Israelievitch, Jacques (6th May 1948-5th September 2015)

He was a violinist, concertmaster, conductor and teacher born in Cannes, France as the eldest of five children. He first took his studies at Le Mans Conservatory when he was seven years old and currently holds the record as the youngest pupil ever to have graduated from there at the age of eleven. At the same age he made his debut performance on French national radio.

He followed that by attending the Paris Conservatoire when he was thirteen and at just sixteen years old he was a first prize recipient on three occasions. Later studies would see him going over to the United States where he attended Indiana University under the tutelage of teachers such as William Primrose and Josef Gingold.

After getting himself known as a professional musician he was given the position of Assistant Concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony by Sir Georg Solti in 1972. After a time he became the Concertmaster of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra in Missouri and in 1988 he travelled north to Canada where he took on the same position with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, remaining there for the next 20 years. His time with the Toronto Symphony saw him also performing as a member of the Toronto Symphony String Quartet.

During his career he worked with numerous other musicians who include acclaimed artists such as Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, Kanae Matsumoto and Jukka-Pekka Saraste and appeared as a guest soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the China National Symphony Orchestra of Beijing, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and the Vancouver Symphony to name a few.

No stranger to the studio, his internationally acclaimed recordings of works by composers such as Beethoven, Grieg and Mozart include the Juno Award nominated “Suite Hebraique” and others such as 42 Kreutzer Etudes, “Solo Suite”, Suite Enfantine” and “Suite Francaise”.

He and his son, the percussionist Michael Israelivitch, formed their own duo in 1999 and proceeded to perform commissions and premieres as well as release their album Hammer and Bow. Aside from this duo he was a member of the New Arts Trio.

In the field of musical education he was Chair-of-Strings at the Chautauqua Institution in the summer months and a member of the faculties of the Royal Conservatory of Music, the University of Toronto and York University.

Recognised for his contribution of music his native France awarded him the honour of being made Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1995 and 9 years later he was made Officier.

He died on lung cancer in Toronto in September 2015. He was 67 years old.

Toronto Symphony Orchestra Recordings
Adeste Fidelis (John Francis Wade)
CBC SMCD 5119 I (CD – Adeste Fidelis)
Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Children’s Chorus
Conductor – Jean Ashworth Bartle
Soloists – Louis and Gino Quilico

Here he is performing Beethoven’s Romance No. 1 with the Toronto Sympony Orchestra….

Sources:

Israelievitch, Jacques (6th May 1948-5th September 2015)

Navigation