Julian Sitkovetsky

Soviet violinist (1925–1958)

Julian Sitkovetsky
Born	(1925-11-07)7 November 1925 Kiev
Died	23 February 1958(1958-02-23) (aged 32) Moscow
Genres	Classical music
Instrument(s)	violin
Years active	1933–1956

Musical artist

Julian (or Yulian) Grigoryevich Sitkovetsky (7 November 1925 – 23 February 1958) was a Soviet violinist.

Biography

Sitkovetsky was born in Kiev. He started violin lesson at age 4, first with his father, then with David Bertie at the Central School in Kiev (Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union). As a child prodigy, he was chosen to play for Jacques Thibaud at age 8. One year later, he played the Mendelssohn concerto with the Kiev Symphony. In 1939, he enrolled in the Moscow Central Music School, class of Abram Yampolsky, whose students included Leonid Kogan, Igor Besrodny and Rotislav Dubinsky.

In 1945 Julian Sitkovetsky won the All Soviet Union Young Performers Competition of piano, cello and violin (Sviatoslav Richter and Mstislav Rostropovich were the winners in piano and cello).^{[citation needed]} In 1947, he shared First Prize at the Prague Festival with Leonid Kogan and Igor Besrodny.^{[citation needed]}

He married pianist Bella Davidovich in 1950 and their son Dmitry Sitkovetsky (who became an eminent violinist and conductor) was born four years later.

In 1952, he shared second prize in the Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition with Wanda Wiłkomirska (first prize was Igor Oistrakh).^[1] In 1955 he won Second Prize at the Queen Elizabeth Music Competition.^[2]^[3] (Of which Yehudi Menuhin said: "...David Oistrakh and I were on the jury...he should have had First Prize...").^[4]

Sitkovetsky never toured much, as he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1956. He died in Moscow in 1958 at age 32.

Legacy

Joseph Magil in the American Record Guide said of Sitkovetsky : "...David Oistrakh said that, had he lived, Sitkovetsky would have eclipsed him and Kogan... He had a broad, firm, focused tone in all registers; flawless intonation; a rapid, even trill; a swift, perfectly controlled staccato; strong, immaculate harmonics; an even, clear sautillé..."^[5]^{[full citation needed]}

References

^ "2nd International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition". www.wieniawski.com. Retrieved 2021-02-25.
^ "Laureates". queenelisabethcompetition.be (in French). Retrieved 2021-02-25.
^ "Queen Elisabeth Competition 1937–2019 – Violin 1955" (PDF). Retrieved 2021-02-25.
^ "Юлиан Ситковецкий. Коллекция". Firma Melodiya. Retrieved 2021-02-25. (Source for the given information, no word-by-word citation.)
^ American Record Guide, June–July 2006

External links

Julian Sitkovetsky at AllMusic
"Soviet Violinist Julian Sitkovetsky Died on This Day in 1958". The Violin Channel. 23 February 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2017.