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.  

Sergey Khachatryan

Sergey Khachatryan is an Armenian violinist born (in Yerevan, Armenia) on April 5, 1985.  He has managed to establish a very busy and successful career from a very young age.  After Ivan Galamian, he is the most famous Armenian violinist.  His violin studies began at age 6 (one source says age 5) with Pyotr Haykazyan in his native Armenia.  At age 8 (1993), he moved to Germany with his family.  There, he studied with – among others - Hrachya Harutyunian (concertmaster of the Stuttgart Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, and the Munich Philharmonic.)  At age 9, he played his first orchestral concert in Germany, which, as far as I know, is still his home base.  He began to study in Karlsruhe under Josef Rissin at age 11.  Khachatryan credits Rissin with most of his violinistic development and – as Jascha Heifetz did with his own teacher, Leopold Auer – still asks Rissin’s advice.  After winning the Sibelius competition at age 15 (the youngest winner in the competition’s history), Khachatryan began to be engaged to play concerts far and wide.  His first orchestral recording (the Sibelius concerto) was released in 2003.  He was 18 years old.  In 2005, he won the Queen Elizabeth competition, another prestigious violin competition.  Khachatryan made his New York debut on August 4, 2006 playing the Beethoven concerto at the Mostly Mozart Festival.  On February 28, 2007, he played the Sibelius concerto with the New York Philharmonic.  Kurt Masur was on the podium.  He has played with all the major orchestras and with most of the top names in the conducting world since then.  As does Gil Shaham, he sometimes plays recitals with his sister as piano accompanist.  Khachatryan actually recorded his debut CD in 2002 with both his sister and his father as piano accompanists.  YouTube has several videos of his performances.  Here is one.  He has played the 1708 Huggins Stradivarius (from 2005 until 2009), the 1702 Lord Newlands Stradivarius (from 2009 until 2011 – this violin was sold to a collector for $12,500 way back in 1915 and is now on loan to violinist Ray Chen), and the 1740 Ysaye Guarnerius (previously played by Isaac Stern and Pinchas Zukerman.)  I do not know if he is still playing the Guarnerius but I do know the Nippon Music Foundation provided all three violins to him on loan.  Khachatryan also previously played a G.B. Guadagnini violin from 1773.  His sound has been described as sweet, beguiling, and rich; his playing as “poetic, introspective. effortlessly virtuosic.”   A quote from him: “You see many of today’s artists go out on stage and you can tell they’re there because it’s their job.  I’m afraid of that word.  Every time I go out on stage, I want … to create a special atmosphere.”  Photo is courtesy of Marco Borggreve, well-known photographer to (mostly European) musicians.   

Antonio Lolli

Antonio Lolli was an Italian violinist and composer born sometime around the year 1725.  He was very famous and influential in his day but is now forgotten.  However, some of his music is still around.  He wrote several violin concertos – eight were published.  Lolli toured Europe extensively while playing in court orchestras in Germany and Russia.  He was solo violinist in Stuttgart from 1758 to 1774.  He then served as chamber virtuoso at a Russian court in St Petersburg from 1774 to 1783.  In 1794, Lolli was appointed chief conductor in Naples.  He composed 36 caprices for violin and 24 violin sonatas.  Some of his music is still in print.  Lolli died (in Palermo) on August 10, 1802, at (about) age 77.  

Wilhelm Molique

Wilhelm Bernhard Molique was a German violinist and composer born on October 7, 1802 (Beethoven was 32 years old.) He was one of Louis Spohr’s pupils. At age 18 he was the concertmaster of the court orchestra in Munich (1820-1826.) In 1822, he undertook his first European concert tour. From 1826 to 1849 he was the concertmaster and royal music director in Stuttgart. He made his London debut (playing his violin concerto No. 5) in 1840 (some sources say this happened in May of 1849.) Molique lived in London from 1849 to 1866 and taught at the Royal Academy there from 1861 to 1866. By then, he had already enjoyed a busy career as a concert violinist. Having retired from teaching in 1866, he returned to Stuttgart in that same year. He wrote six violin concertos which are now totally forgotten but which were popular in his day. He also composed an oratorio (“Abraham”), a symphony, four concertos for different instruments, two masses, chamber music, and small solo pieces. His instrument of choice was a Guarnerius. Molique died in Germany on May 10, 1869, at age 66.