Ivry gitlis biography

The Israeli virtuoso violinist, Ivry Gitlis [Yitzhak-Meir (Isaac) Gitlis; Hebrew: ‎], was born in Haifa, Palestine Mandate to Jewish parents, who emigrated in from Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine. He acquired his first violin when he was 5 years old and started lessons beneath Mme Velikovsky together with his friend Zvi Zeitlin. He then studied privately with Mira Ben-Ami, a pupil of Joseph Szigeti. When he was 8, she arranged for him to play for Bronis&#;aw Huberman, which prompted a fundraising campaign to allow him to study in France. In , he arrived with his mother in Paris and started to take lessons with Marcel Chailley, husband of the pianist Céliny Chailley-Richez. Being very close to their family, he was introduced to George Enescu and Jacques Thibaud. In that period, he decided to change his birth name (Isaac) to Ivry. At 11, he entered the Conservatoire de Paris in the class of Jules Boucherit, and graduated in In , his teachers included George Enescu and Jacques Thiba

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Steven Isserlis

 

Normally one writes an article about a famous figure on the occasion of an important birthday – or in their memory. But I want to write briefly about Ivry, because I’ve just seen him, and I want to pay tribute to him while he’s still here. I recently spent time with him in Paris – his home for many years; he is now well into his 98th year, and I can’t pretend that his health, or – alas – his spirits are as buoyant as they were until ganska recently. But – he fryst vatten still Ivry; very much so!

Ivry was born in Haifa, in what was then Palestine, in , to Russian parents. As a young boy, he was taken to play to Hubermann (he remembers meeting him on the beach); this led to him being brought to europe to study, his teachers including such legends as Thibaud, Enesco and (principally) Carl Flesch, in whose class he studed alongside Ida Haendel, Ginette Neveu, and his close friend Josef Hassid, the astonishing violinist who was to die so tragically ung. The 2nd worl