A DATE WITH
MAXIM VENGEROV
Tuesday (27 August 2024)
The great Siberia-born Israeli violinist Maxim Vengerov was in town to perform with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra this weekend, but he had a special date with the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. It involved an afternoon masterclass with violin students, an award presentation conferred by the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and a special performance of his own.
He was conferred the ATOM (Advanced Tomorrow) Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in music, medicine and humanitarian causes, presented to him by the Dean of Medicine Prof Chong Yap Seng. There was also a short speech via video-link by the former President of Armenia, Armen Sarkissian, who named him one of musical history's greatest violinists, alongside Eugene Ysaye, Jascha Heifetz and Yehudi Menuhin.
Vengerov himself spoke, recounting how his teachers exhorting him to work hard and head West. That meant moving from Novosibirsk (Siberia) to Moscow and then Germany, before arriving to East Asia and Singapore! The take home message he had was not just for musicians but for everybody, "Try and listen to people more". That was the recipe for solving the world's problems today.
The fine evening concluded with a wonderful performance of Beethoven's "Spring" Sonata in F major (Op.24), partnered by the Conservatory's Head of Piano Studies Albert Tiu. Needless to say, it was a magical performance, filled with passion and not a little lyricism.
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| A souvenir from the evening: my copy of Vengerov's Gramophone Award winning Shostakovich-Prokofiev disc signed! |
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