Pinchas Zukerman

Pinchas Zukerman
Born	(1948-07-16) 16 July 1948 Tel Aviv, Israel
Genres	Classical
Occupation(s)	Conductor, pedagogue, violinist, violist
Instruments	Violin, viola
Associated acts	National Arts Centre Orchestra, Midori, Isaac Stern
Notable instruments
Violin Guarnerius del Gesù 1742 'Dushkin' Viola Andrea Guarneri 1670

Pinchas Zukerman (Hebrew: פנחס צוקרמן‎, born 16 July 1948) is an Israeli violinist, violist, and conductor.

Life and career

Born in Tel Aviv, to Yehuda and Miriam Lieberman Zukerman, Zukerman began his musical studies at age four, on the recorder. His father then taught him clarinet, and he picked up the violin at age eight. Isaac Stern and Pablo Casals learned of Zukerman's violin talent during a 1962 visit to Israel. Zukerman subsequently moved to the United States that year for study at the Juilliard School, under the tutelage of Stern and Ivan Galamian. He made his New York debut in 1963. In 1967, he shared the Leventritt Prize with the Korean violinist Kyung-wha Chung. His 1969 debut recordings of the concerti by Tchaikovsky (under the direction of Antal Dorati, with the London Symphony Orchestra) and Mendelssohn (with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic) launched a successful recording career that continues to the present day and boasts over 110 releases.

Zukerman launched his conducting career in 1970 with the English Chamber Orchestra, and served as director of London's South Bank Festival from 1971 to 1974. In the USA, Zukerman was music director of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra from 1980 to 1987. He later directed the summer festivals of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (1991–1995) and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (1996–1999). In 1999, he became Music Director of Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO) in Ottawa. In March 2012, the NAC Orchestra announced the scheduled conclusion of his music directorship in 2015. He has served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra since 2009.

Zukerman is on the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music and is the head and founder of the Zukerman Performance Program at the school. His former students have included Koh Gabriel Kameda, Julian Rachlin, and Guy Braunstein. In 1999 he founded the National Arts Centre Young Artists Programme, which counts young musicians such as Viviane Hagner, Jessica Linnebach, and Antal Szalai as alumni. In 2006 Zukerman began his involvement in the Rolex Artistic Mentorship programme.

Zukerman plays the "Dushkin" Guarnerius del Gesù violin of 1742. His honours include the King Solomon Award, the National Medal of Arts (presented by President Reagan in 1983), the Isaac Stern Award for Artistic Excellence, and an honorary doctorate from Brown University.

Recordings

His recordings have received 21 Grammy nominations, and two Grammy wins. He has collaborated with filmmaker Christopher Nupen on several projects, and was the subject of Nupen's "Pinchas Zukerman: Here to Make Music" documentary of 1974. In 2003 he founded a string quintet, the Zukerman Chamber Players, which has released three CD recordings in addition to its roster of live performances.

Personal life

Zukerman has been married three times. His first marriage was to the flautist and novelist Eugenia Zukerman, from 1968 to 1985. The marriage produced two daughters, who are now both musicians: Arianna Zukerman is a classical soprano, while Natalia Zukerman is a folk singer and guitarist. Zukerman's second marriage was to actress Tuesday Weld from 1985 to 1998. Both marriages ended in divorce. Zukerman and his third wife, Amanda Forsyth, the NACO's principal cellist, live in the Rockcliffe Park area of Ottawa.

Sources

• Boris Schwarz: Great Masters of the Violin. From Corelli and Vivaldi to Stern, Zukerman and Perlman. Simon and Schuster, New York 1983.
• Darryl Lyman: Great Jews in Music. J. D. Publishers, Middle Village, NY 1986.
• Stanley Sadie, H. Wiley Hitchcock (Ed.): The new Grove dictionary of American music. Grove's Dictionaries of Music, New York, N.Y 1986.
• Kurtz Myers: Index to record reviews 1984-1987. G.K. Hall, Boston, Ma. 1989.
• Alan Rich: Masters of Music: Great artists of work. Preface by Nicolas Slonimsky, foreword by Isaac Stern, photographs by James Arkatov. Capra Press, Santa Barbara, Ca. 1990.

External links

• Pinchas Zukerman at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Pinchas Zukerman in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Pinchas Zukerman collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Profile at New York Philharmonic
• Profile at Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
• Profile at Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra

Preceded by Dennis Russell Davies	Music Director, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra 1980–1987	Succeeded by Christopher Hogwood
Preceded by Trevor Pinnock	Music Director, National Arts Centre Orchestra 1999–present	Succeeded by incumbent