The article has been automatically translated into English by Google Translate from Russian and has not been edited.
Переклад цього матеріалу українською мовою з російської було автоматично здійснено сервісом Google Translate, без подальшого редагування тексту.
Bu məqalə Google Translate servisi vasitəsi ilə avtomatik olaraq rus dilindən azərbaycan dilinə tərcümə olunmuşdur. Bundan sonra mətn redaktə edilməmişdir.
Maxim Vengerov: A musician enjoyed by the whole world"
How is genius born?
This cute story began in 1974 year. 20 in August in the city of Chelyabinsk, where Larisa Vengerova’s parents lived, little Maxim was born. A month later, the baby was transported to his native Novosibirsk, where the music family of the Vengerovs was very famous. Larisa worked at the Orphanage and, in addition to the head and teacher of the choir, was the Principal of the music school, and Alexander was the oboist of the symphony orchestra for many years.
Grandmother Evgenia Vladimirovna was the first to notice the uniqueness of the little boy when she flew to Novosibirsk to see her 4-month-old grandson.” Every time a child cried, I played him a record with a symphony, he immediately, hearing the sounds of music, calmed down and fell asleep after listening to the disc.”
The grandmother did this more than once and once told her parents: “We have born a genius,” to which they, of course, laughed in unison.
As time went on, the boy grew up, listened, sinking music, especially loved the songs of V. Vysotsky, in two years he learned to turn on, change and turn off the discs himself and could do it endlessly. Mom always took little Maxim to a music school, where, while he spent hours, he absorbed everything that was happening around, and dad brought him to a rehearsal for a symphony orchestra. So the life of the child in the musical world proceeded.
(From Maxim’s story: “I didn’t like that dad was hard to see because he always sat at the end of the orchestra when playing the oboe, and I already decided as a child that I would study the violin and sit in front of everyone next to the conductor.”) Already at the age of 4 years 8 months, Maxim began learning to play the violin from the Honored Artist Galina Turchaninova, and at the age of 5 he first performed as a performer in his teacher’s master class in front of music teachers in the Perm region. When G.S. Turchaninova was transferred to the Central Music School at the Moscow Conservatory, she immediately demanded that Maxim be brought for further education, and thus Maxim and his grandparents moved to Moscow, where his stay lasted three years. Returning to Novosibirsk, he entered the class of Professor Zakhar Nusimovich Bron.
At the age of 10, Maxim first took part in the International Competition for Young Performers named after. Wieniawski in Poland and received 1st prize. At the age of 13, together with his teacher, he moved to Lubeck, where he studied for two years at the Higher School of Music. In 1990, Vengerov won the international Carl Flesch competition in London, where he received 1st prize and the audience award. That same year, the Vengerov family came to Israel at the invitation of conductor Zubin Mehta and violinist Isaac Stern. In 1991, after successful performances with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Maxim was invited to tour America, where, performing with the best orchestras in the world, he gave his first master class at the University of California in Los Angeles. 23 years have passed since then. The violinist has repeatedly performed on the best stages in the world with the most famous orchestras under the baton of their renowned conductors. Vengerov has recorded an extensive violin repertoire and received a number of awards, including two prestigious Grammys.
For outstanding achievements in the performing arts, Maxim Vengerov was awarded the Gloria Prize, established by Mstislav Rostropovich and the Prize named after. D.D. Shostokovich, awarded by the Yuri Bashmet Charitable Foundation. Mstislav Rostropovich has always been the idol of all great musicians and it was he who became Vengerov’s “Spiritual Mentor”. On the advice of Mstislav Rostropovich, Maxim also became a conductor. According to Maxim himself, cooperation with such a legendary person gave a huge impetus to his successful artistic career.
Vengerov - conductor
Maxim Vengerov’s first performance as a conductor took place at the invitation of Valery Gergiev at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. From the age of 26, Maxim took conducting lessons from Ilya Musin’s student Vaha Papyan, consulted with famous conductors Valery Gergiev and Vladimir Fedoseev, and in 2009 he began studying under the guidance of an outstanding conductor, Professor Yuri Simonov. In June 2014, Maxim graduated from the Institute. Ippolitov-Ivanov studied with maestro Simonov and immediately entered his graduate school, specializing in opera conducting.
Maxim himself describes his decision to become a conductor this way: “A shoulder injury in 2007 led me to think and I realized that something needs to be changed in this life. And I changed something all the time. I became interested in the baroque violin - it is a different instrument, although it looks similar to a regular violin. Her bow is especially different. These were played in the era of I.S. Bach, when the audiences were small and there was no need to fill a huge hall with 3000 seats with sound. How difficult it was then to return to a regular violin.
The same thing happened later when I decided to master the viola. It is larger in size, the stretching of the fingers is completely different, then you take the violin - it seems like just a toy, it is not clear how to play it. I was always drawn to try something new. At one time I became interested in the electric violin. I had thought about this before, but I was finally provoked by my personal meeting with Vanessa May in Munich, where we were both awarded the Echo Music Prize. It was the thirst to learn new things that led me to the desire to become a professional conductor.
As a musician, I was always limited only in the violin repertoire. I have always strived to become a non-narrow professional, not to concentrate and specialize in only one thing. I always want to give to others and know myself ten times more than I know myself at the moment. My goal has always been to expand my horizons. My old dream is to compose something for the violin. Sometimes I just write cadenzas for all violin concertos - this is one of my hobbies. I would like to bring back the long tradition of virtuosos Paganini, Liszt, Rachmaninov, who were not only magnificent virtuosos, but also the greatest composers.”
"Violin is my native language"
First of all, for Maxim, the violin is an antique object, a natural thing. A busy career requires a musician to constantly analyze the creative process; sometimes it is simply necessary to take a break to understand how to move forward, how to bring certain projects and dreams to life, and most importantly, how to convey your experience and knowledge. And here Vengerov has no equal. He constantly takes steps leading to dialogue with young talents.
Suffice it to recall the brilliant project “Musicians of Tomorrow”, when after the Lebanese War in the city of Migdal (Galilee), Vengerov created a school for gifted children with limited financial resources. 15 children from 4 to 12 years old studied the violin, each of them necessarily mastered a second musical instrument (piano, viola or cello), in addition, the children studied dancing, vocals, English, traveled a lot and constantly gave concerts in different countries of the world. Maxim devotes a huge amount of time to teaching. He is an honorary professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Higher School of Music in Saarbrücken. Vengerov was invited as a special guest to the XIV International P.I. Competition. Tchaikovsky and headed the jury of prestigious performing competitions in England and Poland.
Since 2011, Maxim has directed the violin academy in Gstaad in Switzerland, founded by Lord Menuhin and bearing his name. The learning process in it is designed for three years, like in graduate school after university. Yehudi Menuhin was a man of unusually fine spiritual organization, he had an amazing understanding of the tasks of the soloist and had an understanding attitude toward his young colleagues, and, of course, he was a brilliant musician. Menuhin decided that tuition at the academy would be free, so that talented students could study in luxurious conditions and not worry about financial problems. Vengerov is the undisputed leader in the field of music pedagogy. The strongest of the academy's students have repeatedly won prestigious places in many competitions, including the Queen Elizabeth Competition and the Tchaikovsky Competition. Maxim personally selected these talented guys (and again, as in Migdal, there are 15 of them) and he teaches each of them individually at least two classes a semester; in addition, he rehearses with the academy’s chamber orchestra, the String Camerata, where all his students participate.
It is with them that Vengerov tours a lot, carrying out 4-5 projects annually, both musical and educational. In addition to concerts, the ensemble meets with the public, holds musical forums, and organizes master classes. The Academy is multinational. Currently, students from Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and France study there. Despite such international diversity, the musicians have one religion - it’s like Esperanto - a language that, if desired, can be understood by everyone. A talented teacher and at the same time a diligent student of the outstanding conductor and teacher Yuri Simonov, with whom fate connected Maxim five years ago.
Goodwill ambassador
Back in 1997, Maxim Vengerov was appointed emissary of the UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), becoming the first classical musician to play this role. All these years of being in such an important post raised a high civil position in him. He played for the children of Uganda and Harlem, Thailand and Kosovo. The musician helps disadvantaged children affected by military conflicts, is involved in programs to combat child addiction. In South Africa, under the patronage of M. Vengerov, a MIAGI project was founded, uniting children of various races and religions in the general educational process, the first stone of the school was laid in Soweto.
Maxim inherited this kind of calling for charitable work and love for children from his mother: “My mother worked in an orphanage for 20 years, I grew up there and saw with my own eyes how every day and hourly my mother gave these disadvantaged children joy through music, and I also wanted to dedicate Let such children have a small part of their lives, which is why I accepted the offer from UNICEF to become a goodwill ambassador.” Vengerov has another title of Honorary Ambassador of Culture of Israel. And really how much this man did for Israel. It was the M. Vengerov Charitable Foundation that subsidized the school in Migdal in the north of the country, and in the south Maxim conducted the Beer-Sheva “Sinfonietta” during the shelling of the city, and at the time of the last military operation “Indestructible Rock” Maxim decided to undertake a concert tour of the hot spots in the south of the country and only the ban on rear service stopped him.
But Vengerov found another way out. This is a man of the strongest will who never deviates from his plans. In order to warm the hearts of people who, instead of the sounds of music, heard a long period of howling sirens, he invited a huge number of guests from various hottest spots in the south of the country to his first music festival in Tel Aviv, which took place with great success on 19 - 20 September in the Philharmonic Hall.
Vengerov Festival
It perfectly conveys the versatility of this amazing person and super-talented musician. Any music is close and interesting to him, from Bach and Mozart to Prokofiev and Shostokovich. Mahler and Bruckner, Brahms and Schubert, and, of course, Beethoven The festival program featured “Sonata for Violin” by the greatest representative of late romanticism - the English composer - Edward Elgar, accompanied by the talented pianist Shira Shaked. These musicians have something in common. Shira, like Maxim, also began studying music at the age of 4, only on the piano. She studied at the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv, as well as at the Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem. Shira is currently pursuing her third academic degree at Stony Brook University in New York. It was Shira’s father Menachem Shaked who helped Maxim Vengerov realize his dream of organizing a festival.
It is not without reason that Vengerov chose the first violin sonata of Sergei Prokofiev, in which the author showed the richest variety of expressive capabilities of the violin. Several works by P.I. Tchaikovsky: “Melancholic Serenade” for violin and orchestra, “Scherzo and Melody” for violin and piano, as well as “Waltz - Scherzo” for violin and orchestra required special virtuosity, brilliant technique and deep emotional understanding from the soloists. And at the end of the first day of the festival, “Havanese for violin and orchestra” and “Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso” by Camille Saint-Saens were performed, accompanied by the Chamber Orchestra of the Menuhin Academy. Vengerov was lucky not only to meet Yehudi Menuhin, but also to play on the same stage at the Salzburg Festival when Maxim was 17 years old.
In the second concert, the maestro was accompanied by the Israeli Symphony Orchestra of Rishon Lezion under the direction of Vaha Papyan. It is noteworthy that it was from him that Maxim Vengerov took his first conducting lessons. The Rishon LeZion Orchestra was created in 1988 and is the leading ensemble of the Israeli Opera. That evening the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra by P.I. was performed. Tchaikovsky, which from the first day was considered a brilliant work of the composer. The main surprise of the festival was the unusual for the public performance of “Scheherazade” by Rimsky-Korsakov, where Maxim performed in two guises - soloist and conductor. Before him, only Eugene Ysaye had done this. So, if we take into account that Vengerov came up with the idea of the festival precisely with the goal of acquainting the public with his performing art, his work as a conductor and teacher, then we can safely say that he managed to brilliantly emphasize all the facets of his talent.
The whole hall listened to the magical sounds of the most famous Stradivarius violin, the “Kreutzer”, made by the hands of an unsurpassed master, played by the legendary French violinist Rudolf Kreutzer, for two days. Vengerov was lucky enough to purchase this violin at a Christie's auction. It, like any Stradivarius violin, has its own aura, soul and life. And when such “LUXURY” falls into such hands, their souls intertwine and “sing” together an unheard of duet. I have been enjoying this muse for ten whole years, since my personal acquaintance in May 2004 with Maxim and his lovely parents.
So a low bow to you: to mom and dad, grandparents, talented teachers for what you could recognize in the little boy the talent that the whole world is now enjoying.
Author: Evgenia Gershman, “Adagio” (Israel).
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