Jura Margulis
Encyclopedia
Jura Margulis is a Russian born, German raised, US based internationally acclaimed concert pianist, recording artist, and pedagogue.
, Jura Margulis was raised in Germany
, where he studied with his father, Dr. Vitaly Margulis
, at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg
. He finished the MM in 1994. He was also a student at the prestigious Fondazione per il Pianoforte in Cadenabbia at Lake Como in Italy, where he studied - amongst others - with Dimitri Bashkirov, Fou Ts'ong
, Murray Perahia
, Alexis Weissenberg
, Leon Fleisher
, and Karl-Ulrich Schnabel (1995/1996). He moved to the United States
to study with Leon Fleisher
at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore
, where he finished the Post Graduate Performance Diploma in 1998.
at the Hollywood Bowl
, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra
under Charles Dutoit
, the Südwestrundfunk Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Venezuela, the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Prague Symphony Orchestra. He has played in numerous festivals, including the Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival, the Berliner Festwochen at Berlin Philharmonic Hall, the Internationale Sommerakademie Mozarteum in Austria, the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, and the Argerich-Beppu Music Festival in Japan. He has won prizes in more than a dozen international competitions, including Busoni in Italy and Guardian in Ireland. He is also a recipient of the esteemed Pro Europa prize awarded by the European Foundation for Culture. The past seasons have brought him to New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Dallas, Cincinnati, Salt Lake City, Little Rock, Tulsa, Memphis, and New Orleans in the US, as well as abroad to Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Berlin, Tübingen, Freiburg, Bologna, Salzburg, Barcelona, Ljubljana and Bangkok. Active as a chamber musician, Margulis has performed recitals with, among others, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, the soloists of the Moscow Virtuosi, members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the St. Petersburg and Moscow String Quartets. He is a founding member of the Fulbright Trio. He has also concertised with Martha Argerich
on two pianos in Germany, Japan, and the USA.
praised his “excellent pianism” and called him “highly musical”. The Washington Post applauded his “titanic reserves of sheer power” and his “effortless spontaneity.” The Fort Worth Star-Telegram called his performance “ … the perfect Beethoven for the audience of our time … sweeping lyricism … imagination, originality, and good taste pervaded every phrase.”
, Italy
, Spain
, Portugal
, Slovenia
, Austria
, Russia
, and Japan
, center around his pedagogical concept: "The Unified Piano School, A synthesis of piano pedagogy and performance traditions", which bridges the Russian School's concentration on sound, imagination, and physical technique, and the German School's focus on structure, rhythmic coherence, and style. He has lectured on this concept at numerous forums including the International Summer Academy at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria and the World Piano Pedagogy Conference in the US.
Margulis is the executive director of the “International Piano Academy”, a summer master class in Freiburg, Germany, and artistic director of the Fulbright Concert Competition, an international piano contest in Fayetteville, AR.
Education
Born in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Jura Margulis was raised in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, where he studied with his father, Dr. Vitaly Margulis
Vitaly Margulis
Vitaly Margulis was a Ukrainian classical pianist.-Biography:Vitaly Margulis was born in the city of Kharkiv in the Ukraine. He took his first piano lessons from his father, whose teacher studied with the composer Alexander Scriabin...
, at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg
Hochschule für Musik Freiburg
The Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Freiburg is a public music academy subsidized by the State of Baden-Württemberg for academic research and artistic and pedagogical training in music.-History:The Hochschule was initially founded as a municipal institution in 1946 under the direction of Gustav...
. He finished the MM in 1994. He was also a student at the prestigious Fondazione per il Pianoforte in Cadenabbia at Lake Como in Italy, where he studied - amongst others - with Dimitri Bashkirov, Fou Ts'ong
Fou Ts'ong
Fou Ts'ong is a Chinese pianist.Born in Shanghai to a family of intellectuals , Fou first studied piano with Mario Paci, the Italian founder of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra...
, Murray Perahia
Murray Perahia
Murray Perahia KBE is an American concert pianist and conductor.-Early life:Murray Perahia was born in the Bronx borough of New York City to a family of Sephardi Jewish origin. According to the biography on his Mozart piano sonatas CD, his first language was Judaeo-Spanish or, Ladino. The family...
, Alexis Weissenberg
Alexis Weissenberg
-Early life and career:Born into a Jewish family in Sofia, Weissenberg began taking piano lessons at the age of three from Pancho Vladigerov. He gave his first public performance at the age of eight. After escaping to what was then Palestine in 1945, where he studied under Leo Kestenberg, he went...
, Leon Fleisher
Leon Fleisher
Leon Fleisher is an American pianist and conductor.-Early life and studies:Fleisher was born in San Francisco, where he started studying the piano at age four...
, and Karl-Ulrich Schnabel (1995/1996). He moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to study with Leon Fleisher
Leon Fleisher
Leon Fleisher is an American pianist and conductor.-Early life and studies:Fleisher was born in San Francisco, where he started studying the piano at age four...
at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, where he finished the Post Graduate Performance Diploma in 1998.
Performances and Awards
Jura Margulis' orchestral appearances include performances with the Russian National OrchestraRussian National Orchestra
The Russian National Orchestra premiered in Moscow in 1990.It was the first Russian orchestra to perform at the Apostolic Palace, Vatican and in Israel....
at the Hollywood Bowl
Hollywood Bowl
The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheater in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States that is used primarily for music performances...
, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra
Montreal Symphony Orchestra
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal is a symphony orchestra based in Montréal, Québec, Canada, with Montréal's Place des Arts as its home.-History:...
under Charles Dutoit
Charles Dutoit
Charles Édouard Dutoit, is a Swiss conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of French and Russian 20th century music...
, the Südwestrundfunk Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Venezuela, the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Prague Symphony Orchestra. He has played in numerous festivals, including the Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival, the Berliner Festwochen at Berlin Philharmonic Hall, the Internationale Sommerakademie Mozarteum in Austria, the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, and the Argerich-Beppu Music Festival in Japan. He has won prizes in more than a dozen international competitions, including Busoni in Italy and Guardian in Ireland. He is also a recipient of the esteemed Pro Europa prize awarded by the European Foundation for Culture. The past seasons have brought him to New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Dallas, Cincinnati, Salt Lake City, Little Rock, Tulsa, Memphis, and New Orleans in the US, as well as abroad to Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Berlin, Tübingen, Freiburg, Bologna, Salzburg, Barcelona, Ljubljana and Bangkok. Active as a chamber musician, Margulis has performed recitals with, among others, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, the soloists of the Moscow Virtuosi, members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the St. Petersburg and Moscow String Quartets. He is a founding member of the Fulbright Trio. He has also concertised with Martha Argerich
Martha Argerich
Martha Argerich is an Argentine pianist.-Early life:Argerich was born in Buenos Aires and started playing the piano at age three...
on two pianos in Germany, Japan, and the USA.
Press
Pianist Jura Margulis has been recognized for his compellingly communicative performances, as well as for the range of his tonal palette and his consummate virtuosity. Reviewers have praised the “absolute authority” of his interpretations and the sense of “controlled obsession” he transmits at the keyboard (Fono Forum). The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung noted that his aesthetic is both “impulsive and contemplative.” The Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
praised his “excellent pianism” and called him “highly musical”. The Washington Post applauded his “titanic reserves of sheer power” and his “effortless spontaneity.” The Fort Worth Star-Telegram called his performance “ … the perfect Beethoven for the audience of our time … sweeping lyricism … imagination, originality, and good taste pervaded every phrase.”
CDs
- 1991: Schumann, Chopin, Rachmaninov, Liszt, Moszkowsky
- 1998: Maurice Ravel, Serge Prokofiev
- 1999: Jura Margulis live on the Horowitz Steinway - Schubert, Liszt, Rachmaninov, Skriabin
- 2000: Schumann, Liszt, Debussy
- 2003: Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Medtner, Stravinsky
- 2006: Transkriptions: Bach, Gluck, Schubert, Wagner, Saint-Saëns, Caplet,
- 2009: Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Berg
- 2011: Liszt, Violin-Piano Duo, Alissa Margulis, violin
Press CDs
Margulis has recorded eight CDs for Sony, Ars Musici, and Oehms Classics, covering a wide spectrum of repertoire. These recordings have attracted substantial attention, including selection as a “reference recording” by Fono Forum, and inclusion on the “Bestenliste” of the Deutschen Schallplattenkritik (the German Recording Review). His most recent CD, featuring piano transcriptions of music from Bach to Caplet, received a 10 out of 10 for “artistic quality” from KlassikHeute. The accompanying review applauded his “ability to structure the Bach Chaconne, to build momentum and at the right moment to gently abate … not since Horowitz’s old RCA recording have I encountered a performance of Saint-Saens’ Danse Macabre that so grippingly leaps from the stage, as here in Jura Margulis’ own transcription.” The review also noted that Margulis’ own transcription of a little-known piece by André Caplet “should, like Ravel’s own transcription of his La Valse, claim a place in the repertoire of young pianists.” Klassik.com, also giving the CD its highest rating, raved that Margulis “cannot be praised enough.”Teaching and Administration
Margulis is a third generation pianist and teacher and piano pedagogy is an integral part of his artistic vision. His yearly master classes in the US and abroad, including courses in GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, center around his pedagogical concept: "The Unified Piano School, A synthesis of piano pedagogy and performance traditions", which bridges the Russian School's concentration on sound, imagination, and physical technique, and the German School's focus on structure, rhythmic coherence, and style. He has lectured on this concept at numerous forums including the International Summer Academy at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria and the World Piano Pedagogy Conference in the US.
Margulis is the executive director of the “International Piano Academy”, a summer master class in Freiburg, Germany, and artistic director of the Fulbright Concert Competition, an international piano contest in Fayetteville, AR.