Igor Ozim is a Slovenian (Yugoslavian) violinist and
teacher born (in Ljubljana) on May 9, 1931.
(Ljubljana – formerly in Yugoslavia - is now in Slovenia and it is its
capital.) He is widely known as a violin
pedagogue rather than as a touring concert violinist, although that is how he
began his career. He started violin
lessons in his native city with Leon Pfeifer (a student of Otakar Sevcik) at
the Academy of Music at age 8. However,
by that time, he had already been studying violin for three years but with
someone I don’t know anything about. When
he was 18, after graduating from the academy, he traveled to England to study
with Albert Sammons at the Royal College of Music (commonly referred to as the
RCM.) He followed that up with two years
of study with Max Rostal, either as a private student or at the Guildhall
School of Music where Rostal was a teacher.
Ozim was now 20 years old. In
1951, he won the Carl Flesch International Violin Competition. After that, Ozim made his formal debut in
England – first in a recital at the Wigmore Hall in London and then in
Liverpool, playing the Mendelssohn e minor concerto with the Liverpool
Philharmonic. In 1953, he won another
violin competition (the ARD Competition, in Munich, in its second year of
existence. The name ARD in German is a
very long name but translates to something like “German Consortium of Public
Broadcasters.” Technically, every German
household is a member of the ARD since fees charged by and paid to the ARD are
not optional; they are mandatory.) He
was 22 years old. Ozim then embarked on
a concertizing career which eventually took him to the Far East, Australia, the
U.S., Europe, and Russia. He has
appeared with top orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the London
Symphony, the London Philharmonic, the Warsaw Philharmonic, and many
others. His repertory ranges from early
Baroque to contemporary and includes approximately 60 concertos. Understandably, he has premiered many works
by Slovenian composers. His recordings
are few but cover some of the standard repertoire as well as many contemporary,
modern works. He continues to tour as a much-respected
violin pedagogue, holding master classes in several countries. Ozim has held teaching posts at the Advanced
Music School in Cologne (Germany), the Advanced School of the Arts in Bern
(Switzerland), and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. He plays a modern violin by Andreas Hudelmayer. Ozim's most famous pupils are probably Richard
Tognetti, Sophia Herbig, and Lea Birringer. Here is a
YouTube audio file of the Mozart Rondo in C with Ozim and the Ljubljana
Symphony Orchestra.
Jose Luis Garcia (Jose Luis Garcia Asensio) was
a Spanish violinist born (in Madrid) on February 25, 1944. He is best known for being the concertmaster
of the English Chamber Orchestra for about 25 years. Just as the names Ferdinand David, Raymond Gniewek, Glenn Dicterow, Norman Carol, and Richard Burgin unfailingly bring up the names of their respective orchestras (the Gewandhaus, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Boston Symphony, respectively), Garcia's biography is inextricably linked to the history of the ECO. He spent nearly his entire career in England. His first studies were with his father
beginning at age 6. If he studied with
anyone else in Spain, I do not know who that was. In 1960, he received first prize at the
Sarasate competition in Pamplona. He was
16 years old. Thereafter (in 1961) he traveled to
London to study with Antonio Brosa at the Royal College of Music. He appeared in
concert in a Vivaldi concerto (for four violins in B minor) at a Proms concert (in
1963) at age 19 with the BBC Symphony.
Malcolm Sargent was on the podium. Two years later, in 1965, he joined the pit orchestra of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. In 1967, he toured South America with the English Chamber Orchestra (playing Principal Second Violin.) However, by then, he had already (intermittently) played several concerts with the orchestra. In 1968, he was appointed associate concertmaster of the orchestra. He was 24 years old. In 1970, he made his second debut as a
soloist at another Proms concert. On that
occasion, he played Michael Tippett’s Fantasia Concertante (on a theme by
Corelli) with the English Chamber Orchestra, of which, as previously mentioned,
he was then Associate Concertmaster. The
composer was on the podium. By that
time, Garcia was already teaching at the Royal College of Music, where he had
begun teaching at age 22, being the youngest to ever get a teaching appointment at that school. (Garcia taught at the Royal College of Music until 1982 - a total of fifteen or sixteen years.) At age 23, he
led the string section for one of the Beatles’ most famous albums. With the English Chamber Orchestra, Garcia
would also conduct and perform as soloist.
He eventually toured almost every country in the world. Although he recorded as a soloist, he far
more frequently recorded as an orchestral leader with the ECO. His best-known solo recording is probably
Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. He also recorded
Mozart’s five concertos and the Bach Double Concerto with the ECO. The recordings are easily found on the internet. It has been said that the English Chamber
Orchestra is the most recorded chamber orchestra in the world, having recorded
more than 1,500 individual works, even though multiple recordings of the same
works (the Mozart piano concertos, for instance) are probably included in that number. (Although the orchestra generates quite a bit
of revenue on its own, the orchestra also has an outstanding Patron - the
Prince of Wales.) Garcia never wavered
from his romantic interpretations of baroque works, unlike other British chamber
ensembles (the English Concert, the Academy of Ancient Music, Orchestra of the
Age of Enlightenment, English Baroque Soloists, etc.) which embraced the period
instrument (authentic performance practice) musical movements beginning in the late
1960s. It is quite interesting that in
1983-1984 Garcia offered his services to the musical establishment in Spain to
conduct master classes free-of-charge (in Spain) but never got a call in response. Later on – between 1992 and 1999 – he taught
at the Queen Sofia School of Music in Madrid and conducted the school’s
orchestra with which he also toured extensively. Garcia studied conducting with Sergiu
Celibidache. Among the orchestras he guest
conducted (outside of England and Spain) are the National Symphony (Washington,
D.C.), the Detroit Symphony, and the Israel Chamber Orchestra. He also guest conducted the Ft Worth (Texas,
USA) Chamber Orchestra many times, beginning with a concert going back to
October of 1977. His last concert with
that orchestra was probably in October of 1992.
As does another famous concertmaster in the U.S. (from the Boston
Symphony), Garcia loved golf. He was
also one of the very few musicians (and possibly the only violinist anywhere)
who owned a Rolls Royce automobile. Garcia played the (Fritz) Hirt Stradivarius from 1704, also known as the Prince (Serge) Obolensky Strad and now known as the Hirt-Garcia Strad. Among
the many other violins he played was a modern violin constructed by American
luthier Terry Borman. (Among the many players
who also play Borman violins are Pinchas Zukerman, Jaime Laredo, Pamela Frank,
and Joseph Silverstein.) The Strad is presently owned by a private collector but is on loan to American violinist Esther Yoo. If there are
any videos of Garcia's myriad solo concerts out there, they have not yet been uploaded to
YouTube. Garcia died on August 11, 2011,
at age 67. (Photo is courtesy of the English Chamber Orchestra)
Leonard Salzedo was a Spanish (some would say English) violinist, conductor, and composer born (in London) on September 24, 1921 (Heifetz was 20 years old.) He is remembered for having led very successful dual careers as a violinist and composer; for his many ballet scores; and for his film score to the movie The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958.) Salzedo first studied at the Royal College of Music in London. While still a student, he won the Cobbett Prize for his First String Quartet and was commissioned to write his first ballet score (The Fugitive) for the Ballet Rambert (now the Rambert Dance Company, whose founder, Marie Rambert danced in the first performances of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.) This was the first of 17 ballet scores which he composed. Between 1946 and 1947, Salzedo wrote four ballets for the Ballet Negres dance company, of which he and his wife were members. From 1947 to 1950 he played in the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and then for sixteen years (1950-1966) in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. While in the Royal Philharmonic, he was also Thomas Beecham’s assistant – it was Beecham who premiered Salzedo’s First Symphony in 1952. His most successful ballet score, The Witch Boy, came in 1956. It has been performed all over the world and has enjoyed several revivals since its premiere. In 1964, Salzedo joined the London Soloists Ensemble - he toured Europe with them and recorded one of his works, Concerto Fervido with this ensemble as well. In 1967, Salzedo gave up playing altogether to become Musical Director of Ballet Rambert (until 1972.) After that, he was appointed principal conductor with the Scottish Ballet, and from 1982 until 1986 he was Music Director of London City Ballet, for whom he re-orchestrated classical ballet scores for smaller orchestra. After 1986, he devoted himself full-time to composition. In spite of his continuous activities as a performer, Salzedo was extremely prolific, writing more than 160 compositions, including 10 String Quartets, two symphonies, 17 ballets, and many other works. Many of these works have been recorded on various labels and are easily available. Salzedo died on May 6, 2000, at age 78.
