Desmond Bradley

Desmond Bradley (William Desmond Bradley) was an Australian violinist, concertmaster, teacher, and composer, born (in Melbourne) on October 12, 1934.  He is known for having enjoyed a very successful career which encompassed many different activities in the field of music – orchestral playing, solo performance, composition, recording studio work, and violin pedagogy.  Although his is not now a household name, he was then widely respected as a serious artist and violinist by his peers.  For someone who composed almost exclusively in his spare time (his violin concerto took him 10 years to complete), he left a considerable number of compositions.  By all accounts, he was a child prodigy.  His violin studies began as a child and his first teacher was probably his father, who was a professional violinist.  (His mother was a concert pianist.)  Evidently, he learned very quickly and began performing publicly at age four.  At age 7, he gave his first recital at the Albert Conservatory of Music in Melbourne.  After that, he appeared as soloist with the Melbourne Symphony playing Charles De Beriot’s concerto number 7 (one of his most popular.).  At age 8, he played the (e minor) Mendelssohn concerto with the same orchestra.  At age 11 (1945), he played the Beethoven concerto, again with the Melbourne Symphony, in a venue northeast of Melbourne, with 11,000 people in attendance.  He won the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s Radio Competition at age 12 (1946.)  He then toured Australia, giving close to 100 concerts at just age 15.  Money donated by everyday Australians (what is now known as crowd funding) enabled Bradley to travel to Paris in 1950 to study with George Enescu at a music academy there.  He studied with Enescu for approximately three years.  In 1951, he made his Paris debut.  On December 1, 1953, he made his London debut at Wigmore Hall.  He was 19 years old.  The following year, he soloed with the London Philharmonic at the Royal Albert Hall.  Periodically, Bradley made solo appearances with orchestra and in recital but eventually settled into a career as concertmaster (between 1960 and 1975, approximately) with various orchestras, including the Tonhalle Orchestra (Switzerland), the Royal Philharmonic, and the New Philharmonia Orchestra (the debut of his violin concerto’s final version was with this orchestra in the Royal Festival Hall on October 4, 1973. Adrian Boult was on the podium.)  Some of his major works (such as the violin concerto with himself as soloist, and the second and third symphonies, which he conducted) have been recorded but I don’t know if they are currently available to the general public.  It is telling that just as his studies with Enescu were crowd-funded, his recording of Paganini’s 24 Caprices was self-funded, although the recording was later released by EMI Classics.  Here is an audio file from YouTube wherein he plays the famous Chausson Poeme.  His violin can also be heard in film scores and soundtracks for British recording artists.  Bradley published his book on scale studies titled The Art of the Violin in 1981; however, copies are hard to come by given that it was self-published and only a limited number were printed.  As far as I know, Bradley didn’t play a famous brand violin, such as a Guadagnini, Vuillaume, Amati, Stradivarius, or Guarneri.  Besides the violin concerto and three symphonies, his compositional output included many chamber music works, music for violin and piano, a few transcriptions, and cadenzas for the Beethoven and Brahms violin concertos.  Bradley died on November 6, 1992, at age 58 – the age at which Leonid Kogan and Nicolo Paganini also died.

Julian Kainrath

Julian Kainrath is an Italian violinist born (in Merano, Italy) on May 1, 2005.  (Merano is about 125 miles north of Milan, but it’s so far north that it’s a lot closer to Salzburg, Austria - and Munich, Germany - than it is to Rome. It has a long history, with a mixture of Italian and German culture.)  Kainrath came to international attention after winning the Ysaye International Music Competition in July, 2025.  He was 20 years old.  (Unlike other competitions, the Ysaye competition is held annually.)  He has since embarked on a very active concert career.  His violin studies began at age 6, but I don’t know the name of his first teacher.  At age 8, he began lessons with Dora Schwarzberg, a well-known pedagogue teaching in Vienna, Austria, at the time.  Kainrath had previously won first prize, at age 10, in an Austrian competition for young violinists.  During this period, he was also a member of the Vienna State Opera Children’s Choir.  He has also studied or attended master classes with Kristof Barati, Ilya Gringolts, Boris Kuschnir (teacher of famous Spanish violinist Maria Duenas), and Marc Bouchkov (at the Royal Conservatory in Belgium.)  He made his first orchestral appearance in Bolivia, South America.  (It’s not so unusual since his mother is Bolivian.)  He was 10 years old.  At age 11, he soloed with the National Symphony in Kiev, Ukraine.  He embarked on his first concert tour (as a soloist with orchestra) at age 13, touring northern Italy and Austria.  As many other violinists do, he maintained a concert schedule while studying.  Kainrath has participated in a multitude of music festivals far and wide.  Two very prominent musicians – Alfred Brendel and Sergey Krylov – have praised his artistry.  Kainrath is fluent in German, Spanish, English, and Italian.  (It’s not uncommon for Russian or European concert artists to be fluent in at least three languages.)  He has played a Vuillaume violin constructed in 1828 and a Michel Bergonzi from (about) 1745, although I don’t know which violin he plays at present.  Here is a YouTube video of him playing one of Ysaye’s sonatas for solo violin, the one dedicated to Jaques Thibaud. 

David Kim

David Kim is an American violinist, writer, and pedagogue born (in Carbondale, Illinois) on May 24, 1963.  He is known for being the long-time concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra.  His tenure began in 1999 (at age 36) and he now ranks among historic concertmasters for longevity, along with Raymond Gniewek (Met Opera), Glenn Dicterow (New York Philharmonic), Norman Carol (Philadelphia Orchestra), Naoum Blinder (San Francisco Symphony), and Richard Burgin (Boston Symphony).  Kim’s playing has often been described as elegant but he is equipped with a superb technique as well.  As all concertmasters do, he has been soloist with his orchestra many times and his solo repertoire is extensive.  In addition to his duties as concertmaster with the Philadelphia Orchestra, he is concertmaster of other orchestras (such as the Aspen and the All-Star Orchestras), although (understandably) on a part time basis.  Kim began lessons at age three, but I don’t know who his first teacher was.  (For unknown reasons, most violinists leave that information out of their biographies.)  He began classes with Dorothy Delay, a well-known teacher in New York at age 8.  Later, when he enrolled at Juilliard as an adult student, his main teachers there were Delay and Felix Galimir.  From that point, he took the career route that hundreds of violin students take.  His goal after graduating from Juilliard (in 1985), as is the goal of many graduates, was to become a touring concert artist – a soloist.  That field is, and has always been, extremely crowded with musicians who are seeking the same kind of spotlight.  Sometimes, Fate smiles on you and you make it into the top tier of soloists, say into the top twenty, and sometimes, it doesn’t.  When that doesn’t happen, you must take an orchestral job which offers financial security.  It is not a bad alternative, especially when it comes to a position as concertmaster of a world class orchestra.  In many ways, it is a far superior alternative - financially, artistically, and personally - to a touring life.  (Emanuel Borok was earning $800,000 as concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony before he retired in 2010.  He could never have made that kind of money as a soloist.)  From an artistic standpoint, concertmasters get to know dozens upon dozens of artists intimately, exchanging stimulating ideas about music (old and new), teaching, careers, instruments, conductors, and contacts among the world’s top artists.  Most concertmasters also enjoy teaching careers, and they get to play as soloists in recital or with orchestras around the world.  For Kim, being appointed concertmaster in Philadelphia came after he had already gained experience playing as concertmaster with other orchestras – those included the Dallas Symphony, the Jupiter (New York) Symphony, and the Norwalk (Connecticut) Symphony.  Kim’s orchestral life actually began at the late age of 31 – most concertmasters begin in their twenties.  (One of the youngest concertmasters in history was Paul Kochanski, who became concertmaster of the Warsaw Philharmonic at age 14.)  It is very rare for a concertmaster to remain with the same orchestra for 25 years or more, but Kim has done it.  Most jump from one concertmaster position to another.   Mischa Mischakoff was concertmaster of ten different orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra – I think he holds the record.  Kim has written a book – The Audition Method for Violin - published in 2022, which guides aspiring orchestral players on the auditioning process.  To say that Kim is a very busy concert artist, adjudicator, teacher, chamber musician, festival director, and recitalist is an understatement.  There is an abundance of information about him on the internet.  Here is a YouTube video of his, playing a slow movement from the Bach a minor Sonata for solo violin.  His strings of choice used to be the Thomastik Dominant brand but now he uses and endorses Larsen Strings.  Among the violins Kim has played are a 1757 J. B. Guadagnini, a Michele Bergonzi from 1754, and a Francesco Gofriller from 1735 – the dates given are approximations. 

Francesca Dego

Francesca Dego is an Italian violinist, writer, and teacher born in Lecco, Italy, in 1989.  (Lecco is about 20 miles north of Milan, Italy, and about 10 miles east of Lugano, Switzerland.)  She is an ultra-Romantic artist known for her iconic interpretations of Nicolo Paganini’s music.  Her debut album (for Deutsche Gramophone) was a recording of Paganini’s 24 Caprices, played on the same Guarneri violin which Ruggiero Ricci used on the very first recording (of the unaccompanied version) of the Caprices, a Guarneri del Gesu from 1734.  That Guarneri was her instrument for many years.  She possesses a very brilliant technique (it has been described as flawless), but her approach is often an operatic one, providing dramatic and poetic sensitivity to everything she plays.  She has stated that violinists often treat Paganini’s concertos like showpieces when in fact, they are infused with vocal drama.  As can be expected, she has toured the world several times and played with every major orchestra.  Dego began violin lessons at age 4 with her father, a writer, journalist, and college professor.  For unknown reasons, the family moved to San Diego, California, when Dego was age 5 and there she studied with Michael Tseitlin at the Fairbanks School of Performing Arts.  It was also there that she made her solo debut at age 7, playing Bach’s first violin concerto.  (A recording or video of that performance may exist, but it’s not posted on the internet.)  A while later, possibly in 1998, at age 9, the family moved to Milan where she graduated from the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory, having there studied for several years with Daniele Gay, whom she holds in high esteem.  She also studied at the Stauffer Academy in Cremona, the Siena Chigiana Academy (in Siena), and the Royal College of Music in London.  Her teachers have included Salvatore Accardo, Itzhak Rashkovsky, and Schlomo Mintz.  Dego was invited to record on Paganini’s famous Guarneri violin in 2019.  After Paganini’s death, the violin had never been played for more than a few minutes at a time until Dego was granted the distinction of recording, in the span of several days, an entire CD with it.  In various interviews, Dego describes in detail the experience of the recording sessions with the violin, which included a security team of six people, posted around her at all times, including during a recital in Venice.  Dego’s discography is not yet very extensive but it includes 15 CDs – two of those CDs are devoted to chamber music (trios and quartets) and two are devoted to the music of Ferruccio Busoni, including his violin concerto.  She has recorded the complete Beethoven sonatas on three CDs.  Dego has also championed (and recorded) the violin concerto of Friedrich Wolf (better known as Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari), a concerto (published in 1944) which was dedicated to the nearly forgotten violinist Guila Bustabo.  Here is a complete recording of the concerto.  Interestingly, Dego has not commercially recorded the concertos of Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Bruch, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, or Sibelius, although they have been in her repertoire for many years - you can, however, find her live recordings of them on YouTube with different orchestras.  She has recording sessions scheduled for June, 2026, but I don’t know which works she will be recording.  Here is Dego’s recording of Paganini’s 4^th Caprice, considered the most difficult out of the 24.  In addition to being gifted with the looks of a fashion model (Versace provides gowns for her performances), she is also a writer, contributing articles to music periodicals – Strings Magazine, The Strad, Suonare News, and Musical Opinion are among them.  She has also written a book titled Tra leNote (Among the Notes) but I don’t know if it has been translated.  She is now based in London and plays a Francesco Ruggeri violin from 1697.  Here is one quote among many: “My dream is to always be able to work with orchestras and colleagues who inspire me and make it possible to create something special on stage.” 
 

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.)

Alfred Dubois

Alfred Dubois was a Belgian violinist and teacher born (in Brussels) on November 19, 1898.  He is one of many brilliant violinists who enjoyed wide recognition during his lifetime but was (undeservedly) relegated to the realm of forgotten artists after his death.  (The 1953 edition of Grove’s Dictionary does not mention him.)  Many of his recordings were made prior to the high-fidelity era and were not until recently released as remastered CDs.  They are now easy to find on the internet.  It has been said that his recordings of Bach and Franck works have rarely been equaled.  Understandably, during his career, he was more famous as a teacher than as a concert violinist.  I don’t know who his first teachers were, but it is known that Dubois entered the Royal Conservatory in Brussels in 1910 – he was 12 years old.  His main teacher there was Alexandre Cornelis.  (Cornelis is said to have composed piano accompaniments to the 42 famous Kreutzer etudes for violin.)  Dubois graduated in 1913 (at age 15) but continued to study with Cornelis until Cornelis’ death in 1917 - another four years.  It has been said that he also studied with Eugene Ysaye afterward although some people dispute that.  (When Ysaye died in 1931, Dubois took his place teaching at the conservatory.  He also played at Ysaye’s funeral that year.)  Dubois won the Vieuxtemps Prize in 1920.  He then embarked on a solo career – he was twenty-one years old.  He played in the Trio of the Court of Belgium from 1925 onward (with pianist Emile Bosquet and cellist Maurice Dambois.)  He began teaching at the Royal Conservatory in 1927 – he was 29 years old.  He taught there until the day he died.  He also formed a duo with pianist Marcel Maas with whom he toured the U.S. in 1938.  During the war, Dubois played in the Artis Quartet with Arthur Grumiaux on second violin, Robert Courte on viola, and Robert Maas on cello.  It is widely reported that the quartet did not play for German officials during the war (Belgium was a neutral country), but I find that hard to believe.  One source states that he spent the war years in France.  After Dubois died, his pupil, Grumiaux, took his place at the conservatory – he had already been serving as Dubois’ assistant for eight years.  Having been regarded as an extraordinary teacher, Dubois served on violin competition juries often.  Here is an audio file from YouTube in which Dubois plays the Vieuxtemps concerto number five.  You might find his tone resembling Heifetz’ sound, with very precise rhythmic control and superb intonation.  It has been said that Dubois was also a skilled violin maker although I don’t know where any of his violins are.  He may have played a Stradivarius violin made in 1667 and another from 1713, but that is not at all certain.  Alfred Dubois died (in Brussels) on March 24, 1949.  He was 50 years old.