Camilla Wicks is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

ist and one of the first female violinists to establish a major international career. Her performing career included solo appearances with leading European and American symphony orchestras including the New York Philharmonic

New York Philharmonic

The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...

, Philadelphia Orchestra

Philadelphia Orchestra

The Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...

 and Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...

.

Child Prodigy

Camilla Dolores Wicks was born in Long Beach, California

Long Beach, California

Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...

. Her Norwegian born father, Ingwald Wicks, was a distinguished violinist and teacher. Her pianist mother studied with composer, Xavier Scharwenka. Wicks made her name as a child prodigy, making her solo debut at age 7 with Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 4

Violin Concerto No. 4 (Mozart)

Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major K. 218 was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1775 in Salzburg. The autograph of the score is preserved in Biblioteka Jagiellońska, Kraków.- Structure :...

 at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium. At 8, she performed Bruch

Max Bruch

Max Christian Friedrich Bruch , also known as Max Karl August Bruch, was a German Romantic composer and conductor who wrote over 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a staple of the violin repertoire.-Life:Bruch was born in Cologne, Rhine Province, where he...

's First Concerto and a year later Paganini's First Concerto. She went to study with Louis Persinger

Louis Persinger

Louis Persinger was an American violinist and pianist.Louis Persinger trained at the Leipzig Conservatory, before finishing with Eugène Ysaÿe in Brussels. He became leader of the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra and the Royal Opera Orchestra in Brussels. In 1915 he was appointed leader and assistant...

 at the Juilliard School

Juilliard School

The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...

 in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. In 1942, Persinger accompanied Wicks at her when she made her solo debut at age 13 with the New York Philharmonic

New York Philharmonic

The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...

.

Career

In the next decade, she performed regularly with many of the world's finest conductors (Walter

Bruno Walter

Bruno Walter was a German-born conductor. He is considered one of the best known conductors of the 20th century. Walter was born in Berlin, but is known to have lived in several countries between 1933 and 1939, before finally settling in the United States in 1939...

, Reiner

Fritz Reiner

Frederick Martin “Fritz” Reiner was a prominent conductor of opera and symphonic music in the twentieth century.-Biography:...

, Stokowski

Stokowski

Stokowski is surname of:* Ferdynand Ignacy Stokowski , a Polish officer* Leopold Anthony Stokowski , a British-born American orchestral conductor** Olga Samaroff Stokowski...

, Rodzinski, Ehrling

Sixten Ehrling

Sixten Ehrling, , was a Swedish conductor who, during a long career, served as the music director of the Royal Swedish Opera and the principal conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, amongst others....

) and orchestras. She went on extensive European tours and was a quite popular in Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

. Finnish composer Jean Sibelius

Jean Sibelius

Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. His mastery of the orchestra has been described as "prodigious."...

 greatly admired her interpretation of his concerto, of which she made a recording in 1952 for the Capitol

Capitol Records

Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...

 label. She also made a number of recordings for HMV, Mercury

Mercury Records

Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...

 and Philips

Philips Records

Philips Records is a record label that was founded by Dutch electronics company Philips. It was started by "Philips Phonographische Industrie" in 1950. Recordings were made with popular artists of various nationalities and also with classical artists from Germany, France and Holland. Philips also...

.

Camilla Wicks explored an wide range of repertoire and promoted many lesser-known works, in particular by Scandinavian composers, who in turn wrote many works for her. Norwegian composer and violinist, Bjarne Brustad

Bjarne Brustad

Bjarne Brustad was a Norwegian composer, violinist and violist. He played with symphonic orchestras in Stavanger and Oslo. In the 1920s he travelled to European cities such as Paris, Munich and Berlin, where he received musical inspiration and contacts...

 dedicated a number of solo violin works to her. Wicks was an advocate of contemporary Scandinavian composers: she performed concertos by Fartein Valen

Fartein Valen

Olav Fartein Valen was a Norwegian composer and musical theorist, notable for his work within atonal polyphonic music.-Background:...

 and Hilding Rosenberg

Hilding Rosenberg

Hilding Rosenberg , was the first Swedish modernist composer, and one of the most influential figures in Swedish 20th century classical music....

, and gave the world premiere of those by Harald Saeverud and Klaus Egge

Klaus Egge

Klaus Egge was a Norwegian composer and music critic. His music, often called a stream of will, is characterized by polyphony and a strong rhythmical energy.-Music:...

. She also enjoyed a close collaboration with Ernest Bloch

Ernest Bloch

Ernest Bloch was a Swiss-born American composer.-Life:Bloch was born in Geneva and began playing the violin at age 9. He began composing soon afterwards. He studied music at the conservatory in Brussels, where his teachers included the celebrated Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe...

Later years

She married in 1951 and at the height of her career, Wicks retired for a few years in order to devote herself to her five children. Wicks later resumed her performing career intermittently and became a much sought-after teacher. She taught in a number of American faculties including University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 and Rice University

Rice University

William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...

.

She was invited to head the String Department at the Oslo Royal Academy in the early 1970s and was awarded a lifetime Professorship there. Many of the violinists of the leading Norwegian orchestras, including Henning Kraggerud

Henning Kraggerud

Henning Kraggerud is a Norwegian violinist. He was born in Oslo in 1973 and has established himself as one of Scandinavia's most outstanding international soloists...

, were among her former students. In 1999, she was made a Knight of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit for her contribution to music in that country. Wicks held the Isaac Stern

Isaac Stern

Isaac Stern was a Ukrainian-born violinist. He was renowned for his recordings and for discovering new musical talent.-Biography:Isaac Stern was born into a Jewish family in Kremenets, Ukraine. He was fourteen months old when his family moved to San Francisco...

 Chair at the San Francisco Conservatory before retiring in 2005. Studio and concert recordings have been reissued on the Music & Arts

Music & Arts

Music & Arts is an American record label based in Kensington, California.Music & Arts is owned and operated by Music and Arts Programs of America, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to informal education in the arts, established in California in 1984...

, Biddulph

Biddulph Recordings

Biddulph Recordings is a small record label based in Devon, England, specializing in classical music, especially by string instrument players. The label was founded in 1989 by Peter Biddulph, a violin dealer, and Eric Wen, a violinist and music writer....

 and Simax labels.

Selected recordings

• The Art of Camilla Wicks (Music & Arts CD 1160)
• Camilla Wicks Concertos by Sibelius, Valen and short pieces (Biddulph CD 80218)
• Camilla Wicks plays Concertos by Walton and Brustad (Simax CD PSC 1185)
• Camilla Wicks: Great Norwegian Performers 1945-2000 Vol. III (Simax CD PSC 1832)

Other sources

• The Strad magazine: November 2004 and August 1988