Ivry Gitlis

Ivry Gitlis – born on August 25, 1922 in Haifa, Palestine Mandate (now Israel) – was a popular virtuoso violinist. He was given his first violin when he was five years old. Studying under different teachers, he performed for Jewish/Polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman at the age of eight. His performance led to a fundraiser, which raised money for Gitlis to study in France. He attended the Paris Conservatory at the age of 11 and graduated in 1935. Between 1938 and 1940, he studied under Jacques Thibaud, George Enescu, and Carl Flesch. He relocated to London, England in 1940 and worked in a war factory as well as becoming a member of the artist’s branch of the British Army. After the war, he performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and other orchestras in England. In 1951, he made his recital debut in Paris. He relocated to the United States and toured several times. In the mid-‘50s, he recorded for the Vox label. His album Bartok’s 2nd Violin Concerto and Solo Violin Sonata (1955) received the Best Record of the Year Award from the New York Herald. Gitlis was the first violinist to play the Soviet Union. His predilection for contemporary composers earned him the esteem of music lovers while the general public discovered him on television or in films (from Histoire d'Adèle H. de Truffaut in 1975 to Des gens qui s'embrassent by Danièle Thompson in 2013). Gitlis is remembered as an interpreter of concertos by Bartok, Wiesnawski, Sibelius, Hindemith and others. He became a teacher and popularized classical music through festivals, masterclasses and UNESCO missions, of which he was a goodwill ambassador since 1990. Ivry Gitlis died on December 24, 2020 at the age of 98.

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