Alexander Pavolvsky, violinist with the Jerusalem String Quartet. Photo by Felix Broede.
The Candlelight Concert Society will be presenting the Jerusalem Quartet at the Horowitz Center at Howard Community College in Columbia, MD on Sunday, April 23, 2023. The concert is called “Music Under Tyranny.”
This unique group is “known for their passion, precision, and tireless quest for perfection.” It was founded in 1993 by four Israeli musicians. Their sound is “warm, full, and human” with a balance of “high and low voices.” This allows them to be self-expressive but still keep in touch with the composer’s intent. The quartet has appeared on concert stages all over the world from Germany to South Korea, and currently they are on tour in the United States. Their recordings have received many awards as well. In 2019, they released an album exploring Jewish music in central Europe between the two World Wars and features Yiddish cabaret songs from the 1920s in Warsaw and works by Schulhoff and Korngold. Other albums feature works by Haydn, Schubert, Ravel, Dvořák, Debussy, and Barok.
The concert will include music of Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Bela Bartok. The Jerusalem Quartet members are Alexander Pavlovsky, violin; Sergei Bresler, violin; Ori Kam, viola; and Kyril Zlotnikov, cello.
I had a chance to ask Alexander Pavlovsky some questions about the concert, the quartet, and his music.
Alexander Pavlovsky was born in Kiev, Ukraine. He began studying piano and violin at the High School of the Tchaikovsky National Academy of Music. He immigrated with his family to Israel in 1991, and continued his violin studies with Matvey Lieberman (a former pupil of David Oistrakh) and Lazar Bendersky.
In 1994, Pavlovsky began studies at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance in the class of Prof. Lieberman and is a graduate of the Young Musicians’ Group of the Jerusalem Music Centre, founded by Isaac Stern. He is a winner of the Ilona Kornhauser Award given to the most promising young violinist and won first prize of the Braun-Roger-Ziegel National Competition. Between 1992-97, he was a recipient of scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.
First violinist of the internationally acclaimed Jerusalem Quartet, Alexander Pavlovsky has established his reputation as a highly accomplished chamber musician and soloist. He has performed as soloist with many orchestras, including the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Kiev Chamber Orchestra and the Israel Camerata, under the direction of David Shallon, Lawrence Foster, Asher Fish, Roman Kofman, Avner Biron, and Mendi Rodan. In 2004, he founded the Duo Montefiore together with the pianist Ella Pavlovsky and appears regularly in recitals in Israel and Europe.
Pavlovsky has given masterclasses at the Royal Academy of Music in London, National Academy of Music in Melbourne and Sydney Conservatorium, Zeist Chamber Music Course in the Netherlands, and Valladolid Auditorium in Spain. In 2007, he was a jury member at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition. Since 2008, he has been a faculty member at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. In 2009, Pavlovsky was appointed Artistic Director of the Zeist Chamber Music Festival and Masterclasses in Netherlands.
You are originally from the Ukraine. Is this concert’s theme “Music Under Tyranny” due to the conflict in your country of birth or were there other reasons?
Two founding members of the Jerusalem Quartet, Sergey Bresler and myself, were born in the Ukraine, at the time Republic of Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union.
The idea to create this unique program came by invitation from the Carnegie Hall in NY, just before the Corona pandemic started. The original concert was postponed to this April. Today, this theme sounds even more connected to our complicated times, but there is no direct connection to the war in Ukraine.
Can you explain why your group the Jerusalem Quartet chose Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Bartók to symbolize “Music Under Tyranny?”
This program combines three string quartets written by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Bartók in the middle of the 20th century, and the music serves as a pure mirror of these difficult decades. All the pieces were composed during times of relentless personal, political, and societal turmoil. The string quartet has always been a musical form that allows for great individuality and experimentation. In times of oppression or war, it has also served as a crucial outlet for artistic expression and freedom. The audience has an opportunity to feel the passion of these three works born in the shadow of war and tyranny.
On a more personal level, why did you choose to play the violin rather than another instrument?
Both of my parents are choir conductors. So, there was no question if I should or should not be a musician. At the age of four, I started learning piano and continued my piano studies professionally until the age of 18. At the same time, my father always felt that the violin is actually the instrument which is closest by its qualities to the human voice. And so, I started playing violin at the age of seven. After my family immigrated to Israel, I continued my violin studies with Prof. Matvey Liberman, who was a student of the great David Oistrakh at the Moscow Conservatory, just after the end of the Second World War.
Is there one violinist, or any musician, who has influenced you the most?
It is very difficult to point to only one musician who influenced me the most. I will definitely mention David Oistrakh, especially since my violin school is connected directly to his art of violin playing. Also, I must mention Isaak Stern, whom I met many times in Jerusalem and in New York. I think that I learned to sing on a violin from Oistrakh and learned to talk on a violin from Stern.
Finally, I ask this for all those young people out there who want to be professional musicians, how often do you practice when you can?
I have always tried to practice as much as I can without having long pauses, let’s say no longer than two or three days. I must admit, the number of hours is not what is the most important, but the way you practice and the goals you want to achieve during your practice. And finally, you should try to make the practicing process as effective as possible.
Don’t miss the Jerusalem Quartet’s “Music Under Tyranny,” presented by the Candlelight Concert Society on Sunday, April 23, 2023 at 4 pm at the Smith Theatre, Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center at Howard Community College, Campus Drive, Columbia, MD 21044. For tickets and information go to this link.
Ms. Brall is a graduate of the City College of New York with a B.A. in Theater. She has an M.A. in Theater from the State University of New York in Binghamton with a concentration in Directing. Growing up in New York City gave her a chance to see many Broadway and Off-Broadway productions. After college she worked as a Recreational Therapist and Activities Director. In that capacity she edited several house newsletters. Although not directly employed in Theater, Ms. Brall worked in community theater in this area as well as New Jersey and central Pennsylvania as a director, assistant director, stage manager and other behind the scenes jobs. She also served as president of the former Columbia Community Players. Ms. Brall also lectures on theatre at a senior center.
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