György Pauk (born 26 October 1936) is a Hungarian

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist, chamber musician and music pedagogue.

Biography

Pauk was born in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, (Hungary), and entered the

Franz Liszt Academy of Music The Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music ( hu, Liszt Ferenc Zeneművészeti Egyetem, often abbreviated as ''Zeneakadémia'', "Liszt Academy") is a music university and a concert hall in Budapest, Hungary, founded on November 14, 1875. It is home to the ...

at age nine. He began his studies as Imre Waldbauer's pupil in 1945. From 1947-1949 he studied with János Temesváry, and from 1949 till he graduated at the Academy with

Ede Zathureczky Ede Zathureczky (Igló, 24 August 1903 – Bloomington, 31 May 1959) was a Hungarian violin virtuoso and pedagogue. Life and career Ede Zathureczky was born in Igló, Kingdom of Hungary (now Spišská Nová Ves in Slovakia). His teacher was the ...

, and he studied under

Zoltán Kodály Zoltán Kodály (; hu, Kodály Zoltán, ; 16 December 1882 – 6 March 1967) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is well known internationally as the creator of the Kodály method of music ed ...

. In 1956 he left Hungary for the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and, after being persuaded by violinist

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name: * Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor ** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England ** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to the v ...

, he permanently settled in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1961. He has performed as concerto soloist with renowned

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

s and

maestros Maestro (; from the Italian ''wikt:maestro#Italian, maestro'' , meaning "wikt:master, master" or "teacher") is an honorific title of respect (plural: maestros or maestri). The term is most commonly used in the context of Western classical music ...

around the world, with

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music. Born in Mont ...

Sir Colin Davis Sir Colin Rex Davis (25 September 1927 – 14 April 2013) was an English conductor, known for his association with the London Symphony Orchestra, having first conducted it in 1959. His repertoire was broad, but among the composers with whom h ...

Lorin Maazel Lorin Varencove Maazel (, March 6, 1930 – July 13, 2014) was an American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight and by 1953 had decided to pursue a career in music. He had established a reputation in th ...

Gennady Rozhdestvensky Gennady Nikolayevich Rozhdestvensky, CBE (russian: Генна́дий Никола́евич Рожде́ственский; 4 May 1931 – 16 June 2018) was a Soviet and Russian conductor. Biography Gennady Rozhdestvensky was born in Moscow. H ...

Simon Rattle Sir Simon Denis Rattle (born 19 January 1955) is a British-German conductor. He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998). Rattle was principal ...

and Sir

Georg Solti Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and London, and as a long-servin ...

. He has also recorded, and has

premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...

d works by

Witold Lutosławski Witold Roman Lutosławski (; 25 January 1913 – 7 February 1994) was a Polish composer and conductor. Among the major composers of 20th-century classical music, he is "generally regarded as the most significant Polish composer since Szyman ...

Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best known works include ''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', ''Polish Requiem'', ''A ...

Alfred Schnittke Alfred Garrievich Schnittke (russian: Альфре́д Га́рриевич Шни́тке, link=no, Alfred Garriyevich Shnitke; 24 November 1934 – 3 August 1998) was a Russian composer of Jewish-German descent. Among the most performed and re ...

, Sir

Peter Maxwell Davies Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music. As a student at both the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Music ...

, and Sir

Michael Tippett Sir Michael Kemp Tippett (2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998) was an English composer who rose to prominence during and immediately after the Second World War. In his lifetime he was sometimes ranked with his contemporary Benjamin Britten ...

conducted by the

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

s themselves. As a chamber musician Pauk's repertoire, includes all of the Mozart sonatas – which he has also recorded – the Schubert sonatas, and Bartók's works written for the violin. Pauk and

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

Peter Frankl Peter Frankl (born 2 October 1935) is a Hungary, Hungarian-born United Kingdom, British pianist. He mainly performs music from the Classical period (music), Classical period (particularly Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart), the Romantic music, Rom ...

formed a long-term collaboration with

cellist The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...

Ralph Kirshbaum Ralph Henry Kirshbaum (born March 4, 1946) is an American cellist. During his career he has performed as soloist with major orchestras worldwide, won prizes in several international competitions, and recorded extensively. Early life and education ...

. Pauk and Frankl have been permanent partners since they were children. They studied chamber music with

Leo Weiner Leo or Léo may refer to: Acronyms * Law enforcement officer * Law enforcement organisation * ''Louisville Eccentric Observer'', a free weekly newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky * Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity Arts an ...

. The

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

commissioned ''

Fourteen Little Pictures Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unrele ...

'' by

James MacMillan Sir James Loy MacMillan, (born 16 July 1959) is a Scottish classical composer and conductor. Early life MacMillan was born at Kilwinning, in North Ayrshire, but lived in the East Ayrshire town of Cumnock until 1977. His father is James MacMi ...

to mark the 25th anniversary of their trio in 1997. Pauk was appointed the Professor of Violin at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

in London in 1987. He named the violin department which he heads at the Royal Academy of Music after

, because he would like to preserve and carry on the legacy of the legendary master. At

Annie Fischer Annie Fischer (July 5, 1914April 10, 1995) was a Hungarian classical pianist. Biography Fischer was born into a Jewish family in Budapest and studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music with Ernő Dohnányi and Arnold Szekely. She began her ...

's encouragement and invitation, in 1973 Pauk appeared once again in Budapest; since then he had been a frequent performer in Hungary both as soloist and as chamber musician. He retired from the concert stage in 2007. In addition, Pauk gives

master class A master class is a Class (education), class given to students of a particular Academic discipline, discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also science, painting, drama, games, or on any other occasion where skills are b ...

es around the world, at the International Menuhin Music Academy. He regularly visits the US where he is giving master classes in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oberlin College Ohio and Juilliard School of Music in New York. Pauk is online Master Teacher at

iClassical Academy iClassical Academy is a limited company organized according to Swiss law, it is domiciled in Crans-Montana. The company is committed to producing educational online video for musicians, in particular master classes and courses. It provides ...

with whom he has recorded several online Masterclasses.
Recordings of three masterclasses
from the 2010

Lake District Summer Music Lake District Summer Music (LDSM) is a music festival in the English Lake District. An annual event held in August, it features performances by international artists and there is also an academy for young musicians. Founded in 1985, LDSM was list ...

International Summer Music Academy have recently been made available online through

vimeo.com Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as ...

He has been playing on his

Massart Massachusetts College of Art and Design, branded as MassArt, is a Public university, public art school, college of visual art, visual and applied art in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1873, it is one of the nation’s oldest art schools, the ...

Stradivarius A Stradivarius is one of the violins, violas, cellos and other string instruments built by members of the Italian family Stradivari, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), during the 17th and 18th centuries. They are co ...

of 1714, from

Antonio Stradivari Antonio Stradivari (, also , ; – 18 December 1737) was an Italian luthier and a craftsman of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas and harps. The Latinized form of his surname, ''Stradivarius'', as well as the colloq ...

's Golden Period. He has two children who both live and work in London, and four grandchildren.

Autobiography

* ''Négy húron pendülök. Nyolcvan év emlékei''. (in Hungarian) Budapest, 2016. Park Könyvkiadó.

Awards

* First Prize in the 1956 (first)

Paganini Competition The Paganini Competition (aka Premio Paganini or Paganini Concore) is an international violin competition named after the famed virtuoso and founder of contemporary violin technique Niccolò Paganini. Created in 1954 it has been carried out ever s ...

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

* Premier Grand Prix in 1959 at the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition * First Prize at the Munich Sonata Competition with

(1956) * Cecilia Prize for Outstanding Recordings * Grammy nomination for Record of the Year * Professor Emeritus of the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest * Honorary Doctorate by the University of London 2016

Notable students

Pauk's notable students include: Thomas Gould. Maureen Smith,

Marianne Thorsen Marianne Thorsen (born 13 March 1972) is a Norwegian violinist. Biography and career Born in Trondheim, Thorsen was taught by Bjarne Fiskum before studying at The Purcell School for Young Musicians in Hertfordshire, and later tutored by Gyö ...

, Gyula Stuller, and Lucy Gould.

References

Notes

Sources

* Pauk, György (2021). ''A Life in Music: Memories of 80 years with the Violin.'' London:GP Publications.

External links

Biography
at

Naxos Records Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres. The premier label is Naxos Records which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about 1 ...

Biography of György Pauk
at the

Biography
at violin.org
Masterclass
at

Notable Alumni
at

International Menuhin Music Academy György Pauk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pauk, Gyorgy Hungarian classical violinists Male classical violinists 1936 births Living people Academics of the Royal Academy of Music Paganini Competition prize-winners Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition prize-winners 21st-century classical violinists 21st-century Hungarian male musicians