Last modified: Thursday, March 3, 2011
IU Jacobs School of Music presents Nelli Shkolnikova Memorial Concert
WHAT: Nelli Schkolnikova Memorial Concert with guests
WHEN: Monday, March 7, p.m.
WHERE: Auer Hall
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 3, 2011
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music will honor one of its former faculty members during the free Nelli Shkolnikova Memorial Concert on Monday, March 7, at 8 p.m. in Auer Concert Hall.
Professor Shkolnikova was a member of the string faculty at the Jacobs School from 1987 until her retirement in May 2005. She passed away in Australia on Feb. 2, 2010.
Performers will include violinists Yuriy Bekker, Charleston Symphony Orchestra; David Chernyavsky, San Francisco Symphony; Sergei Galperin, Houston Symphony Orchestra; Gulia Gurevich, Prima Trio; Masha Lankovsky, Brooklyn Conservatory of Music; Polina Kozhevnikova, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra; Leor Maltinski, San Francisco Symphony; Curt Thompson, Texas Christian University School of Music; and Yulia Ziskel, New York Philharmonic.
Also performing are violist Alexander Gurevich, freelance performer and teacher from New York City, and collaborative pianists Kyung-A Yoo, Jacobs School faculty member, and Charles Webb, Jacobs dean emeritus.
The program will include opening remarks by Webb and works by Veracini, Dvoák, Prokofiev, Ravel, Brahms and Tchaikovsky.
"Nelli Shkolnikova brought a wonderful combination of humanity and toughness to her teaching," said Lawrence Hurst, chair of the String Department. "Her students adored her, and she was a very giving and nurturing person. This concert is a testament to that care and to that love for them as individuals and musicians."
About Nelli Shkolnikova
Born in the tiny village of Zolotonosha in the Ukraine, Shkolnikova entered the Moscow Conservatory at the age of 5. At age 8, she played her first concerto with orchestra and by 25, had won the Grand Prix at the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud competition in Paris, which launched her into an international career.
During the course of three major U.S. tours, she appeared at Lincoln Center and with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy. She performed with numerous conductors, including Charles Munch, Kurt Masur, Sergiu Comissiona, Josef Krips, André Cluytens, Kurt Sanderling, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Yuri Temirkanov and many others.
Soviet authorities became suspicious of Shkolnikova's successes on the classical stage, especially her appearances in the West. In 1970, the Iron Curtain closed on her, confining all of her future performances were confined to the U.S.S.R. In 1982, she finally received permission to travel to West Berlin for a concert. On Nov. 26, 1982, Shkolnikova defected to the West, bringing with her only the clothes she wore and her violin. She settled first in Melbourne, Australia, where she began concertizing and teaching again. Throughout her career, she was a sought-after teacher. Even in the Moscow Conservatory, she was teaching her fellow students and helping her own teacher with preparing his students for their lessons.
In Melbourne, she taught at the Victorian College of the Arts. In 1987, she joined the faculty of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music as professor of violin. During her tenure at IU, she gained renown as a teacher and presenter of master classes. Her style of teaching was warm but demanding, and she held her students to the highest artistic standards, helping them achieve flawless technique, impeccable taste and a rich tone, characteristic of the Russian string tradition.
