(MTI) – An international violin festival, academy and competition dedicated to the memory of Leopold Auer, who taught Jascha Heifetz among other violin legends, will be founded in Veszprem, western Hungary.
The related agreement was signed by Mayor Gyula Porga, Pannon University Rector Ferenc Fiedler, violinist Peter Kovats and government commissioner Andras Batta on Tuesday.
The first Leopold Auer violin competition will be held next year. The jury will be presided by Zakhar Bron, one of the most famous students of the violin school founded by Auer. Maxim Vengerov and Vadim Repin, two world-renowned students of Bron, may also attend. Following Auer’s lifework, the programme will focus on the works of Hungarian, Russian and US composers. The violinists will compete not only as soloists but also as concert masters as Auer did at the Russian Ballet. The first Auer violin festival will also be held next year.
Born in Veszprem, Leopold Auer (1845-1930) was a great Hungarian violinist, teacher, conductor and composer. He studied at David Ridley-Kohne in Budapest, Jakob Dont in Vienna and Jozsef Joachim in Hannover. In 1868, Auer settled in Saint Petersburg to become violin professor at the local conservatory until 1917. He invented the Saint Petersburg bow hold, which gave the wrist and the index finger a bigger role. After the Bolsheviks came to power, he fled to the United States to continue his teaching career at Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and Institute of Musical Art in New York.
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