Yue-Fun Chuang

The Goldstein-Manz family held a jubilee concert to celebrate the legendary violinist Boris Goldstein (1922-1987)

To mark the 90th birthday of the celebrated and warmly remembered legendary Jewish-Russian violinist, Boris Goldstein, his family organized an anniversary concert in his memory at 6.00 pm on Friday December 28th, 2012 in the Chamber-Music Hall of the Hochschule für Musik in Würzburg (Hofstrasse). Boris Goldstein held a position as violin professor at the university of music for many years after his emigration from Russia.

His daughter, the pianist Julia Goldstein-Manz, her children Sebastian Manz (clarinet), Larissa Manz (violin), Dominik Manz (cello) and also his other grandson Emmanuel Goldstein (violin) performed the concert program together with former students of the university, among them--Michal Szykulski, Thomas Mehlin, Volker Burkhart (accompanied by Christoph Weinhart), Olga Nodel, and Ferenc Babari. In addition to the performances, the president of the University of Würzburg, Professor Helmut Erb, former students and colleagues, Ms. Monika Herr, Professor Conrad v.d. Goltz, as well as his daughter, Julia Goldstein-Manz and his wife Irina addressed the audience with their fond memories and anecdotes of him. The packed Chamber-Music Hall was filled by former comrades, colleagues, students of successive generations and friends of Boris Goldstein, traveling from all corners of the world to attend this event. In the end, the concert has served not only as a loving remembrance of this great violinist, but also an emotional reunion among those who had association with him.

Boris Goldstein, born in Odessa in 1922, was an outstanding violinist at an early age. When he was only ten years old, he played the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the Moscow Radio Orchestra in a broadcast performance, laying the foundation stone of an exceptional career. His teachers were Pyotr Stolyarsky, Abram Yampolsky, Lev Zeitlin and Konstantin Mostras. The young violinist was soon winning prizes at the renowned competitions in Moscow, Warsaw and Brussels, and those successes were followed by acclaimed concerts in many European capitals. Famous musicians such as Fritz Kreisler, Sergey Prokofiev, Jascha Heifetz and Yehudi Menuhin commented admiringly on Goldstein's playing. His competitors at international competitions included David Oistrakh, Ida Haendel and Arthur Grumiaux. After an appearance at the Wieniawski competition in Warsaw, no less a figure than Heinrich Neuhaus said of the young Goldstein: "One is amazed by his intelligent and mature playing, by his sense of style, by the depth and accuracy of his readings, which many accomplished exponents would envy." In the Soviet Union, Boris Goldstein recorded many gramophone records and tapes with violin and chamber-music works, some of them dedicated to him personally. He regularly broadcast and made numerous radio recordings. Prokofiev's Second Violin Concerto received its premiere with Boris Goldstein as soloist conducted by the composer.

In 1974, Boris Goldstein left the USSR and emigrated to Germany, where in 1976 he was appointed professor for violin at the “Hochschule für Musik Würzburg”. His solo appearances in Germany and Western Europe were memorable highlights of his brilliant career. Wherever he played, he was acclaimed by audiences and critics, the London Daily Telegraph praising him in 1986 as a “legendary violinist and a master of the great Slav school of violin playing”. From 1981 onwards, Boris Goldstein was joined by his daughter Julia on enormously successful tours through Germany, Spain, Italy, France and Belgium. As a teacher Goldstein, was regarded one of the most accomplished in his field. Many of his pupils won prizes at a highly prestigious of international violin competitions. In 2004, he was featured as one of the greatest violinists of the 20th Century in the documentary film—“The Art of Violin,” aired on PBS under the program—“Great Performances.” Boris Goldstein died in Hanover in 1987.

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