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Violinist, violist, conductor—Pinchas
Zukerman could have made an outstanding career with only one of
these pursuits, but this multi-faceted artist combines all three. Known
for his rich tone, masterful technique, and well thought-out
interpretations of works for violin and viola, Zukerman performs with
the leading orchestras and chamber ensembles worldwide. As a conductor
Zukerman has garnered mixed reviews; yet he is in high demand for guest
appearances. Seen often on commercial and public television and known as
Pinky to his friends, Zuckerman enjoys an almost superstar status.
Pinchas was born into a musical family on July 16, 1948, in Tel
Aviv, Israel. He is the only child of professional violinist Juhda
Zukerman and Miriam (Lieberman-Skotchilas) Zukerman, who,
concentration-camp survivors from Poland,
had emigrated to Israel in 1947. At age five, Pinchas learned to play a
recorder given to him by his father. After later trying and disliking
the clarinet, he settled on the violin, which his father taught him. At
age eight, he began studying with llona Feher, the noted Hungarian
violinist who was also the early teacher of Shmuel Ashkenasi and Shlomo
Mintz (see Newsmakers entry), at the Israel conservatory and the
Academy of Music in Tel
Aviv.
During a visit to Israel in 1961, celebrated cellist Pablo Casals and
world famous violinist Isaac
Sternheard Zukerman perform. Stern was impressed enough that he
guided the course of the young violinist’s
education, even becoming his legal guardian to do so. With support from
the American-Israel Cultural Foundation and scholarships from Juilliard
and the Helena Rubinstein Foundation, Zuckerman was able to study violin
and, beginning at agefourteen, viola with the famous string teacher Ivan
Galamian at the Juilliard School of Music in New
York City.
While studying at the Juilliard School, Zukerman also attended the
Professional Children’s
School and the High School of Performing Arts, living with the parents
of pianist Eugene Isotomin.
Zukerman, who admits that he was an arrogant child prodigy, found it
difficult to adjust to life in New
York City—he
did not then speak English—and
to being one of many musical prodigies. He rebelled against Galamian’s
insistence that he concentrate on the basics and maintain a rigid
practice schedule, and often skipped school and roamed the streets.
Finally, Stern took Zukerman to task. “I
knew I had something in me, something on the violin that I had to say,” Zukerman
told David Hawley of the St.Paul Pioneer Press, “And
I knew that eventually I was going to say it. With the guidance of these
people it luckily worked out.”
Zukerman ended his formal schooling when on May 16,
Born July 16, 1948, in Tel Aviv, Israel; came to United
States, 1962; son of Yehuda and Miriam Lieberman Zukerman; married
Eugenia Rich, May 26, 1968 (divorced); children: Natalia, Arianna;
married Tuesday Weld, 1985. Education: Attended Juilliard School
of Music, 1965-68.
Concert violinist 1968—.
With impresario, Sol Hurok, 1967-76; conductor, soloist English Chamber
Orchestra, 1974, Mostly Mozart Festival, N.Y.C., 1975; guest conductor,
soloist Los
AngelesPhilharmonic, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia
Orchestra, N.Y. Philharmonic Orchestra; music dir. South Bank
Festival, London, 1978-80, St.
Paul Chamber Orch., 1980-87; toured with Isaac
Stern; mem. trio with Daniel
Barenboim and Jacqueline
du Pre; recording artist with CBS, EMI, Philips Classics labels.
Awards: Winner International
Levintritt Competition, 1967.
Addresses: Office: c/o
Shirley Kirshbaum & Assocs. 711 West End Ave., New
York, NY 10025.
1967, he was co-winner with Kyung
Wha Chung of Korea of
the Leventritt International Competition. Publicity from this prize and
his replacing Stern, who was ill, in a series of concerts set the stage
for Zuckerman’s
solo career. Since then he has performed numerous solo recitals on both
violin and viola and chamber
music with many other noted artists, including Stern, violinist Itzhak
Perlman (see Musicians entry), cellist Jacqueline Du Pre,
flutist Jean-Pierre
Rampal (see Musicians entry), and the Guarneri and Cleveland quartets.
Though Zukerman had begun to study conducting while at theJuilliard
School, he first became actively interested inconducting in the late
1960s when he played with the English Chamber Orchestra directed by
Israeli conductor Daniel
Barenboim. Encouraged by members of the orchestra, Zukerman
conducted from the concertmaster’s
chair works by Bach and Vivaldi. Pieces by eighteenth-century composers
were often conducted by the lead violin before the advent of the
conductor as we now know it. Zuckerman became more and more experienced
at leading the group while playing the violin and in 1974 officially
made his conducting debut with the English Chamber Orchestra. While he
has since then guest conducted most of the major orchestras in the United
States, including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Los
Angeles Philharmonic, and the National Symphony, reviews of his
conducting are mixed.
In 1980 Zukerman assumed the directorship of the St.
Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO), the nation’s
only full-time professional chamber orchestra. During his seven-year
tenure there, Zukerman increased attendence threefold, was instrumental
in the building of a permanent home for the orchestra, increased the
number of musicians in the ensemble, made eight albums on major labels,
and led the orchestra on tours of the United
States and South
America. He often performed as soloist with the SPCO, conducting
from the concert-master’s
chair. Zukerman, tired of the administrative duties required of a music
director, decided to leave the SPCO after the 1987 season, though he was
offered a longer contract.
Since then Zukerman has increased his solo performance schedule and
limited his conducting to guest appearances and the principal guest
conductorship of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s
International Festival. Zukerman limits his teaching to a few master
classes in the summer, usually at music festivals, such as those at
Aspen, Colorado,
and Tanglewood, Massachusetts.
Zukerman lays claim to an impressive discography numbering more than
seventy-five releases, which are widely representative of the violin and
viola repertoire. His catalog of recordings for Angel, CBS Masterworks,
Deutsche Grammaphon, London Records, Philips Classics, and RCA contains
more than a dozen Grammy nominations and two awards: “Best
Classical Performance—Instrumental
Soloist with Orchestra” for
the Isaac Stern Sixtieth Anniversary Celebration, which contains
Mozart’s Sinfonia
Concertante for Violin and Viola, recorded as a tribute to Zukerman’s
long-time supporter; “Best
Chamber Music Performance” for
his Angel/EMI release of Moszkowski’s Suite
for Two Violins and Piano,Shostakovich’s Three
Violin Duos, and Prokofiev’s Sonata
for Two Violins.
After collapsing from exhaustion in March 1981, Zuckerman has been
careful to pace himself more conservatively, though he has sacrificed
none of the diversity of his efforts. He once told The Strad, “The
diversity of my career has allowed me to explore all aspects of music,
and I feel that my artistic life today is on a level of greater
maturity. I hope that when the day comes that my abilities as a soloist
begin to deteriorate, I will have the strength of character to retire
from the concert stage and continue my contribution to music in other
ways.
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