János Starker

János Starker (born July 5, 1924) is a Hungarian-born cellist and one of the most famous cellists of the twentieth century. He has taught at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music since 1958, where he holds the title of Distinguished Professor.

Biography

Child prodigy

Starker's two older brothers were violinists, and the young János (named for the hospital in which he was born) was given a cello before his sixth birthday. A child prodigy, Starker made his first public performances at ages six and seven. He entered the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest to study with Adolf Schiffer and made his debut there at age 11. Starker began teaching other children at age eight, and by the time he was 12 he had five pupils. Starker counts among his strongest influences Leo Weiner, a composer who taught chamber music. Zoltán Kodály, Béla Bartók and Ernő Dohnányi were also members of the Liszt Academy faculty.

Starker made his professional debut at age 14 playing the Dvořák concerto with three hours' notice when the originally scheduled soloist was unable to play. He left the Liszt Academy in 1939 and spent most of the war in Budapest. Because of his youth, Starker escaped the tragic fate of his older brothers, who were pressed into forced labor and eventually murdered by the Nazis. Starker nevertheless spent three months in a Nazi internment camp.

Professional career

After the war Starker became principal cellist of the Budapest Opera and the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestras. Starker, who had never been granted Hungarian citizenship, left the Soviet-occupied country in 1946.

He gave a successful concert in Vienna, then remained there to prepare for the Geneva Cello Competition, held in October 1946. He lost to his student, Eva Janzer.

After observing a horrific concert by the former child prodigy Yehudi Menuhin, Starker had an epiphany. He describes himself as becoming physically ill from the realization that he had little idea how he really played the cello from a technical standpoint. "I played like a blind man," he has said. "What happens to the bird who sings and doesn't know how it sings? That's what happens to child prodigies." Starker spent a year analyzing all aspects of his technique. By October of the following year he had regained his confidence. His studies and exercises he wrote for his friend George Bekefi ultimately resulted in his famous essay and published cello method, "An Organized Method of String Playing".

Starker, still in visa limbo, went from Geneva to Paris, where he spent a year. There he made his first recording of the Kodaly solo cello sonata Op. 8, a work which was considered technically unplayable before that time. The recording earned him the Grand Prix du Disque and cemented his fame.

Starker emigrated to the United States in 1948 to become principal cellist of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under Antal Dorati. In 1949 he moved to New York to become principal cellist of the Metropolitan Opera under Fritz Reiner. It was in New York that Starker made the first of his acclaimed recordings of the Bach Cello Suites. Starker's technical mastery led some to suspect, incorrectly, that the recordings were electronically altered; his experiments with microphone placement and recording techniques drew the attention of engineers at the MIT.

In 1951, he became a founding member of the Suk Trio with Josef Suk and Julius Katchen.

In 1952, Starker became principal cellist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra when Fritz Reiner became the music director. In 1958, Starker moved to Indiana University and resumed his solo career, giving hundreds of concerts on every continent.

Since 2001, Starker has limited his activities to teaching, master classes and occasional performances with his long time partner, the pianist Shigeo Neriki, and his son-in-law, daughter and granddaughter, violinists William, Gwen, and Alexandra Preucil. He still actively teaches and views teaching as his responsibility to the next generation of cellists. Former students of Starker's include Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Maria Kliegel, Paul Katz, Gary Hoffman, Felix Fan, David Shamban, Anthony Elliott, Jules Eskin, Damián Martinez, Marie Hallynck, Pamela Smits, Emilio Colón (cello professor at Indiana University), Dennis Parker (a cellist virtuoso and pedagogue, who has recorded all Popper Etudes on DVD entitled The Popper Manifesto [http://www.sharmusic.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=3043DVD] ),Mark Kosower (the Principal Cellist of the Bamberg Symphony), Regina Mushabac ( also a former Starker teaching assistant), David Premo ( the associate Principal Cellist of the Pittsburgh Symphony orchestra), Marc Coppey (cello professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, Alan Harris (Professor of cello at the Eastman School of Music), Rafael Figueroa (the Principal Cellist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), and Joyce Geeting (soloist and teacher of young pupils at CLU in Southern California.)

Recorded repertoire

One of the most recorded cellists in the world, Starker has made over 160 recordings of virtually the entire cello literature. He has recorded the Bach solo cello suites five times, most recently for RCA in 1992 for which he won a Grammy award. He was also nominated for a Grammy award for his 1990 recording of the extremely demanding works of David Popper. He has had concerti written for him by David Baker, Antal Dorati, Bernhard Heiden, Jean Martinon, Miklos Rozsa,and Robert Starer.

Celli

From 1950 to 1965, Starker played and recorded on the Lord Aylesford Stradivarius, the largest instrument made by Antonio Stradivarius. In 1965 Starker acquired a Matteo Goffriller cello believed to have been made in Venice in 1705, an instrument which he plays to this day.

Reviews & Published works

Many documentaries, articles in magazines, and newspaper stories have acknowledged János Starker's virtuosity. He has published numerous books and musical scores through Peer International, Schirmer, and International Music. His autobiography, "The World of Music According to Starker", was published in 2004 by Indiana University Press.

Playing style

Starker's playing style is intense and involves great technical mastery. According to some of his students, his technique revolves around long, legato notes, with very little shifting noise from his left hand, resulting in smooth, pure tones, "each note sounding like a jewel." Starker himself describes his sound as "centered" and "focused." He is known for his ability to produce an extremely wide range of sounds and tone shading. He eschews the wide vibrato favored by some of his peers--which he views as a cover for poor intonation--and he is known for his patrician stage presence, preferring to let the music do the emoting. He quotes his long-time friend and colleague, Gyorgy Sebok, who said, "Create excitement. Don't get excited."

Trivia

*Starker prefers his named to be pronounced with a hard "S", rather than the German pronunciation "Shtarker" which means "strong."

External links

János Starker pages maintained by the [http://www.cello.org Internet Cello Society] :
* [http://www.cello.org/cnc/starker/starcont.htm Index]
* [http://www.cello.org/cnc/starker/mayerbio.htm Biography]
* [http://www.cello.org/cnc/starker/applebio.htm Another biography]
* [http://www.cello.org/Newsletter/Articles/starker.html Excellent interview with Starker]
* [http://www.cello.org/Newsletter/Articles/starker2/starker2.htm And another excellent interview]
* [http://www.cello.org/cnc/starker/staraudi.htm RealAudio clips]