Nicola Benedetti (Nicola Joy Nadia Benedetti) is a Scottish violinist and teacher born (in West
Kilbride) on July 20, 1987. (West
Kilbride is a very small village located about 33 miles west of Glasgow) She is known for being a child prodigy. She is a left handed person who plays right handed (as is Caroline Goulding and as was Higinio Ruvalcaba.) She began her violin studies with Brenda
Smith at age 4. By age 8, she was the
concertmaster of the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain. In September of 1997, she began studying at
the Yehudi Menuhin School. She was 10
years old. There, she studied with
Natasha Boyarskaya. She made her public
debut one year later at Wigmore Hall in London.
I don’t know what piece (or pieces) she played then.
Her later teachers included Pavel Vernikov (concertmaster of the Chamber
Orchestra of Europe, according to one source - see comment) and Maciej Rakowski,
concertmaster of the English Chamber Orchestra.
She has received quite a number of awards, too numerous to mention; however,
as far as I know, she has never entered a major violin competition. By her late teens, she was already an
established concertizing artist. She
also formed a piano trio in 2008. Benedetti
has played a Stradivarius from 1717 (the Gariel Stradivarius, previously owned
by Jaime Laredo) and the Earl Spencer Stradivarius (1712 or 1723) which she is
probably currently playing. Her
discography is not extensive (quite understandably, given that there’s not much
repertory left to record - new concertos are not worth recording and every
standard concerto has already been recorded dozens of times by very prominent
and some not-so-prominent artists.) Here
is one YouTube video of her playing.
Photo is courtesy of Simon Fowler.
Jinjoo Cho is a Korean violinist and teacher born (in Seoul) on July 12,
1988. She is well-known as the winner of
several violin competitions around the world (2005, 2006, 2010, 2013, 2014),
the Indianapolis being the most important among them. It is the nature of competitions that in
2012, Cho entered the Queen Elizabeth (of Belgium) violin competition and did
not make it to the finals. (Igor
Pikayzen, a very successful violinist with a brilliant technique did not make the
semi-finals in that same competition (that year), although he later won other competitions. Erick
Friedman came in sixth place in the Tchaikovsky competition in 1966…, and so it
goes.) Cho has – for the most part -
studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) and the Curtis Institute in
Philadelphia. Her main teachers have
been Paul Kantor (for four years), Jaime Laredo, Zakhar Bron, Arnold
Steinhardt, and Mark Steinberg. She
began her violin studies at age 5 and later attended the Korean Art
School. Cho came to the US at age 14
and enrolled at the CIM almost immediately.
In Cleveland, she also attended the Gilmour Academy, a private
(boarding) school. At age 26 (September,
2014), she won first prize in the Indianapolis International violin competition. As a result, she is performing on the Gingold
Stradivarius of 1683 (also known as the Martinelli Stradivarius), a four year
loan from the competition. Prior to
winning the Indianapolis, she had been concertizing for many years (since the
age of 16) and had gained extensive experience in orchestral work and chamber
music playing due to her attendance at various summer music camps. Her technique has been described as stunning
and her playing as being full of passion.
She has been quoted as saying: “I think the importance of music is that it
enables you to reach places in your heart that you might otherwise never reach.
It promotes soul searching. Music also helps you see part of yourself and
better understand people even in diverse situations. Once you've experienced profound art, I really
feel you are a citizen of the world. You
have a whole other means of traveling to different times and places that have
shaped lives.” Here is one YouTube video
of her playing with piano accompaniment – the seldom-heard Francis Poulenc
violin sonata.
Pamela Frank is an American
violinist and teacher born (in New York City) on June 20, 1967. She is now best known as a chamber music
player and teacher, although she has performed as a soloist with many of the
world’s top orchestras and conductors.
In the early 2000s she had to stop performing due to a serious (hand)
injury suffered in 2001. In that regard, she joins (among
others) Rodolphe Kreutzer, Jascha Heifetz, Bronislaw Huberman, Fritz Kreisler, Erick Friedman, Maxim
Vengerov, Emanuel Vardi, Manuel Quiroga, Kyung Wha Chung, Hilary Hahn, and Jacques Thibaud, each of whom had
their career interrupted by hand or arm injuries. After extensive rehabilitation, she returned
to the stage in August of 2012. She has
taught at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore (since 2003), the Curtis Institute (since 1996) in Philadelphia, and the
State University of New York. She has
also served on several juries of violin competitions around the world and
played at various music festivals, including the well-known Verbier, Salzburg, and Ravinia festivals. Frank has also frequently given masterclasses in Europe, Israel, Canada, and the U.S. She is fluent in German, French, and (of course) English but is one of the few violinists who does not have a website. Frank began her
studies at age 5, studying violin privately with Shirley Givens for about eleven years. She then studied further with Szymon Goldberg
(1909-1993) and Jaime Laredo. Her formal (public) debut took place in 1985 at New York's Carnegie Hall with the New York String Orchestra under Alexander Schneider. She was 18 years old. She had been a section player with that ensemble since the age of 15. Frank later debuted a second time in Carnegie Hall playing a recital there in April of 1995. She graduated
from the Curtis Institute in 1989, presenting her graduation recital on February 15, 1989, playing works by Bach, Ysaye, Kreisler, Schubert, and Beethoven. She
first appeared with the New York Philharmonic on October 27, 1994, playing the
Dvorak concerto. Leonard Slatkin was on
the podium. Her second and last
appearance with the orchestra was on December 1, 1998. On that occasion she played Mozart’s third
concerto. Andre Previn conducted. On September 11, 1996, she appeared with the Berlin Philharmonic alongside cellist Clemens Hagen playing the Double Concerto by Johannes Brahms. Daniel Harding was on the podium. She was 29 years old. Her father, the pianist Claude Frank
(1925-2014), often accompanied her in recital.
(Leonid Kogan and his pianist daughter (Nina) often played together
too.) In December of 1997, she and her father presented the entire Beethoven sonata cycle at London's Wigmore Hall. Frank’s discography is not
extensive although it includes the complete Mozart concertos and the complete
Beethoven and Brahms Sonatas. Her playing is
featured in the soundtrack to the movie “Immortal Beloved.” Among other violins, Frank has played a
Guarnerius Del Gesu from 1736 known as the Wieniawski. Here is a YouTube audio file of one of her
Beethoven performances. Photo is courtesy of Nicolas Lieber
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)
Hilary Hahn is an American violinist and writer born on November 27, 1979 (Perlman was 33 years old.) She began violin lessons at age four. One of her first teachers was Klara Berkovitch (Baltimore), with whom she studied for five years (1984-1989.) At age ten, Hahn entered the Curtis Institute of Music where she studied with Jascha Brodsky for seven years, learning most of the standard violin repertory - the same 30 concertos that everyone else plays. Hahn also later studied with Jaime Laredo and Felix Galimir, among others. She began concertizing in 1991 (at age 12) but did not make her Carnegie Hall debut until 1996, by then already an established artist. Her graduation from Curtis came in 1999 though her bachelor of music degree belies the fact that she is one of the best (and most expensive) violinists on the world's classical music scene. Hahn's technique is characterized by extreme precision and an even, clear, lean tone. Her sound has few distinguishing features - it is very similar to that produced by a dozen other great violinists on the current concert stage. Her interpretations are subtle, well-defined, controlled, and cautious, not given to an abundance of emotion or idiosyncrasy. Her approach is similar to Anna-Sophie Mutter's in that there is a decided lack of bravado or go-for-broke risk-taking - the opposite approach as takes Leila Josefowicz or Arabella Steinbacher or Ivry Gitlis. Hahn reminds me of a quote from E.N. Bilbie's book: She has "little to say and so much to say it with." Her discography is already extensive and is easily accessible on the internet. In addition to having her own website (where she posts journal entries on a regular basis), she has a profile page on MySpace. One can also see and hear videos of her playing on YouTube. Unfortunately, not all of those videos are professionally produced.
Leila Josefowicz (Leila Bronia Josefowicz) is a Canadian violinist born on October 20, 1977 (Heifetz was 76 years old.) She is an intense genius who is sometimes not well-understood. She also plays the violin stupendously well. She has been criticized for her physicality while playing but you will not likely find someone performing with greater conviction, precision, and audacity. She began violin lessons at age three. By age 8, she was studying with Robert Lipsett in Los Angeles. She entered the Curtis Institute of Music (Philadelphia) at age 13 where she studied with Jaime Laredo, Joseph Gingold, Jascha Brodsky, and Felix Galimir, among others. By this time, she was already concertizing. She graduated from Curtis in 1997. There is an impressive video of her (on YouTube) playing Paganini with the Boston Pops (conducted by John Williams) at a very young age. Her Carnegie Hall debut was in 1994. Her discography - even this early in her career - is fairly extensive. Josefowicz was the recipient of a no-strings-attached MacArthur grant in 2008. (Jazz violinist Regina Carter received one in 2006.) She has played a 1739 and a 1724 Guarnerius.
Itzhak Perlman is an Israeli violinist, teacher, and conductor born on August 31, 1945 (Heifetz was 43 years old.) He is at the forefront of virtuosos (Zukerman, Kremer, Mullova, Wha Chung, Midori, Laredo, Accardo, Fodor, etc.) who came after the early Twentieth Century era of violinists – Kreisler, Milstein, Gitlis, Heifetz, Elman, Szeryng, Zimbalist, Oistrakh, Kogan, Haendel, Francescatti, Ricci, Ferras, Stern, Grumiaux and others. In addition to a golden tone and an impressive, seemingly effortless technique, he is known for having a good bass voice and a charismatic stage presence. He first took up the violin at age 5 while living in Tel Aviv, Israel. He came to the U.S. in 1958. Winning a scholarship, Perlman attended the Juilliard School of Music (New York) where his teachers were Ivan Galamian and Dorothy Delay. Today, he teaches in their place. His U.S. debut (at Carnegie Hall) took place in 1963 and Perlman has been concertizing, recording, and making television appearances ever since. In addition, as most concert artists of today do, he frequently plays chamber music. His conducting work is mostly done with the Detroit Symphony and the Westchester Philharmonic. Perlman has a profile page on MySpace and YouTube features lots of videos of his playing. A particular favorite of viewers is the Handel Halvorsen Passacaglia (with Pinchas Zukerman on viola.) Perlman plays the Soil Stradivarius of 1714, previously owned by Yehudi Menuhin.
Jaime Laredo is a Bolivian violinist, conductor, and teacher born on June 7, 1941 (Heifetz was 40 years old.) He began the study of the violin in Bolivia when he was five years old. Two years later, he came to the U.S. where he studied with Josef Gingold and Ivan Galamian among others. His orchestral debut came at age 11 with the San Francisco Symphony. His diploma is from the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where he studied with Ivan Galamian and George Szell. In 1958, he won the Queen Elizabeth of Belgium Competition – the youngest violinist to do so. In 1960, he debuted in Carnegie Hall. His Royal Albert Hall (London) debut followed close behind (1961.) He is known for being incredibly busy. Among other activities, he is the artistic advisor for the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, the conductor of the Vermont Symphony (since 1999), instructor of violin at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia (since 1971), jury president for the Indianapolis International Violin Competition (since 1994), artistic director of the Brandenburg Ensemble, artistic director of the Chamber Music at the Y series (New York), professor of violin at Indiana University, violinist with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, recording artist (RCA, Columbia, Sony, Chandos, Vox, Arabesque, and Virgin Classics labels among others), recitalist, and concert violinist. Hilary Hahn and Pamela Frank are among his many pupils.
