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.
Josef Gingold was a Russian (Belarusian)
violinist, author, and teacher born on October, 28, 1909. He is mostly known for having been a highly
successful teacher, one of the artists who put the Indiana University School of
Music (Bloomington, Indiana) on the map.
Many have put him on the level of Ivan Galamian as an influential violin
pedagogue. He began his violin studies
as a child (perhaps at age 4) and gave his first public performance for a group
of German soldiers during World War I. He
was not yet 6 years old and had not yet learned to read music. In October of 1920, his family came to the
U.S. and he began his studies at the Music School Settlement in New York City.
Later on, from age 12, he studied privately with Vladimir Graffman (father of
pianist Gary Graffman), an assistant to the great pedagogue, Leopold Auer. Gingold then made his debut at Aeolian Hall
in 1926 when he was 17 years old – one source says 1930, which quite possibly
was a second debut. Between May, 1927
and September, 1929, he studied with Eugene Ysaye in Belgium. While there, he gave the premiere of Ysaye’s
Ballade – his third sonata for unaccompanied violin (Opus 27, No.3.) – on or
about February 28, 1928, at the Brussels Conservatory. Gingold also gave the first U.S. performance
of the same work. While in Europe,
Gingold concertized for at least a year (in Belgium, France, and Holland) but
returned to the U.S. in the fall of 1929.
He gave a recital in New York and performed as soloist with the
Minneapolis Symphony but things ended there.
Additional work was very hard to come by. Nevertheless, he played successfully, earning about $85 a week, as a free-lance
violinist – for Broadway shows, the Chicago World’s Fair, the Manhattan
Symphony, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and anywhere else he might find employment,
even if temporary - until he landed a position in the first violins of the NBC
Symphony in 1937. He played there for
seven seasons. In those years, several
string players who would later reach world-class status as soloists played
anywhere they could. Those players
included Eugene Ormandy, Pablo Casals, Mischa Elman, Leonard Rose, Joseph
Fuchs, Milton Katims, William Primrose, Oscar Shumsky, Israel Baker, Frank
Miller, Emanuel Vardi, and Elias Breeskin.
Gingold also joined the Primrose Quartet, playing second violin to Oscar
Shumsky. He later played first violin in
the NBC Quartet. In 1944, Gingold
accepted the position of concertmaster with the Detroit Symphony. He was 34 years old. Three years later, he began his tenure as
concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra, where he remained for 13 years. While in Cleveland, Gingold taught at Case
Western Reserve University. In 1960, he
took up teaching full-time at Indiana University. He also taught master classes around the
world. It has been said that Gingold
emphasized individuality in his teaching, in the style of Leopold Auer. He edited many violin works and compiled a
3-volume set of orchestral excerpts which is highly valued by aspiring
orchestral violinists. You can hear one of Gingold's audio files on YouTube here. Among his
many pupils are Joseph Silverstein, Jaime Laredo, Philippe Graffin, Erez Ofer, Raymond
Kobler, Corey Cerovsek, Miriam Fried, Catherine Lange, Anne Akiko-Myers, Eugene Fodor, Arturo
Delmoni, Leonidas Kavakos, William Preucil, Philip Setzer, Shony Braun, and Joshua
Bell. Josef Gingold died on January 11,
1995, at age 85. His violin, which he
obtained in 1946, was the Martinelli Stradivarius of 1683. In 1998, Gingold’s son George (a lawyer) got
into a legal fight with a violin dealer over the commission he owed after the
dealer sold the violin (for $1.6 million.)
The fight was settled out of court.
Augustin Hadelich had this violin on loan from 2006 until 2010.
