Shmuel Ashkenasi

Shmuel Ashkenasi (born 1941) is an Israeli violinist and teacher.

Biography

Born in Tel Aviv, he began his musical training at the Musical Academy of Tel-Aviv studying with legendary pedagogue Ilona Feher, the teacher of such violinists as Pinchas Zuckerman and Shlomo Mintz. He arrived in the United States while still young and studied with Efrem Zimbalist at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Career

Ashkenasi captured top prizes at the 1962 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Russia, the Merriweather Post Competition in Washington, and the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Belgium. As a soloist, he has toured the Soviet Union twice and plays concerts every year throughout Europe, Israel and the Far East. He has performed with American orchestras such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, National Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, Vienna Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, and the orchestras of Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Zurich, Rotterdam, Geneva and Stockholm.

Among his solo recordings are the Paganini Violin Concertos No. 1 and No. 2 with the Vienna Symphony on the Deutsche Grammophon label, the two Beethoven Romances, and the Mozart A Major Concerto.

Vermeer Quartet

In 1969, Ashkenasi formed the Vermeer Quartet at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont and remained as its first violinist throughout the quartet's career. The Vermeer Quartet held residencies at Northern Illinois University and at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. Its discography includes works of Beethoven, Bartok, Dvořák, Haydn (a Grammy-nominated recording of the Seven Last Words of Christ), Schubert, Tchaikovsky, and Verdi.

Pedagogue

Ashkenasi is also a noted pedagogue, currently holding the posts of Professor of Violin at Roosevelt University's Chicago College of Performing Arts and the Curtis Institute of Music.

External links

* [http://ccpa.roosevelt.edu/music/bios/ashkenasi.htm Biography]