Uto Ughi

Uto Ughi is an Italian violinist, teacher, writer, and conductor born (in Busto Arsizio) on January 21, 1944.  His name has been closely associated with the National Academy of Saint Cecilia (in Rome) for many years.  He is a high-profile promoter of musical culture all over the world, but especially in Italy, as is Vladimir Spivakov in Russia.  Ughi has founded several music festivals along the way.  His discography covers most of the standard violin repertoire.  Because he came of age in the 1960s, he has had a chance to work with some of the legendary names in the conducting world (who are for the most part now dead) as well as the most current luminaries of the baton.  He began his lessons at age 4.  His father was an amateur violinist but his first formal teacher was a nameless violinist from the opera orchestra of La Scala.  At age 7, Ughi gave his first recital in Milan.  Though it’s hard to believe, according to one source, he played some Paganini Caprices as well as the ubiquitous Bach Chaconne at that recital.  Ughi studied for ten years at the Chigiana Music Academy in Siena (Tuscany.)  He also took lessons from George Enesco for a time.  He began his uninterrupted concertizing career in 1959 – he was 15 years old.  Among his pupils are Augustin Hadelich and Sayaka Shoji.  Ughi’s recording of Paganini’s fourth concerto is my favorite recording of that particular concerto.  Here is a YouTube video of one of his performances.  He has also recorded a seldom-played work – the Schumann concerto.  Here is the first movement from that recording - the second and third movements are here.  Between 1987 and 1992, he was the principal conductor of the Orchestra of the St Cecilia Academy.  Ughi has owned or played the Kreutzer Stradivarius (the one from 1701 – there are 4 Strads named Kreutzer), the General Kyd, the Ole Bull, and a Guarneri from 1744.  

Maxim Vengerov

Maxim Vengerov (Maxim Alexandrovich Vengerov) is a Russian violinist, teacher, writer, and conductor born on August 20, 1974 (Itzhak Perlman was 28 years old.) He is known for his phenomenal technique, extroverted playing, high fees, and tango dancing. He began his study of the violin at age 5 (fairly typical for a violinist) in his home town of Novosibirsk. Two years later, he continued his studies at the Special Music School in Moscow. Three years after that, Vengerov began his studies with Zakhar Bron (in Novosibirsk) and continued with him for about the next six years, part of those six years at the Royal Academy of Music in London. By this time, he had won first prize in the Carl Flesch Violin Competition in London (1989 – at age 15). He has been giving master classes, concertizing, and recording ever since. Vengerov has played on three or four different Stradivarius violins, the Kreutzer being one of them (I do not know which one – there are four Stradivarius violins named Kreutzer - from 1701, 1720, 1727, and 1731. See comments below.) Some of his many recordings have won top prizes and high praise from critics. Vengerov took a nine-month sabbatical in 2005, during which he learned jazz improvisation and the electric violin – in the style of Leila Josefowicz, and Nigel Kennedy – and during which he (despite the sabbatical) also played 50 recitals. Sometime during June of 2007, Vengerov stopped playing altogether in order to deal with a shoulder ailment and to concentrate on teaching and conducting (he has been studying conducting since 1998.) Vengerov has been teaching at the Royal Academy (London) since 2005, but at other schools as well – in the style of Daniel Barenboim. There are many Vengerov videos on YouTube and several fan pages on Facebook.