János Starker
Encyclopedia
János Starker is a Hungarian-American cellist
. Since 1958 he has taught at the Indiana University
Jacobs School of Music
, where he holds the title of Distinguished Professor.
to a father of Polish
descent and a mother who had immigrated from Ukraine
, both Jewish. His two older brothers were violinists, and the young János (named for the hospital in which he was born) was given a cello before his sixth birthday. A child prodigy, Starker made his first public performances at ages six and seven. He entered the Franz Liszt Academy of Music
in Budapest
to study with Adolf Schiffer
and made his debut there at age 11. Starker began teaching other children at age eight, and by the time he was 12 he had five pupils. Starker counts among his strongest influences Leo Weiner
, a composer who taught chamber music. Zoltán Kodály
, Béla Bartók
and Ernő Dohnányi
were also members of the Liszt Academy faculty.
Starker made his professional debut at age 14 playing the Dvořák concerto
with three hours' notice when the originally scheduled soloist was unable to play. He left the Liszt Academy in 1939 and spent most of the war in Budapest
. Because of his youth, Starker escaped the tragic fate of his older brothers, who were pressed into forced labor and eventually murdered by the Nazis. Starker nevertheless spent three months in a Nazi internment camp
.
s. Starker, who had never been granted Hungarian citizenship, left the Soviet-occupied country in 1946.
He gave a successful concert in Vienna, then remained there to prepare for the Geneva
Cello Competition, held in October 1946. He lost to his student, Eva Janzer.
After observing a horrific concert by the former child prodigy Yehudi Menuhin
, Starker had an epiphany. He describes himself as becoming physically ill from the realization that he had little idea how he really played the cello from a technical standpoint. "I played like a blind man", he has said. "What happens to the bird who flies and doesn't know how it flies? That's what happens to child prodigies." Starker spent a year analyzing all aspects of his technique. By October of the following year he had regained his confidence. His studies and exercises he wrote for his friend George Bekefi ultimately resulted in his famous essay and published cello method, "An Organized Method of String Playing".
Starker, still in visa
limbo, went from Geneva to Paris, where he spent a year. There he made his first recording of Kodaly's
monumental solo cello sonata Op. 8, a work which was considered technically unplayable before that time. The recording earned him the Grand Prix du Disque
and cemented his fame.
Starker emigrated to the United States in 1948 to become principal cellist of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra
under Antal Doráti
. In 1949 he moved to New York
to become principal cellist of the Metropolitan Opera
under Fritz Reiner
. It was in New York that Starker made the first of his acclaimed recordings of the Bach Cello Suites
. Starker's technical mastery led some to suspect, incorrectly, that the recordings were electronically altered; his experiments with microphone placement and recording techniques drew the attention of engineers at the MIT.
In 1952, Starker became principal cellist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
when Fritz Reiner became the music director
. In 1958, Starker moved to Indiana University
and resumed his solo career, giving hundreds of concerts on every continent
.
Since 2001, Starker has limited his activities to teaching, master class
es and occasional performances with his longtime partner, the pianist Shigeo Neriki, and his son-in-law, daughter and granddaughter, violinists William, Gwen, and Alexandra Preucil. He still actively teaches and views teaching as his responsibility to the next generation of cellists. Former students of Starker's include Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi
, Maria Kliegel
, Paul Katz
, Gary Hoffman, Kathy Kee (formerly of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra), Laurien Laufman (Former cello professor at the University of Illinois), Chih-Hui Chang, Felix Fan, David Shamban, Anthony Elliott, Jules Eskin, Nella Hunkins (Principal Cellist of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra
), Sebastian Toettcher(Hollywood motion picture A-List), Damián Martinez, Pamela Smits, Emilio Colón
(cello professor at Indiana University
), Dennis Parker (a cellist virtuoso and pedagogue, who has recorded all Popper Etudes on DVD entitled The Popper Manifesto http://www.sharmusic.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=3043DVD), Mark and Paula Kosower, Regina Mushabac ( also a former Starker teaching assistant), David Premo ( the associate Principal Cellist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
), Marc Coppey, Alan Harris (Professor of cello at the Eastman School of Music
), Rafael Figueroa (the Principal Cellist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), Susan Seligman (the Principal Cellist of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic), Joyce Geeting (soloist and teacher of young pupils at California Lutheran University in Southern California), Lubomir Georgiev (principal cello of the Sacramento Symphony and later professor of cello at Florida State University), Hamilton Cheifetz (Professor of Music at Portland State University and founding member of the Florestan Trio), Marc Johnson (cellist of the Vermeer Quartet), Mihaly Virizlay (late Principal Cellist Emeritus of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra) and Jakob Ludwig (Second Principal Cellist of La Scala Theatre in Milan).
for his 1990 recording of the extremely demanding works of David Popper
. He has had concerti written for him by David Baker, Antal Doráti
, Bernhard Heiden
, Jean Martinon
, Miklos Rozsa
, and Robert Starer
.
cello believed to have been made in Venice in 1705, an instrument which he plays to this day.
. He has published numerous books and musical scores through Peer International, Schirmer, and International Music. His autobiography, The World of Music According to Starker, was published in 2004 by Indiana University Press.
notes, with very little shifting noise from his left hand, resulting in smooth, pure tones, "each note sounding like a jewel." Starker himself describes his sound as "centered" and "focused." He is known for his ability to produce an extremely wide range of sounds and tone shading. He eschews the wide vibrato favored by some of his peers—which he views as a cover for poor intonation—and he is known for his patrician stage presence, preferring to let the music do the emoting. He quotes his long-time friend and colleague, Gyorgy Sebok
, who said, "Create excitement. Don't get excited."
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
. Since 1958 he has taught at the Indiana University
Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington is a public research university located in Bloomington, Indiana, in the United States. IU Bloomington is the flagship campus of the Indiana University system. Being the flagship campus, IU Bloomington is often referred to simply as IU or Indiana...
Jacobs School of Music
Jacobs School of Music
The Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, is a music conservatory established in 1921. Until 2005, it was known as the Indiana University School of Music...
, where he holds the title of Distinguished Professor.
Child prodigy
Starker was born in BudapestBudapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
to a father of Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
descent and a mother who had immigrated from Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, both Jewish. His two older brothers were violinists, and the young János (named for the hospital in which he was born) was given a cello before his sixth birthday. A child prodigy, Starker made his first public performances at ages six and seven. He entered the Franz Liszt Academy of Music
Franz Liszt Academy of Music
The Franz Liszt Academy of Music is a concert hall and music conservatory in Budapest, Hungary, founded on November 14, 1875...
in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
to study with Adolf Schiffer
Adolf Schiffer
Adolf Schiffer was a Czech cellist and teacher, who for many years served as professor in cello at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. He is best remembered as being the link between two great cello teachers – being a student of David Popper and the teacher of Janos Starker.-Life:Adolf...
and made his debut there at age 11. Starker began teaching other children at age eight, and by the time he was 12 he had five pupils. Starker counts among his strongest influences Leo Weiner
Leo Weiner
Leo Weiner , was one of the leading Hungarian music educators of the first half of the twentieth century and a composer.- Education :Weiner was born in Budapest. He had his first music and piano lessons from his brother, and later studied at the Academy of Music in Budapest, studying with János ...
, a composer who taught chamber music. Zoltán Kodály
Zoltán Kodály
Zoltán Kodály was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is best known internationally as the creator of the Kodály Method.-Life:Born in Kecskemét, Kodály learned to play the violin as a child....
, Béla Bartók
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
and Ernő Dohnányi
Erno Dohnányi
Ernő Dohnányi was a Hungarian conductor, composer, and pianist. He used the German form of his name Ernst von Dohnányi for most of his published compositions....
were also members of the Liszt Academy faculty.
Starker made his professional debut at age 14 playing the Dvořák concerto
Cello Concerto (Dvorák)
The Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, B. 191, by Antonín Dvořák was the composer's last solo concerto, and was written in 1894–1895 for his friend, the cellist Hanuš Wihan, but premiered by the English cellist Leo Stern.- Structure :...
with three hours' notice when the originally scheduled soloist was unable to play. He left the Liszt Academy in 1939 and spent most of the war in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
. Because of his youth, Starker escaped the tragic fate of his older brothers, who were pressed into forced labor and eventually murdered by the Nazis. Starker nevertheless spent three months in a Nazi internment camp
Nazi concentration camps
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
.
Professional career
After the war Starker became principal cellist of the Budapest Opera and the Budapest Philharmonic OrchestraBudapest Philharmonic Orchestra
The Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra is Hungary's oldest functioning orchestra, being founded in 1853 by Ferenc Erkel under the auspices of the Budapest Philharmonic Society...
s. Starker, who had never been granted Hungarian citizenship, left the Soviet-occupied country in 1946.
He gave a successful concert in Vienna, then remained there to prepare for the Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
Cello Competition, held in October 1946. He lost to his student, Eva Janzer.
After observing a horrific concert by the former child prodigy Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...
, Starker had an epiphany. He describes himself as becoming physically ill from the realization that he had little idea how he really played the cello from a technical standpoint. "I played like a blind man", he has said. "What happens to the bird who flies and doesn't know how it flies? That's what happens to child prodigies." Starker spent a year analyzing all aspects of his technique. By October of the following year he had regained his confidence. His studies and exercises he wrote for his friend George Bekefi ultimately resulted in his famous essay and published cello method, "An Organized Method of String Playing".
Starker, still in visa
Visa (document)
A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
limbo, went from Geneva to Paris, where he spent a year. There he made his first recording of Kodaly's
Zoltán Kodály
Zoltán Kodály was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is best known internationally as the creator of the Kodály Method.-Life:Born in Kecskemét, Kodály learned to play the violin as a child....
monumental solo cello sonata Op. 8, a work which was considered technically unplayable before that time. The recording earned him the Grand Prix du Disque
Grand Prix du Disque
The Grand Prix du Disque is the premier French award for musical recordings. The award was inaugurated by l'Académie Charles Cros in 1948 and offers prizes in various categories. The categories vary from year to year, and multiple awards are often made in any one category in the same year...
and cemented his fame.
Starker emigrated to the United States in 1948 to become principal cellist of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra. It performs its concerts in the Meyerson Symphony Center in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, United States....
under Antal Doráti
Antal Doráti
Antal Doráti, KBE was a Hungarian-born conductor and composer who became a naturalized American citizen in 1947.-Biography:...
. In 1949 he moved to New York
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...
to become principal cellist of the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
under Fritz Reiner
Fritz Reiner
Frederick Martin “Fritz” Reiner was a prominent conductor of opera and symphonic music in the twentieth century.-Biography:...
. It was in New York that Starker made the first of his acclaimed recordings of the Bach Cello Suites
Cello Suites (Bach)
The Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello by Johann Sebastian Bach are some of the most performed and recognizable solo compositions ever written for cello...
. Starker's technical mastery led some to suspect, incorrectly, that the recordings were electronically altered; his experiments with microphone placement and recording techniques drew the attention of engineers at the MIT.
In 1952, Starker became principal cellist of the 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...
when Fritz Reiner became the music director
Music director
A music director may be the director of an orchestra, the director of music for a film, the director of music at a radio station, the head of the music department in a school, the co-ordinator of the musical ensembles in a university or college , the head bandmaster of a military band, the head...
. In 1958, Starker moved to Indiana University
Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington is a public research university located in Bloomington, Indiana, in the United States. IU Bloomington is the flagship campus of the Indiana University system. Being the flagship campus, IU Bloomington is often referred to simply as IU or Indiana...
and resumed his solo career, giving hundreds of concerts on every continent
Continent
A continent is one of several very large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents—they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.Plate tectonics is...
.
Since 2001, Starker has limited his activities to teaching, master class
Master class
A master class is a class given to students of a particular discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also painting, drama, or any of the arts....
es and occasional performances with his longtime partner, the pianist Shigeo Neriki, and his son-in-law, daughter and granddaughter, violinists William, Gwen, and Alexandra Preucil. He still actively teaches and views teaching as his responsibility to the next generation of cellists. Former students of Starker's include Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi
Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi
is a Japanese cellist. He started to study music under the tutorship of Hideo Saito, founder of the Tokyo Conservatory....
, Maria Kliegel
Maria Kliegel
-Professional career:Kliegel was born in Dillenburg, Hesse. She studied under Janos Starker starting at the age of 19. She won first prize at the American College Competition, First German Music Competition and Concours Aldo Parisot, and was also the Grand Prize winner at the 2nd Mstislav...
, Paul Katz
Paul Katz
Paul Katz is an internationally renowned American cellist, best known for his membership of the Cleveland Quartet. Katz currently teaches at the New England Conservatory following positions at Rice University and the Eastman School of Music. He serves on the National Advisory Board of the...
, Gary Hoffman, Kathy Kee (formerly of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra), Laurien Laufman (Former cello professor at the University of Illinois), Chih-Hui Chang, Felix Fan, David Shamban, Anthony Elliott, Jules Eskin, Nella Hunkins (Principal Cellist of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
The Singapore Symphony Orchestra is a 96 members professional symphony orchestra. Its main performing venue is the Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore although it has also toured widely in Asia, Europe and the United States...
), Sebastian Toettcher(Hollywood motion picture A-List), Damián Martinez, Pamela Smits, Emilio Colón
Emilio Colón
Born in Puerto Rico, Emilio Colón is an American solo cellist, chamber musician, conductor, composer and pedagogue. He is an international artist, concertizing in Canada, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, Japan, Korea, Malta, the Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Spain,...
(cello professor at Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
), Dennis Parker (a cellist virtuoso and pedagogue, who has recorded all Popper Etudes on DVD entitled The Popper Manifesto http://www.sharmusic.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=3043DVD), Mark and Paula Kosower, Regina Mushabac ( also a former Starker teaching assistant), David Premo ( the associate Principal Cellist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The orchestra's home is Heinz Hall, located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District.-History:...
), Marc Coppey, Alan Harris (Professor of cello at the Eastman School of Music
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
), Rafael Figueroa (the Principal Cellist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), Susan Seligman (the Principal Cellist of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic), Joyce Geeting (soloist and teacher of young pupils at California Lutheran University in Southern California), Lubomir Georgiev (principal cello of the Sacramento Symphony and later professor of cello at Florida State University), Hamilton Cheifetz (Professor of Music at Portland State University and founding member of the Florestan Trio), Marc Johnson (cellist of the Vermeer Quartet), Mihaly Virizlay (late Principal Cellist Emeritus of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra) and Jakob Ludwig (Second Principal Cellist of La Scala Theatre in Milan).
Recorded repertoire
One of the most recorded cellists in the world, Starker has made over 160 recordings of virtually the entire cello literature. He has recorded the Bach solo cello suites five times, most recently for RCA in 1992 for which he won a Grammy award. He was also nominated for a Grammy awardGrammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for his 1990 recording of the extremely demanding works of David Popper
David Popper
David Popper was a Bohemian cellist and composer.-Life:He was born in Prague, and studied music at the Prague Conservatory. He studied the cello under Julius Goltermann , and soon attracted attention...
. He has had concerti written for him by David Baker, Antal Doráti
Antal Doráti
Antal Doráti, KBE was a Hungarian-born conductor and composer who became a naturalized American citizen in 1947.-Biography:...
, Bernhard Heiden
Bernhard Heiden
Bernhard Heiden was a German and American composer and music teacher, who studied under and was heavily influenced by Paul Hindemith...
, Jean Martinon
Jean Martinon
Jean Martinon was a French conductor and composer.-Biography:Martinon was born in Lyon, where he began his education, going on to the Conservatoire de Paris to study under Albert Roussel for composition, under Charles Munch and Roger Désormière for conducting, under Vincent d'Indy for harmony,...
, Miklos Rozsa
Miklós Rózsa
Miklós Rózsa was a Hungarian-born composer trained in Germany , and active in France , England , and the United States , with extensive sojourns in Italy from 1953...
, and Robert Starer
Robert Starer
Robert Starer was an Austrian-born American composer and pianist.Robert Starer began studying the piano at age 4 and continued his studies at the Vienna State Academy...
.
Celli
From 1950 to 1965, Starker played and recorded on the Lord Aylesford Stradivarius, the largest instrument made by Antonio Stradivarius. In 1965 Starker acquired a Matteo GoffrillerMatteo Goffriller
Matteo Goffriller was an Venetian luthier, particularly noted for the quality of his cellos.Although it is known that Goffriller was born in Brixen, little else is known of him prior to his days in Venice before 1685...
cello believed to have been made in Venice in 1705, an instrument which he plays to this day.
Reviews & Published works
Many documentaries, articles in magazines, and newspaper stories have acknowledged János Starker's virtuosityVirtuosity
Virtuosity is a 1995 techno-thriller film directed by Brett Leonard. The movie tells the story of a virtual villain's successful attempt to escape into the "real world". SID 6.7, the villain program portrayed by Russell Crowe, is eventually transplanted into an android body and escapes...
. He has published numerous books and musical scores through Peer International, Schirmer, and International Music. His autobiography, The World of Music According to Starker, was published in 2004 by Indiana University Press.
Playing style
Starker's playing style is intense and involves great technical mastery. According to some of his students, his technique revolves around long, legatoLegato
In musical notation the Italian word legato indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly and connected. That is, in transitioning from note to note, there should be no intervening silence...
notes, with very little shifting noise from his left hand, resulting in smooth, pure tones, "each note sounding like a jewel." Starker himself describes his sound as "centered" and "focused." He is known for his ability to produce an extremely wide range of sounds and tone shading. He eschews the wide vibrato favored by some of his peers—which he views as a cover for poor intonation—and he is known for his patrician stage presence, preferring to let the music do the emoting. He quotes his long-time friend and colleague, Gyorgy Sebok
Gyorgy Sebok
György Sebők was an internationally renowned pianist and Distinguished Professor at the Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington USA....
, who said, "Create excitement. Don't get excited."
Trivia
- Starker prefers his name to be pronounced with a hard "S", rather than the German pronunciation "Shtarker" which means "stronger".
External links
János Starker pages maintained by the Internet Cello Society:Interviews
- János Starker interview by Tim Janof, 1996
- János Starker interview by Tim Janof, 2004
- János Starker interview by Bruce Duffie, November 24, 1987
- http://www.allthingsstrings.com/article/141/141,3705,Feature-1.asp Born To Teach article in Strings by Katherine Millett, 2006