Ravinia 2022, Issue 5

WITH BLESSINGS OFMAJOR MENTORS, PETER OUNDJIAN CONDUCTED AN IMPRESSING CAREER CHANGE VIOLIN SOLOISTS SOME TIMES ADD conduct- ing to their activities, dividing their time between the two roles or combining them at times. Famous examples include Pinchas Zukerman, who has served as music director of such ensembles as the English and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestras and Na- tional Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, and Joshua Bell, who holds the same post with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in London. In the case of Andrew Manze, a once-revered Baroque violinist, he gave up the instrument in 2009 and has devoted himself totally to conducting since, holding two posts, including chief conductor of the NDR Radio- philharmonie in Hanover. What ties those instrumentalist-turned-conduc- tors together is that they made the move by choice, as a way to complement or enhance their solo work or, in the case of Manze, as an alternative to what they had done for much of their careers. But when Peter Oundjian made the switch in 1995, the violinist had no choice. He was diagnosed with focal dysto- nia, a neurological disorder that causes involuntary muscle contractions, in his case, in the all-important left hand. It ultimately made it impossible for him to play at the level necessary to continue serving as first violinist of the Tokyo String Quartet, one of the premier such ensembles in the world at the time. But he has gone on to have a second career as impressive as his first, including serving as music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 2004 through 2018 and heading the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for six years. In 2019, he took over as music director of the Colorado Music Festi- val and has quickly built its profile, adding a Music of Today mini-festival, which this summer features John Adams as composer-in-residence and co-cu- rator. Indeed, Oundjian has enjoyed such success on the podium that many younger classical fans probably aren’t even aware of his earlier incarnation as a major chamber musician. Ravinia Festival audiences will have a chance to see Oundjian the conductor in action when he joins violinist Itzhak Perlman, one of the most recognized classical musicians in the world, for an August 18 con- cert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Perlman is among four star violinists and conductors who have intervened in Oundjian’s life at key moments and served as mentors to him. “What I’m impressed with is the way Peter was able to change careers, which for me is really an amazing feat,” Perlman said. Born in Toronto to Armenian parents, Oundjian, 66, first became interested in the violin through Ma- noug Parikian, a former concertmaster of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra who was also of Armenian descent and a good friend of his father. When the vi- olinist would visit, the boy would insist that Parikian play something before he went to bed. “So, I iden- tified very much with the violin,” he said. But the youngster first started taking piano lessons when he was 6 and switched to the violin a year later, after his family moved to England. It turned out that there were too many pianists in the family—his father and his two sisters played the instrument. He also joined a boys’ chorus and appeared on a couple of Decca albums with Benjamin Britten as conductor, including a 1967 one featuring the composer’s opera A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream with the London Symphony. About 10 years ago, he discovered that he is shown in a photograph in materials accompany- ing the album playing what he called “Indian bells” in the fairy stage band when he was around 11. After Oundjian graduated from high school and had been attending the Royal College of Music for one and a half years, his father pressured him to go to Salzburg to study, and that’s the point where the first of his famed mentors stepped in. Zukerman, then 26, was scheduled to give a master class at the Brighton Festival, and Oundjian got a call that one of the stu- dents scheduled to take part had fallen sick. Could he fill in? Of course, he said yes. At the end of the ses- sion, Zukerman said he should come to New York’s famed Juilliard School. But Oundjian explained that his father was insistent on Salzburg. So, Zukerman spoke to the parent, and after only a minute or so won him over to the idea of New York, insisting the he would look out for the young musician. RAVINIA.ORG • RAVINIA MAGAZINE 7