Birthday celebration honors life, career of violin virtuoso Gingold

Performer. Teacher. Master. Legend.

Former students and colleagues said they  recall violin virtuoso Josef Gingold with found memories as his 100th birthday celebration performance nears. The event will be 8 p.m. Sunday at the IU Auditorium. 

Jacobs School of Music alumni and faculty Joshua Bell and Jaime Laredo will perform while accompanied by the IU Violin Virtuosi and Celebration Orchestra in honor of Gingold’s memory.

“Our concert is in celebration of a musical legend,” Jacobs Dean Gwyn Richards said in a news release.

The performance has all pieces focusing strongly on the violin, while the orchestras will provide backup. Bell will have a solo performance in “Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso in A Minor for Violin and Orchestra” by Charles-Camille Saint-Saens.
In a news release, Bell said Gingold was the most significant person in his life, especially pertaining to his career in music.

“He enriched my life in so many ways and helped define me as the musician I am today,” Bell said.

Gingold’s humble beginnings hail back to World War I when his family moved from a German internment camp to the United States. He played the violin as a young child and studied with Vladirmir Graffman.

Gingold joined the Jacobs faculty in 1960 and continued his work until his death in 1995. Throughout his career, he also performed in various symphonies and orchestras, including the NBC Symphony Orchestra in 1937.

He then performed with the Cleveland Orchestra for 13 years as concertmaster before leaving to teach full-time at IU. Among other musical feats, Gingold went on to create the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis in 1982.

Laredo said in a news release that he had a close relationship with Gingold and called him a second father.

“Josef Gingold, through his deep love of life and music, touched more people than anyone I’ve ever known,” Laredo said.