From Violin Bow to Tennis Racket

Pinchas Zukerman began playing the recorder at the age of four, then he turned to clarinet and "only" picked up the violin bow at the age of eight. At first he was taught by his violinist father, but then he became a student of Hungarian Ilona Fehér at the Tel Aviv Music Academy, which was largely established by Hungarian emigrants. Fehér graduated from Jenő Hubay's class and has lived in Israel since 1949, giving up her career as a soloist. She instilled the basics of the legendary Hungarian violin school into her students, including Shlomo Mintz and the young Zukerman. When Zukerman turned twelve, Pablo Casals and Isaac Stern took notice of him during one of their tours and when with their encouragement he entered the Juilliard School in 1962, Stern became his legal guardian. In New York Zukerman became a true American: his good looks which put Hollywood actors to shame, his joyous gestures and wide smile, and of course his violin playing unmistakably stamped him as a product of the New World. But beneath his "very American" exterior, there was concealed the true key to his success: as the master violin maker Tamás Guminár encapsulated, he embodied "all the traditions of the Hungarian, French, Russian and Jewish violin schools of the past."

Photo: Cheryl Mazak

The star violinist is now sixty-five and his recordings have been nominated for Grammy prizes on twenty-one occasions. However in his twenties, Zukerman became a little bored with just being a soloist and seriously considered becoming a professional tennis player. He always took an old style wooden racket in his violin case and wherever he performed in the world, he would be sure to drive from the airport straight to the nearest tennis club, and then rush back to the court after rehearsals. Luckily for music lovers, he decided to stick to his initial profession and instead poured his excess energy into conducting, teaching and playing chamber music.

He first became a conductor with the English Chamber Orchestra, then for seven years was the music director of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (the only standing professional chamber orchestra in the USA). In 1993 he began teaching at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, and as he was constantly engaged across the world as both soloist and conductor, became a pioneer in the trend for internet-based distance teaching in music. In 1998 he accepted the post of leader of Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra, and in Ottawa launched some wide-ranging teaching programmes. This is where he met his third wife, some twenty years his junior, Amanda Forsyth. The charming cellist happened to be the leader of the cello section of the orchestra and a member of the Zukerman Chamber Players which her husband founded in 2002. Indeed, Zukerman accompanied the ensemble to Budapest in 2011.

So, February 2014 will be the first time Pinchas Zukerman has performed at the Liszt Academy. From his perspective, it is the venue that provides the novelty. For the Budapest audience, they will have the privilege of experiencing all facets of this well-travelled musician: on this occasion Zukerman will be playing the violin, performing chamber music and conducting. And to top it all, maybe he will be holding improvised masterclasses during rehearsals– as he has done before – for the luckiest talents of the Liszt Academy. At least, as long as he isn't seduced away to play a game of tennis!