold is located about 120 miles north of Frankfurt.   None other than Johannes Brahms spent time working there.  As do also many other modern concert violinists, Faust plays contemporary music – music which I consider sub-standard and (for the most part) intensely dislike - as often as she can. Many contemporary composers have written works for her or dedicated works to her – I won’t bother to list them since I don’t care for their work.  Faust’s technique is truly fabulous and not over-stated – her considerable technical prowess is not worn on her sleeve, so to speak. What intrigues me is her sound.  It has been written that rather than “merely mastering her instrument and its repertoire, experiencing and deeply exploring music [is what] lies at the heart of her work.”  The New York Times wrote that "her sound has passion, grit and electricity but also a disarming warmth and sweetness that can unveil the music’s hidden strains of lyricism."  Faust won the Leopold Mozart violin competition (Augsburg, Austria) in 1987 (at age 15) and the Paganini competition (Genoa, Italy) in 1993.  I have heard that the winner of the Paganini competition has the right to play a recital on Paganini’s famed Cannone Guarnerius violin but there is no mention of her doing that.  The Dvorak concerto was one of the first major concertos she recorded (2003.)  Her recording of the Beethoven concerto was released in 2007.  Faust has also recorded the violin sonatas of Bartok, Beethoven, Szymanowski, Janacek, and Bach.  She performs extensively at chamber music festivals around the world and, of course, has worked with almost all of the major orchestras and conductors.  She made her U.S. debut in 1995 with the Utah Symphony.  She was 23 years old.  Her first appearance with the New York Philharmonic did not take place until March 20, 2013 - she played both Bach concertos on that occasion.  Her current violin is the Sleeping Beauty Stradivarius of 1704.  As far as I could ascertain, before Faust obtained it, this Stradivarius had never been played by a concert violinist.  In fact, it is one of very few Stradivarius violins with its original neck intact.  Supposedly, it lay dormant in a bank vault, in its original violin case, for decades, and was named Sleeping Beauty for that very reason.  The original label reads 1720 or 1729 but violin "experts" have decided that the year of construction is closer to 1704.  Claude Lebet  - an obscure luthier - found it in 1991.  Faust has also played a JB Guadagnini of 1761.  She is shown here playing the Beethoven Triple Concerto with two of her colleagues and the Orchestra of the 18^th Century (the Netherlands.)  It is a magnificent live performance from 2010.  This early music orchestra (founded in 1981) is very rare in that it does not audition its members.  Its conductor is Frans Bruggen.  If you prefer hearing a much shorter piece, she splendidly plays the Bach g minor concerto in this YouTube audio file.  

Casimir von Blumenthal

Casimir von Blumenthal was a German violinist, conductor, composer, and teacher born (in Brussels, Belgium) on August 8, 1787.  His father was Baron Joseph von Blumenthal.  Unfortunately, some political turmoil which began in 1787 resulted in his losing most of his fortune.  His sons, including Casimir, instead of becoming titled nobles, became musicians.  In 1789, the family moved to Prague to avoid the short-lived revolution and subsequent violence.  Blumenthal began to study violin and composition with Georg Joseph Vogler.  Two sources state that Blumenthal studied with Vogler (aka Abbe Vogler) in Vienna.  Vogler is mainly known as an organist and teacher who traveled far and wide and did not stay put too long in one place so Blumenthal’s lessons could have taken place sporadically.  I am not certain of that but I’m not taking the trouble to precisely ascertain it one way or the other.  Be that as it may, Casimir and his two (older) brothers were all admitted into the Orchestra of the Theatre on the Banks of the Wien River (Theater an der Wien, in Vienna.)  This venue was brand new and became very famous in its day and still (for the most part) stands today.  It was the site selected for some of Beethoven’s most important premieres.  Casimir was 17 years old then.  Prior to 1811, the violinist Franz Clement was Director at the theatre but sometime after 1811, Blumenthal took his place.  Blumenthal later worked as a teacher and conductor in Czechoslovakia (Prague, Brno, and Bratislava.)  In 1821, he was appointed conductor of the Allgemeine Musik-Gesellschaft (aka the AMG - General Music Society or Universal Music Company) and settled in Zurich, Switzerland, where he married, founded a choral society, and joined a Masonic Lodge.  He was 34 years old and he never looked back.  Until the Tonhalle Orchestra came along in 1868, the AMG had the best orchestra in Switzerland, although it was composed of both amateur and professional musicians who would often not attend all rehearsals required for performances.  He was there for 25 years.  Blumenthal conducted the Swiss Music Society Festivals in Zurich in 1828 and 1838.  For the inaugural performance in the Aktientheater, on November 10, 1834, he composed an overture based on Swiss folk songs.  I’m guessing the piece is not nowadays available through a publisher.  The AMG library might have it.  With the reluctant blessing of the authorities, Blumenthal began to also conduct opera performances at that theatre.  Blumenthal retired from his post in 1846.  He died on July 22, 1849 (in Lausanne, Switzerland) at age 61.  Today, he is completely forgotten.  

Augustin Hadelich

Augustin Hadelich is a German violinist born (in Cecina, Italy) on April 4, 1984.  He is best known for a very fast rise to stardom after winning the Indianapolis Violin Competition in 2006.  It was virtually a clean sweep of the competition since he also won special awards for the best performance in the following categories: Romantic concerto, Classical concerto, Beethoven sonata, Bach work, commissioned work, encore piece, Paganini caprice, and sonata other than Beethoven.  His reviews have been full of superlatives since the beginning of his career and, understandably, he has already appeared with most of the world’s top orchestras.  He soloed with the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall in New York on October 18, 2012, playing the Symphonie Espagnol by Edouard Lalo.  He had three times previously played with this orchestra, though not in New York.  He is not yet 29 years old.  Hadelich began his violin studies at age 5 with his father, a farmer who is also a cellist.  At the time, the family was living in Riparbella, Italy (in Tuscany – Riparbella is about 30 miles south of Florence.)  From about age 7, he studied (sporadically) with, among other teachers, Uto Ughi in Siena for a few years.  He eventually ended up in the Istituto Mascagni in Livorno (Italy) from which he graduated.  He was playing recitals in Europe during this time, too.  Later on, in Berlin, he studied at the Academy of Music.  From there he came to the U.S and enrolled at Juilliard, studying with Joel Smirnoff.  Hadelich graduated from Juilliard in 2007, a year after he won the Indianapolis competition.  His discography is small but, by all accounts, brilliant.  He has recorded all of Haydn’s violin concertos and Telemann’s fantasias for violin - rarely-heard works.  He also sometimes writes his own cadenzas, something that few contemporary violinists do.  Hadelich currently plays the Kiesewetter Stradivarius (1723) but previously played the 1683 Gingold Stradivarius.  One of his many YouTube videos is here.  And here is another – yes, he is that good!   

Paul Hindemith

Paul Hindemith was a German violinist, violist, teacher, composer, author, and conductor, born (in Hanau) on November 16, 1895.  He is much better known as a composer, though he spent much of his early life making a living as a violinist and violist.  He is one of several great artists who played in dance bands and musical theatre groups – far removed from the classical music arena - as a young man.  Eugene Ormandy, Vasa Prihoda, Elias Breeskin, Alfredo Campoli, Theodore Thomas, Albert Sammons, Alma Rose', and Jacques Thibaud did the same thing.  He began violin lessons with Eugene Reinhardt and Anna Hegner as a child but later entered the Frankfurt Conservatory (Hoch Conservatory) in 1908.  His violin teacher there was Adolf Rebner (pupil of Jacob Grun and Martin Marsick.)  Hindemith also studied composition there with Arnold Mendelssohn and Bernhard Sekles.  In 1914, Hindemith became assistant concertmaster of the Frankfurt Opera.  He was 19 years old.  In 1915, he played the Beethoven concerto in public although it is not known to me where or with whom.  Two years later, he was made concertmaster of the Frankfurt Opera.  From 1914 onward, Hindemith also played second violin in the Rebner String Quartet.  Between 1918 and 1920, he served as a musician – probably as a violinist - for the German military - World War One was over by then.  In 1921, he founded his own String Quartet – the Amar String Quartet – in which he played viola.  He was 26 years old.  He continued his activities with this quartet until 1929.  By 1923 he had resigned his position with the Frankfurt Opera and was gaining fame as a composer - by 1927, he was already teaching composition in the Advanced School for Music in Berlin.  In 1928, he wrote a film music score for a film by Hans Richter.  The score was subsequently lost.  On October 3, 1929, he gave the world premiere of William Walton’s now-famous viola concerto after Lionel Tertis refused it.  Walton was on the podium.  Hindemith frequently toured as a solo viola player, including several times in the U.S.  Part of Hindemith’s history includes his relationship to the infamous Nazi Party.  He was both denounced and embraced by the officials controlling anything to do with art and propaganda at the time.  Between 1935 and 1937, he traveled to Turkey to help with that country’s musical education programs.  In 1935 also, he quit his teaching position in Frankfurt – some sources call it an extended leave.  In 1938, he left Germany for Switzerland – his wife was part-Jewish.  In 1940, he settled in the U.S.  He mostly taught at Yale and Harvard.  Hindemith also devoted much of his time to writing about his music theory – or system - of composition.  In 1953, he returned to Europe, settling once again in Switzerland.  He took up numerous and frequent conducting assignments, going as far as Japan with the Vienna Philharmonic in 1956.  Among much other music, most of which has been recorded, Hindemith wrote 8 operas, 3 ballets, 14 concertos (for various instruments), 11 large-scale orchestral works, 7 string quartets, and 7 viola sonatas.  His most popular work is probably the Symphonic Metamorphosis for orchestra on themes of CM von Weber.  You can listen to it here.  I’ve only played it once in my life.  Hindemith died (in Frankfurt) on December 28, 1963, at age 68.  

Christian Tetzlaff

Christian Tetzlaff is a German violinist and teacher born (in Hamburg) on April 24, 1966.  As was Joseph Szigeti, he is known for his intellectual approach to playing, though that is a very limiting characterization of his style.  He is also one of the few (male) violinists who does not wear casual clothing when performing and does not make an issue of appearing “non-elitist” by wearing casual clothes when he performs.  Joshua Bell, Leonidas Kavakos, Stefan Jackiw, Gilles Apap, and Nigel Kennedy (among others) have long-ago abandoned the formal attire of a traditional concert violinist (white tie and tails) in favor of grungy and casual clothes.  His three siblings are also professional musicians, as were all four Spivakovsky brothers.  He is also rather unique in that he favors a modern violin to his Stradivarius.  Tetzlaff did not enter a conservatory as a child, as have many violinists before him.  He took up the violin at age 6 but proceeded to get a regular academic education.  At age 14, he made his orchestral debut playing the Beethoven concerto.  After that, he studied with Uwe-Martin Haiberg at the Lubeck Music School – Lubeck is about 40 miles north of Hamburg.  In 1985, he came to the U.S. to study with Walter Levin (pupil of Ivan Galamian) at the University of Cincinnati.  He was 19 years old.  He has subsequently played with virtually every major orchestra in the world and has given recitals in the most important venues as well.  Though his discography is not extensive, every one of his recordings has been highly praised.  There are many classical music lovers who consider him underrated by critics and the general public.  The same thing has been said many times of Pinchas Zukerman.  YouTube has several videos of his performances.  Here is one with the Brahms concerto.  Tetzlaff is the only violinist I know who regularly plays all of the Bach Partitas in one single program.  Several others do play all of the Paganini Caprices in a single recital but he prefers doing that with Bach.  Tetzlaff organized the Tetzlaff String Quartet (with Elisabeth Kufferath, Hanna Weinmeister, and Tonja Tetzlaff) in 1994.  He was 28 years old.  Since 2002, his violin of choice has been one by German Luthier, Peter Greiner.  It sounds like a Stradivarius, if not better.  Leonidas Kavakos also owns a Greiner violin.  Tetzlaff teaches at the Kronberg Academy, situated near Frankfurt, Germany.  A famous quote by Tetzlaff goes like this: “Trying to turn lead into gold is nothing compared to taking something mechanical like an instrument – a string and a bow - and using it to evoke a human soul, preserved through the centuries.”  

Celebrity Violinists

I have been meaning to put together a list of celebrity violinists for a while, but I have not done so for reasons I do not understand.  However, I have decided – instead - to now put together a list of violinists on this blog who, for reasons I also do not understand, have gotten very little attention – fewer than 70 (unique) views.  And, here it is, in reverse chronological order: Arthur Hartmann, Jacob Grun, Franz Kneisel, Eddie South, Tivadar Nachez, Karl Halir, Camilla Urso, Nahan Franko, Albert Sammons, Jose Lafitte, Daisy Kennedy, Isidore Cohen, Erick Friedman, Victoria Mullova, Joseph Hellmesberger, Robert Mann, Emmanuel Wirth, William Reed, Otto Joachim, Ion Voicu, Jan Kubelik, Willy Hess, Pierre Baillot, Jacques Thibaud, Antonio Bazzini, Roman Totenberg, Jeno Hubay, and Emile Sauret.  With time, perhaps these violinists may get a few more views and reach 100 views or so.  Few people seem even aware that these once-famous people were very influential musicians in their day.  Of course some profiles have gotten over 2,500 (unique) views but the reason eludes me.  Why some old names stick and others don’t is a mystery.  The ones who are contemporary but have very few views are Robert Mann and Viktoria Mullova but the reason for that is that my Pronetoviolins blog post about them does not even show up in the first ten pages of Google.  I wonder if, fifty years from now, Gil Shaham or Itzhak Perlman or Hilary Hahn will still be remembered.  Not too long ago, I asked a violin student if she had heard a certain Heifetz recording.  She said she had never heard of Jascha Heifetz.  Well, there it is. 

Dietmar Machold

It now comes to light that Dietmar Machold, a respected dealer in fine instruments is under investigation for supposedly dealing fraudulently with buyers and sellers.  He had offices all over the world and was well-known among high-end dealers.  He was known as Mr. Stradivarius and had built his business very quickly.  His father used to be a violin maker.  Spiegel Online has a rather comprehensive article about Machold's troubles, if you can make time to read it.  I wrote a story about Joseph Tang a few months ago and mentioned at that time that his victims had at least not suffered huge losses because they had not dealt in high-end instruments.  Dietmar Machold appears to be the Major League version of Joseph Tang.  He has been accused of perpetrating frauds to the tune of $35,000,000, selling fakes or inflating prices, or simply not paying owners for instruments he sold which had been placed with him on a consignment basis.  Some sources speculate that the swindles were in excess of $100,000,000.  I wouldn’t know.  The New Jersey Symphony was allegedly one of his victims.  A European bank made him loans of more than $4,000,000 which were secured by instruments purportedly worth a lot more than $4,000,000 but whose real value was closer to $5,000.  By the way, I am still very much of the opinion that the so-called Messiah Stradivarius is a fake.  It sits in a British Museum (the Ashmolean) away from any and all scrutiny.  I have very little respect for dealers who have everything to gain by issuing certificates of authenticity and giving opinions of value on violins they sell.  In fact, I prefer new violins to old, be they Guarnerius, Stradivarius, or Guadagnini. Fritz Reuter knows. 

Franz Kneisel

Franz Kneisel was a German (some would say American or Romanian) violinist, conductor, composer, and teacher born (in Bucharest) on January 26, 1865.  He is known for having taught for many years at the Institute of Musical Arts (Juilliard) and for having led the famous Kneisel Quartet for more than thirty years (1886-1917.)  Together with Theodore Thomas, Max Bendix, Simon Jacobsohn, Theodore Spiering, Ferdinand Laub, and Hans Letz, he was a violinist who set the groundwork for the establishment of classical music as a viable and serious art in the U.S. at the turn of the twentieth century.  In Europe, that tradition had already been in motion and thriving for over 200 years.  Kneisel graduated from the Bucharest Conservatory in 1879, at age 14.  In Vienna, he studied with Jacob Grun and Joseph Hellmesberger at the Vienna Conservatory for three years.  In 1882, he made his debut in Vienna.  He then soon became concertmaster of the Hofburg Theatre Orchestra in Vienna.  He was 18 years old.  The following year (1884), he became concertmaster of Benjamin Bilse’s Band in Berlin, the precursor of the Berlin Philharmonic.  By then, however, it was actually known as “Former Bilse’s Band,” since most of its musicians had broken away (in 1882) from conductor Benjamin Bilse to form their own organization.  It did not adopt the Berlin Philharmonic name until 1887.  Eugene Ysaye had just left the concertmaster’s post in that orchestra to become a concert violinist, teacher, and composer.  Kneisel left Germany for the U.S. in 1885 and was soon appointed concertmaster of the Boston Symphony, where he played for 18 years (1885-1903), and with which he appeared as soloist many times.  He was also its assistant conductor.  He was 20 years old.  It has been said that over the years, Kneisel conducted the Boston Symphony over a hundred times.  Joseph Silverstein was probably the last concertmaster in Boston who enjoyed the privilege of being an assistant conductor as well.  Kneisel formed the Kneisel Quartet from among members of the orchestra (Emanuel Fiedler, Louis Svecenski, and Fritz Giese.)  Kneisel and Svecenski (violist) stayed with the quartet until it was disbanded in 1917 but the other positions were filled by many other players later on.  The Kneisel Quartet became known all over the U.S. and Europe.  Several sources state that Kneisel gave the premiere performances of the Brahms and Goldmark violin concertos in the U.S. as well as the famous Cesar Franck A major sonata.  According to Bridget Carr, Archivist for the Boston Symphony, Kneisel first performed the Brahms concerto in Boston on December 6, 1889 (almost ten years after it was premiered in Germany by Joseph Joachim) and the Goldmark concerto almost exactly a year later, on December 5, 1890.  In 1897, Kneisel acquired a 1714 Stradivarius which he owned until his death.  It is known as the Grun ex-Kneisel Strad but I have no idea who plays it now.  He had previously played (and presumably owned) a G.B. Guadagnini from 1752.  He also acquired a 1780 Guadagnini in 1914.  In 1905, Kneisel moved to New York to become the head of the violin department at the Institute of Musical Arts (Juilliard) which was newly established.  He was fifty years old.  Eventually, Kneisel became so busy teaching that he had to disband his quartet, by then, considered the best in this country and one of the best in the world.  He taught at Juilliard until the day he died – about 11 years.  Kneisel’s pupils include Elias Breeskin, Louis Kaufman, Joseph Fuchs, Jacques Gordon, Sascha Jacobsen, Samuel Gardner, Michel Gusikoff, Robert Talbot, Bernard Ocko, William Kroll, Lillian Fuchs, Joan Field, and Olive Mead.  He published several study books which are probably no longer in print.  He also wrote a Grand Concert Etude for violin which, as far as I know, nobody plays anymore.  The Kneisel Quartet may have recorded only once – in 1917.  Kneisel died (in New York City) on March 26, 1926, at age 61.  

Hans Letz

Hans Letz (Jean Letz) was a German violinist born (in Ittenheim) on March 18, 1887.  He is mostly remembered as a teacher of many students at Juilliard (New York.)  He studied at the Strasbourg Conservatory and at the Berlin Royal Academy of Music with the famous Joseph Joachim (1831-1907), concertized in Europe for a while then came to the U.S. in June of 1908.  He was 21 years old.  He soon joined the Chicago Symphony (in 1909) and was appointed concertmaster in 1910.  Theodore Thomas had already left the scene, so to speak.  Letz left this position in the spring of 1912 and in May of that year joined the Kneisel Quartet (the best string quartet in the country according to several critics) as second violinist.  (For some odd reason, Chicago Symphony concertmasters do not stay on for long periods, unlike other top orchestra concertmasters at the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.)  Letz also began teaching at the Institute of Musical Art (now Juilliard) in 1912 and continued doing so until 1920.  When Kneisel disbanded the quartet in 1917, Letz formed his own – the Hans Letz Quartet it was called.  It was active until 1925.  It is doubtful that any recordings of the quartet exist – I do not know.  Letz then again taught at Juilliard (the Institute of Musical Art) from 1925 onward.  He was 38 years old.  Letz retired from Juilliard in 1960, though he took two years off between 1956 and 1958.  He had been there more than forty years.  Letz played a Pressenda violin from 1829, a Guadagnini from 1783, a Testore from 1739, and a Montagnana from 1730.  The Guadagnini eventually ended up in the hands of Lorin Maazel, a sometime violinist who became a conductor - he sold it late last year for an undisclosed sum.  Letz is said to have favored a small, refined tone, especially suited to chamber music.  Among Letz’ many pupils are Mary Canberg, Dorothy DeLay, Sally Thomas, Vittorio Giannini, Anatoly Kaminsky, Robert Kurka, Peter Marsh, Calvin Sieb, Andor Toth, and Patricia Travers.  Hans Letz died (in Hackensack, New Jersey) on November 14, 1969, at age 82, largely forgotten.

Arabella Steinbacher

Arabella Steinbacher is a German violinist (and pianist, as were Fritz Kreisler, Arthur Grumiaux, Louis Persinger, and as is Julia Fischer) born (in Munich) on November 14, 1981.  She is now in the forefront of concert violinists performing all over the world.  She began studying the violin with Helge Thelen at the age of three.  He was her teacher for six years.  At age nine, she became the youngest violin student of Ana Chumachenko at the Munich Academy of Music. She received further musical inspiration and guidance from Ivry Gitlis, one of the oldest living concert violinists (among whom are also Zvi Zeitlin, Camilla Wicks, Ida Haendel, Robert Mann, David Nadien, Albert Markov, Abram Shtern, and Ruggiero Ricci.)  In 2001, she was awarded a scholarship by the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation.  She made her debut in March, 2004, in Paris, playing the Beethoven violin concerto, actually stepping in at the last moment for an indisposed violinist.  She was 22 years old.  Many other artists have begun their careers in similar fashion – Leonard Bernstein and Shlomo Mintz come to mind.  Steinbacher made her New York recital debut in June, 2006.  She has also already appeared with most major orchestras in the world – the New York Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic are the exceptions.  Steinbacher has recorded extensively and many videos of her playing can be found on YouTube.  One such can be found here. She received the German Record Critics Award in 2005 for her recording of both of Darius Milhaud’s rarely-heard Violin Concertos.  She now records exclusively for PentaTone Classics.  Arabella Steinbacher plays the Booth Stradivarius (1716) provided by the Nippon Music Foundation and uses a bow from luthier Benoit Rolland.

Rodolphe Kreutzer

Rodolphe Kreutzer was a German (many would say French) violinist, composer, teacher, and conductor born (in Versailles) on November 16, 1766 (Mozart was 10 years old, Beethoven would not be born for another 4 years, and Paganini would be born 16 years later.)  Despite his having written much concert music, including nineteen violin concertos and more than forty operas and ballets, he is remembered for his book (1796) of 42 etudes for violin – Canadian violinist Jacques Israelevitch was the first to record them.  Kreutzer is also remembered as the violinist to whom Beethoven dedicated his ninth violin sonata (1803), after having first dedicated it to another violinist, George Bridgetower - Bridgetower even premiered the work.  Ironically, Kreutzer never played the sonata and even declared it incomprehensible.  (He had met Beethoven in Vienna in 1798.)  His name is now synonymous with the famous sonata.  There are also no fewer than four Stradivarius violins which bear his name.  He studied first with his violinist father then with Anton Stamitz.  He may also have studied with Giovanni Viotti, but that is far from certain.  In 1782, after his father died, he took his father’s place as concertmaster of the royal orchestra.  He was 16 years old - Marie-Antoinette was a patron of his.  He eventually (1801) became concertmaster of the Paris Opera orchestra, where he later conducted (from 1817 until 1826.)  Together with Pierre Rode and Pierre Baillot, he wrote the Paris Conservatory’s violin method book.  He taught at the Conservatory from 1795 until 1826 – thirty one years.  In 1806, he was solo violinist to Napoleon Bonaparte.  In 1815, he also held the title of concertmaster for Louis XVIII.  All the while, he kept composing.  It has been written that his style of playing was individualistic, full of fiery flourishes, fine finish, and pure tone.  He broke an arm in 1825 (I don’t know which) and retired from playing.  He then also retired from conducting in 1826.  He was 60 years old.  In 1831, after being repeatedly rebuffed by the Paris Opera administration (they refused to produce his last opera), he moved to Switzerland, where he died (in Geneva) on June 6, 1831, at age 64.  His music (other than the etudes) is now almost never played. Here is an audio file of his violin concerto number 18, a very rare performance. 

Franziska Hoelscher

Franziska Hoelscher is a German violinist born (in Heidelberg) on November 9, 1982 (Heifetz was 81 years old.) She began her studies at the age of five, her first teacher being Dietmar Mantel (Academy of Music, Mannheim, Germany.) Even though Hoelscher is a concert violinist with a very extensive repertoire, she has a very strong affinity to chamber music and has studied with various artists who are very closely connected to that intimate musical art. While she is now completing her conservatory studies with violinist Nora Chastain (violinist - granddaughter of American composer Roy Harris) in Berlin, she has already embarked on a concertizing career. Many other violinists before her have done the same thing, including Joshua Bell, Salvatore Accardo, Chloe Hanslip, Leonid Kogan, and Midori. Hoelscher’s debut took place in 1999 at the Philharmonie of Cologne. She was 16 years old. Her teachers have included Ulf Hoelscher (not related to her), Thomas Brandis (former concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic) Ana Chumachenko (professor at the Advanced Music School in Munich), Rainer Kussmaul (former concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic), and Walter Levin (first violin of the LaSalle Quartet), among several others. In 1999, she won the international Radio Competition in Prague – her first important win in a competition. That was followed by her winning different prizes and awards at international competitions in the Netherlands, in Berlin, and at the Competition of the German Conservatories. For many years she was the first violinist of the Viktor Ullmann Quartet, named after the Austrian composer who was a sad casualty of a concentration camp in 1944. She has performed with Adrian Brendel (cellist, son of pianist Alfred Brendel), Ivry Gitlis (violinist), Martin Helmchen (pianist), Sebastian Manz (clarinetist), and Gustav Rivinius (cellist), among many other artists. Many of her performances as soloist and chamber musician have taken place at the Philharmonie in Berlin (home of the Berlin Philharmonic), Philharmonie in Cologne, the Konzerthaus (Berlin), the Gewandhaus (Leipzig), the Liederhalle (Stuttgart), and the Rudolfinum in Prague. She has already concertized throughout Europe, Asia, and the U.S. (New York, Washington D.C., Boston, etc.) Hoelscher has also performed and recorded for many radio and television networks in Germany, Italy, and Czechoslovakia. Classical artists in Europe are fortunate to have radio and television as additional venues whereas in the U.S., these are totally closed to our solo violinists and other classical musicians. Alongside her concert performances, she has been a part of the Rhapsody in School organization founded by Lars Vogt (pianist), which is committed to bringing classical music into schools. Her 2011 agenda includes her graduation, exploring new music, and expanded concertizing. Hoelscher plays a very rare violin – a Daniel Parker (1717.)

Johann Pisendel

Johann Georg Pisendel was a German violinist and composer born on December 26, 1687 (J.S. Bach was 2 years old.) He either knew or worked with many outstanding musicians of his day, including Vivaldi, Albinoni, Telemann, Marcello, Torelli, Benda, Zelenka, and J.S. Bach. At the age of 10, he joined the Ansbach court chapel as a choir singer. By 16, he was a violinist in the court orchestra and studying violin with Giuseppe Torelli. In 1709, he left Ansbach for Leipzig (150 miles northeast.) In 1712, Pisendel joined the Dresden court orchestra as a violinist, which afforded him a great opportunity to tour Europe (France, Germany, and Italy) and study with some of the great violinists and composers. In 1730, Pisendel became concertmaster of the Dresden orchestra, already one of the best orchestras in Europe. He composed sporadically due to his duties as a violinist and soloist but managed to write many violin concerti and violin sonatas, among other small works. At present, none of them are played, except perhaps in Germany. He remained in Dresden until his death on November 25, 1755, at age 67. Mozart would be born a year later.