Zukerman, Pinchas
Zukerman, Pinchas
Zukerman, Pinchas, outstanding Israeli violinist, violisi, and conductor; b. Tel Aviv, July 16, 1948. He began to study music with his father, taking up the violin at age 6; he then enrolled at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music, where he studied with Ilona Feher. With the encouragement of Isaac Stern and Pablo Casals, he became a scholarship student at the Juilliard School of Music in N.Y, where he studied with Ivan Galamian (1961-67). In 1967 he shared 1st prize in the Leventritt Competition in N.Y. with Kyung-Wha Chung, and then launched a brilliant career as a soloist with the major American and European orchs. He also appeared as both violinist and violisi in recitals with Isaac Stern and Itzhak Perlman. He subsequently devoted part of his time to conducting, appearing as a guest conductor with the N.Y. Phil., Philadelphia Orch., Boston Sym. Orch., Los Angeles Phil., and many others. From 1980 to 1987 he was music director of the St. Paul (Minn.) Chamber Orch. He was principal guest conductor of the Dallas Sym. Orch. summer music festival (1990-92). In 1993 he became a teacher at the Manhattan School of Music in N.Y. During the 1994-95 season, he made a world tour as a conductor with the English Chamber Orch. He was married to Eugenia Zukerman from 1968 to 1985, then to the American actress Tuesday Weld. His performances as a violinist are distinguished by their innate emotional élan and modern virtuoso technique.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire