Boasting a line up of six international prize-winning violinists, “Laureate Violins,” the first Music in the Meadows free concert of 2003, comes to a crescendo this Sunday at 3 p.m. in the Smith Auditorium of the Meadows Museum.
“This program was started to get students and faculty to perform because we have some amazingly talented musicians,” said Victoria Winkelman, Meadows School of the Arts Public Information Officer.
All of the international performers are prodigal students of Eduard Schmieder in the Meadows Artist Certificate program.
Schmieder’s success hasn’t come easy. He came to the United States as a Russian refugee in 1980 with no money and no job.
However, his musical ability eventually helped him overcome the odds he faced, and now Shmieder is a highly sought-after teacher and a well-known concert violinist.
Schmieder has been the Algur H. Meadows distinguished professor of violin and chamber music at the Meadows School since 1990. His students have gone on to perform in many respected orchestras as the London Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony.
Performers in this Sunday’s concert will include Sayako Kusaka of Japan, whose numerous awards include first place in the Rodolfo Lipizer International Violin Competition in Italy in 2002; Ryo Mikami of Japan, a medalist in the Tokyo International Violin Competition; Gabor Szabo of Hungary, the former concertmaster of the Hungarian Symphony; Gyula Vadaszi of Hungary, a medalist at the renowned Paganini International Violin Competition; Harriet MacKenzie of Great Britain; and Janos Bodor of Hungary, who won first place in the Hubay International Violin Competition.
Works being performed will include “God Save the Queen” and “I Palpiti” by Niccolo Paganini; “Carmen Fantasy” by Franz Waxman; “Faust Variations” by Henri Wieniawski; and “Paganini Variations” by Nathan Milstein.
“The students will individually play some of the most demanding, technically challenging works in the Romantic virtuoso repertoire,” Schmieder said. “In fact, the pieces we have chosen are rarely performed due to their difficulty.”
The Meadows school encourages not only the SMU community but the surrounding Park Cities residents as well to come to the event.
“It is a rare opportunity to hear six international prize-winning violinists all in the same concert. All are exceptionally talented and all have promising careers ahead of them,” Winkelman. said “For the performers it’s an opportunity for them to share their feelings and ideas, through their skills, with the audience and I hope the audience will tune their hearts into the music,” Shmieder said.
