USC Archives

A Biography of Gregor Piatigorsky (August, 2000)

by Robert Battey One of the pre-eminent string players of the 20th century, Gregor Piatigorsky was born in Ukraine in 1903, and died in Los Angeles in 1976. His international solo career lasted over 40 years, and especially during the 1940's and early 1950's he was the world's premier touring cello virtuoso -- Casals was in retirement, Feuermann had died, and the three artists who were to succeed Piatigorsky (Starker, Rose, and Rostropovich) were still in their formative stages. His one true peer, Fournier, was limited in his travelling abilities by polio. Thus, Piatigorsky had the limelight almost to himself. He was gregarious, loved to travel and perform anywhere, and he hobnobbed as easily with farmers in small towns as he did with Toscanini, Stravinsky, rubinstein, and Schoenberg. It [...]

By Robert Battey|2024-07-05T20:12:09-04:00March 16th, 2022|Categories: Biography, Historical, Internet Cello Society Archive|Tags: Don Quixote, ICS, USC, Biography, Carl Flesch, Gregor Piatigorsky, Vladimir Horowitz, Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein, Robert Battey, Artur Rubinstein, Internet Cello Society|

Conversation with Eleonore Schoenfeld (August, 1999)

Interview by Tim Janof Eleonore Schoenfeld earned her Artist Diploma at the famed Hochschule fur Musik in Berlin, Germany. An internationally known cellist, she has concertized in four continents as soloist with leading Philharmonic and Radio Orchestras, in recitals, and in a violin-cello duo with her sister, Alice Schoenfeld, known as the "Schoenfeld Duo." She has made numerous recordings of the solo and chamber literature for major TV and radio stations in Europe and the USA. Among them are works specifically written for the Schoenfeld Duo, which has recorded for Everest and Orion Master Recordings. She has been the Director of the international Gregor Piatigorsky Seminar for Cellists in Los Angeles since 1979. A renowned pedagogue, she is Professor at the University of Southern California (USC), where she has been [...]

By Tim Janof|2020-09-17T02:35:41-04:00March 1st, 2020|Categories: Internet Cello Society Archive, Artistic Vision, Performance|Tags: Pedagogy, USC, Piatagorsky, Dvorak Concerto, Popper Etudes, Sevcik, Teaching, chamber music, Tim Janof|

Conversation with Paul Katz (October, 2005)

Interview by Tim Janof Paul Katz is known to concertgoers the world over as cellist of the Cleveland Quartet, which during an international career of 26 years, made more than 2,500 appearances on four continents. As a member of the celebrated ensemble from 1969-1995, Katz performed at the White House and on many television shows, including "CBS Sunday Morning," NBC's "Today Show," "The Grammy Awards" (the first classical musicians to appear on that show,) and in "In The Mainstream: The Cleveland Quartet," a one hour documentary televised across the U.S. and Canada. In collaboration with the country's largest PBS station, WGBH Boston, and the New England Conservatory of Music, Katz has recently embarked on an extensive DVD/Website project on cello pedagogy, an endeavor that will occupy much of his next [...]

By Tim Janof|2020-08-03T09:05:46-04:00August 5th, 2019|Categories: Internet Cello Society Archive, Interviews|Tags: Cleveland Quartet, ICS, Greenhouse, Schoenfeld, chamber music, Victor Sazer, Starker, Primrose, Heifetz, USC, Piatigorsky, Casals, Lesser, Paul Katz, Tim Janoff, Gabor Rejto, New England Conservatory, Internet Cello Society, string quartet|