Sergei Stadler is a Russian violinist, teacher, and conductor born (in
Saint Petersburg) on May 20, 1962. Although
he took first prize (alongside Viktoria Mullova) in the famous Tchaikovsky
Competition (in 1982) and the Grand Prize in the Jacques Thibaud Competition
(in 1980 – one source has it as 1979), he is not as well-known as one might
expect. (Please see comment below.) However, he has developed a very
successful career in Russia and Europe, having played in most of the important
concert venues. He is also an opera
conductor. Stadler actually began his
music studies in piano, taking lessons from his parents, although his father
was a professional violinist. He entered
the Saint Petersburg Conservatory at age 12.
He studied violin with Boris Sergeyev in Leningrad (Saint
Petersburg.) He also later studied with
Mikhail Vaiman, Victor Tretyakov, Leonid Kogan, and David Oistrakh. From 1984 to 1989 he taught at the Saint
Petersburg Conservatory. In his career
as a teacher, he has conducted master classes in Europe and the far east. He has also founded several performing
organizations - the Hermitage Music Academy, and the New Saint Petersburg
Symphony are among them. He has about 30
CDs to his credit – one source says 50 – including one with all Beethoven
Sonatas, accompanied by his sister Julia.
Here is one video of his on YouTube.
Tedi Papavrami is an Albanian violinist, teacher, and actor born (in
Tirana, Albania) on May 13, 1971. Although
it can most assuredly be said that he possesses a quite fantastic technique and
formidable artistic insight (second to none, in my opinion), he is much better
known in Europe than in the U.S. and therefore has a lower global profile than
he might otherwise. Besides being a musician
and actor, he is also a writer. In
addition, he has transcribed various works written for other instruments for his
use as violin pieces. Among them are
several Scarlatti piano sonatas. Nowadays,
that activity is rare among violinists, though it was commonplace in the old
days – say, prior to 1945. Papavrami
first studied with his father – Robert Papavrami, a violinist and violin
teacher – from age 5. At age 7, he
enrolled at the Jordan
Misja School of Art in Tirana. He made his orchestral debut at age 8,
playing Sarasate’s Gypsy Airs (Zigeunerweisen.)
At age 11, he played Paganini’s first concerto with the same orchestra –
the Tirana Philharmonic. Soon
thereafter, he was offered a scholarship by the French government to study at
the Paris Conservatory. He was 12 years
old. His teacher there – among others -
was Pierre Amoyal. Papavrami graduated from
the Paris Conservatory at age 15. He
studied further with Zino Francescatti and Viktoria Mullova. According to one source, he also received a
degree – I don’t know in what field of study – from the Lausanne Conservatory
in 1987. By 1986, he had already
established his base, so to speak, in Paris, France. Here is a YouTube video of his performance of
Paganini’s second concerto. I’ve already
heard nearly all of the recordings of this concerto that are out there and this
one is the best among them. Papavrami
has concertized around the world since completing his formal music studies but
spends scant time in the U.S. He is also
one of a handful of violinists who have played recitals composed entirely of
the 24 Paganini Caprices. In 2003, he
was engaged to play a principal role in the French film, Dangerous Liaisons,
with Catherine Deneuve and the notorious Natasha Kinski. In 2008, he was appointed violin professor at
the Geneva Conservatory in Switzerland and has been living in Geneva ever
since. In 2002, Papavrami was named
official French translator by the publisher of the works of his countryman, Ismail
Kadare. His recordings on the Naxos and
Aeon labels have been praised by every music critic. His first major recording (for Naxos) was
released in 1997. It features both
Prokofiev concertos. Papavrami’s
transcriptions - for solo violin - of the Domenico Scarlatti Sonatas have been
published but I know not by whom. Papavrami is also the violinist of the Schumann Piano Quartet - with violist Christoph Schiller, pianist Christian Favre, and cellist Francois Guye. Their magnificent recording of the piano quartets of Ernest Chausson and Gabriel Faure can easily be found on the internet. Papavrami's violin is one constructed especially for him by French violin maker (luthier) Christian Bayon.
Giuliano Carmignola is an Italian violinist,
conductor, and teacher born (in Treviso, Italy) on July 7, 1951. He is known for his career as an eminent
exponent of Baroque music. However, his
repertoire encompasses works from the early Baroque to late modern. His repertoire includes the Schumann violin
concerto, a piece which has an interesting history. Nonetheless, his discography is focused on
the Baroque. He first studied with his
father. His later teachers included
Luigi Ferro, Nathan Milstein, Franco Gulli, and Henryk Szeryng. Among the music schools he attended are the Venice
Conservatory, the Accademia Chigiana (Siena, Italy – school of Salvatore
Accardo, John Williams, and Daniel Barenboim also) and the Geneva
Conservatory. From early in his career,
Carmignola has collaborated with many conductors, including Claudio Abbado, Roberto
Abbado, Trevor Pinnock, and Christopher Hogwood.
He has regularly played and recorded with various chamber orchestras –
the Virtuosi Di Roma (1970-1978), Mozart Orchestra, Il Giardino Armonico, Basel
Chamber Orchestra, Academy of Ancient Music, and Venice Baroque Orchestra are
among them. A similar path has been taken by Vladimir Spivakov and Fabio Biondi. Carmignola's best known recordings
are probably his complete Mozart concertos, complete Haydn concertos, a number of Pietro
Locatelli concertos, the Four Seasons (Vivaldi), and several two-violin
concertos by Vivaldi with Viktoria Mullova.
YouTube has many videos of his playing, including one of the Brahms
Double concerto. You can hear one such
video (of the Summer portion from the Four Seasons) here – it is played at the
fastest tempo I have ever heard. He
spends almost all of his time in Europe and did not make his U.S. debut until
2001 at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York.
Since 2003, he has been an exclusive artist for the Deutsche Gramophone
label. Carmignola has taught at the
Advanced Music School in Lucerne (Switzerland) and at his old school, the Accademia Chigiana. His violins include the Baillot Stradivarius
of 1732 and a 1739 violin by Johannes Florenus Guidantus.
Viktoria Mullova is a Russian violinist born on November 27, 1959 (Heifetz was 58 years old.) She has been successful in her concert career since before she defected from the Soviet Union twenty six years ago (1983.) Mullova is very much at ease in her extroverted style and likes wearing brightly colored outfits for her appearances. She is also well-known for having had several lovers, Claudio Abbado among them. She began her violin studies at age four. She then studied at Moscow's Central Music School; afterward at the Moscow Conservatory with Leonid Kogan. In 1980, she took first prize in the Sibelius Competition (Helsinki), and the gold medal in the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1982. Her discography is fairly extensive but does not include the Bruch concerto nor the Lalo Symphonie Espagnol. Mullova has played the Jules Falk Stradivarius (1723) for many years and a Guadagnini from 1750 as well. There are many videos posted on YouTube showing her playing in recital and with orchestra.
