Hagai Shaham

Hagai Shaham is an Israeli violinist and teacher born (in Haifa) on July 8, 1966.  For reasons I know nothing about, he has never left Israel as his home base, as have so many other concert violinists – Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Guy Braunstein, Jonathan Berick, Lydia Mordkovitch, Vadim Gluzman, and Ivry Gitlis, to name a few.  He is also known for recordings of little-known works by Joseph Achron.  Shaham is often asked whether he is closely related to American violinist Gil Shaham – he is not.  Shaham began his violin studies at age 6.  He later studied (from age 12) with Ilona Feher (1901-1988) in Tel Aviv - it has been said that he was her last student.  He also studied with Emanuel Borok (the highest-paid concertmaster in the world), Elisha Kagan, and Arnold Steinhardt.  Shaham has taught at USC (in the US - 2007), the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and Tel Aviv University, among other places.  He has also given numerous master classes throughout the world.  His recording labels have included Decca, Chandos, Hyperion, Naxos, Nimbus, and Biddulph.  His Achron recordings are on the Hyperion label – some of these works have never before been available to the general public.  It has been said that he found these forgotten works (in manuscript form) at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.  These recordings have been highly praised.  One reviewer stated that “through the richness of his tone, superior vibrato usage, expressiveness of phrasing and top-drawer facility, he fulfills his potential in striking fashion.  It is a treat to hear such tonally satisfying violin playing when commonplace sound, even among accomplished artists, is so prevalent."  Another has stated that he has “an impressive a technique as anyone except Heifetz…”  In 2009, he formed a piano trio with Arnon Erez (piano) and Raphael Wallfisch.  Since then, the trio has toured regularly but mostly in Europe.  Here is a YouTube video of him playing a well-known piece by Jeno Hubay.  

Adele Anthony

Adele Anthony is an Australian violinist and teacher born (in Tasmania) on October 1, 1970.  She is known for having won first prize in the (fifth) Carl Nielsen violin competition in 1996 (at age 25) and for being the wife of Gil Shaham, with whom she frequently performs.  Twelve years before that, at age 13, she had won the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Instrumental Competition – she played the Sibelius concerto on that occasion.  Soon afterward, she played the Tchaikovsky concerto in a concert sponsored by the same organization.  That concert in 1983 is considered her Australian public debut.  Anthony began her violin studies at age 3.  She studied at the University of Adelaide with Beryl Kimber.  In 1987, she came to the U.S. to pursue further study at Juilliard (New York City) where her main teachers were Hyo Kang, Felix Galimir, and Dorothy Delay.  According to one source, she studied at Juilliard for eight years, having received funding from several benefactors, including the Starling Foundation.  However, she was an active concert artist even while she was still at Juilliard and still maintains a very active solo concert career.  Her repertoire is very extensive and includes all of the standard violin literature in addition to many contemporary works less frequently heard by audiences.  As do almost all concert violinists nowadays, Anthony also plays chamber music at various festivals throughout the world, but especially in New York, where she resides.  She has recorded for various labels and among her notable recordings are those featuring violin concertos by Carl Nielsen, Ross Edwards, and Nicolo Paganini.  Anthony plays a Stradivarius violin constructed in 1728.  Here is one of her YouTube audio files featuring the work of Ross Edwards – a refreshing and unusual new work for the violin.  A few Stradivarius violins (perhaps one hundred or so) have been given names which have remained attached to the instruments for many years but – as far as I know – this one has no specific name.  I have heard it up close a number of times and it has a wonderful sound.  Perhaps later on, it will be known as the Anthony Stradivarius.  

Barnabas Kelemen

Barnabas Kelemen is a Hungarian violinist and teacher born (in Budapest) on June 12, 1978.  He is known for having won the prestigious Indianapolis Violin Competition in 2002.  His repertoire is very extensive and includes Schumann’s concerto and Bruch’s second concerto which are seldom heard live.  Kelemen also plays a great deal of contemporary music.  On May 2, 2013, he premiered (in New York’s Carnegie Hall) a long lost concerto by Mihaly Nador, composed in 1903 (and revised in 1941-42) but never performed.  Reviewers of the performance compared Kelemen to Heifetz.  The audience applauded after each movement of the concerto, which is not typical, especially in the case of more modern works.  Kelemen began studying violin at age six with Valeria Baranyai.  He entered the Franz Liszt Academy at age 11 and studied with Eszter Perenyi.  He graduated in 2001.  He was 23 years old.  By then, he had already won first prize in the Mozart Violin Competition in Salzburg (1999.)  Three years after winning the Indianapolis competition, he began teaching (in 2005) at the same school from which he graduated.  In 2010, he founded (with his violinist wife Katalin Kokas) the Kelemen Quartet.  (Among violinists who married other concert violinists are Olga Kaler, Adele Anthony, Marina Markov, Ruth Posselt, and Elizabeth Gilels.)  The Kelemen Quartet has also received top prizes at chamber music competitions.  In addition, several of Kelemen’s recordings have also received awards from music periodicals and critics.  Interestingly, except for the cellist, the Kelemen Quartet players sometimes switch places with each other – alternating between first violin, second violin, and viola.  Kelemen has taken conducting lessons from Leif Segerstam and has already conducted a few concerts in Europe.  He often appears in the dual role of soloist-conductor with chamber orchestras.  Needless to say, Kelemen has toured the world several times (and continues to do so) as a soloist and with the quartet.  In 2014, he began teaching at the Advanced School for Music and Dance in Cologne, Germany.  Here is a YouTube video of his playing a well-known Mozart sonata.  It shows how different his temperament and style are from a more conventional concert violinist but you be the judge.  After winning the Indianapolis competition, Kelemen played the 1683 Stradivarius (Martinelli Stradivarius) that all Indianapolis competition winners get to use for four years.  (The Martinelli was “restored” in 2014 and is currently being played by Jinjoo Cho)  Kelemen is currently playing a Guarneri (del Gesu) constructed in 1742.  

Protesting politely

If you follow the musical news at all, you must know that some Pro-Palestinian protestors disrupted a Proms concert by the Israel Philharmonic (and Gil Shaham) last night. I am all in favor of freedom of speech and peaceful protests for redress of government abuses. However, there are many good venues available for these protests already, no matter what issues may be in play. A concert by defenseless musicians is not one of them. The protestors were the tyrants and bullies in this case. Here is just one video of the event.

Gil Shaham

Gil Shaham is an American violinist born on February 19, 1971. He began his violin studies in Israel and made his public debut at age 10 with the Jerusalem Symphony and with the Israel Philharmonic at age 11. He entered the Juilliard School (New York) in 1982 where he studied with Dorothy Delay, among others. Since age 17, Shaham has concertized extensively. He has recorded most of the standard repertoire and his CDs are easy to find. You can also see him on several videos on YouTube. Shaham plays a 1699 Stradivarius with a fancy name.

List of Violinists 4 of 4

S-Z: Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Emanuel Salvador, Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Toscha Seidel, Gil Shaham, Oscar Shumsky, Joseph Silverstein, Alexander Sitkovetsky, Tamara Smirnova, Felix Slatkin, Denise Soriano, Vladimir Spivakov, Mark Steinberg, Simon Standage, Arnold Steinhardt, Malcolm Stewart, Lara St John, Emmy Storms, Joseph Suk, Joseph Swensen, Joseph Szigeti, Kyoko Takezawa, David Taylor, Christian Tetzlaff, Roman Totenberg, Eleonora Turovsky, Eugene Ugorski, Adrian Varela, Maxim Vengerov, Olena Vrublevska, Elizabeth Wallfisch, Reiko Watanabe, Janusz Wawrowski, Eric Wyrick, Eugene Ysaye, Thomas Zehetmair, Wang Zhijiong, Yulia Ziskel, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Nicolaj Znaider, Pinchas Zukerman, Jaap van Zweden.