Philippe Hirschhorn was a violinist who won the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition

Queen Elisabeth Music Competition

The Queen Elisabeth Music Competition, a founding member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions has been, since its foundation, considered the world over to be one of the most prestigious and most difficult. It is devoted to violin , piano , to composition and to singing...

 in 1967 (the year in which Gidon Kremer

Gidon Kremer

Gidon Kremer is a Latvian violinist and conductor. In 1980 he left the USSR and settled in Germany.-Biography:Kremer was born in Riga to parents of German-Jewish and Latvian-Swedish origins. He began playing the violin at the age of four, receiving instruction from his father and his grandfather,...

 won the third prize). Born in Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

, he first studied at the conservatory of Riga with Prof. Waldemar Sturestep, later he studied with prof Michael Waiman at the Conservatoire of St. Petersburg (Then still called Leningrad). He played concerts all over the world (Europe, America and Japan) with the most prestigious orchestras conducted by amongst others Herbert von Karajan

Herbert von Karajan

Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...

. He played together with Elisabeth Leonskaya, 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...

, Mischa Maisky

Mischa Maisky

Mischa Maisky is a Latvian cellist.Maisky began studies at the Leningrad Conservatory and later with Mstislav Rostropovich at the Moscow Conservatory whilst pursuing a concert career throughout the Soviet Union. In 1966 he won 6th Prize at the Moscow International Tchaikovsky Competition. In 1970,...

, Zino Vinnikov

Zino Vinnikov

Zino Vinnikov is one of the leading representatives of the St. Petersburg Russian violin tradition.He studied with Abram Shtern, and later at the Leningrad Conservatoire with Mikhail Waiman and Benjamin Sher, himself a pupil of the legendary Leopold Auer. While still a student, he won First...

, Hans Mannes and Brigitte Engerer. Although being one of the most gifted violinists ever, he did not gain worldwide attention. The rare recordings that exist of him playing are examples of his technical and musical abilities. He died in 1996 in Brussels from a brain tumor. He was the teacher of many excellent violinists who dedicated their working life to performing and teaching, among others Philippe Graffin

Philippe Graffin

Philippe Graffin is a French violinist and recording artist. He was born in Romilly-sur-Seine, France.The French Violinist Philippe Graffin was a student of the late Joseph Gingold and Philippe Hirschhorn and has established a particular reputation for his interpretations of his native repertoire...

, Cornelia Angerhofer, Evert Sillem, Janine Jansen

Janine Jansen

Janine Jansen is a violinist. She began to study the violin at age 6. Her father and both her brothers are also musicians. Her mother is a classical singer and is a sister of the bass Peter Kooy...

, Yoris Jarzynski, Marie-Piere Vendome and many others.

External links

• New York Times review of the documentary The Winners