Camilla Wicks

Camilla Wicks (August 9 1928- ) is an American violinist of Norwegian descent. Born in Long Beach, California, she was one of the first woman violinists to establish a major international career and one of the brightest stars in the violin firmament in the 1950s. Her Norwegian father was a distinguished violinist and her pianist mother studied with Xavier Scharwenka. Wicks made her name as a child prodigy, making her solo debut with orchestra aged 7 with Mozart's D Major Concerto. At 8 she performed Bruch's First Concerto and a year later Paganini's First Concerto. Following in the footsteps of Yehudi Menuhin, Ruggiero Ricci and Guila Bustabo, she went to study with Louis Persinger in New York. Persinger accompanied her at her 1942 New York Town Hall debut, and she made her solo debut with the New York Philharmonic aged 15. In the next decade, she performed regularly with many of the world's finest conductors (Walter, Reiner, Stokowski, Rodzinski, Ehrling) and orchestras. She went on extensive European tours and was a firm favourite in Scandinavia and Finland. Sibelius greatly admired her interpretation of his concerto, of which she made a famous recording in 1952 for the Capitol label. At that time, she also made a number of recordings for HMV, Mercury and Philips. At the height of her career, Wicks retired for a few years in order to devote herself to her large family, even selling her Duke Of Cambridge Stradivarius in the process. Wicks later resumed her performing career intermittently and became a much sought-after teacher. She taught in a number of American faculties (University of Michigan, Rice University and various in California). She was invited to head the String Department at the Oslo Royal Academy in the early 1970s and was awarded a lifetime Professorship there: many of the violinists of the leading Norwegian orchestras studied with her. In 1999, she was made Knight of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit for her contribution to music in that country. Wicks held the Isaac Stern Chair at the San Francisco Conservatory before retiring in 2005.

Camilla Wicks has explored an exceptionally wide range of repertoire and promoted many lesser-known works, in particular by Scandinavian composers, who in turn wrote many works for her. She also enjoyed a close collaboration with Ernest Bloch. Her expressive and tonal intensity, formidable technique and sense of rhythm, and exceptionally profound phrasing make her an especially fascinating artist. Studio and concert recordings have been reissued on the Music & Arts, Biddulph and Simax labels.

Further reading: "The Strad" magazine: feature articles in November 2004 and August 1988. Extensive liner notes in Music & Arts CD 1160 "The Art of Camilla Wicks", Biddulph CD 80218 "Camilla Wicks Concertos by Sibelius, Valen and short pieces", Simax CD PSC 1832 "Great Norwegian Performers: Camilla Wicks plays Glazunov, Vaughan Williams, Brahms, Brustad, Sarasate" and Simax CD PSC 1185 "Camilla Wicks plays Concertos by Walton and Brustad".