Alberto Lysy (February 11, 1935 – December 30, 2009) was a prestigious

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

violinist and conductor of Ukrainian ancestry. The violin gifted to him was a very old

Stradivarius A Stradivarius is one of the string instruments, such as violins, violas, cellos, and guitars, crafted by members of the Stradivari family, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), in Cremona, Italy, during the late 17th ...

. Among his friends were

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

and family whose Swiss home M. Lysy visited for extended stays.

Early life

Alberto Lysy was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

to Ukrainian immigrants in 1935. At age five, his father introduced him to the

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

. Lysy left school at age 13 to devote more time to the instrument, and was subsequently trained by violinist Ljerko Spiller. Lysy traveled to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1952, where he enrolled in the Silver School; soon destitute, however, he made ends meet by playing under a bridge near the

Royal National Theatre The National Theatre (NT), officially the Royal National Theatre and sometimes referred to in international contexts as the National Theatre of Great Britain, is a performing arts venue and associated theatre company located in London, England, ...

. Following a performance for

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, he returned to Argentina in 1953, though a second opportunity in 1955 took him again to

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, where he became the first South American artist to obtain a prize at the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition, held that year in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. Following the awards ceremony, the Queen Consort Princess Lilian, gave Lysy a vintage violin, and later invited him to the Royal Palace of Brussels for a series of duets.''La Nación'': Alberto Lysy, maestro busca talentos
/ref>

Professional life

Lysy approached a member of the jury to that occasion,

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin (22 April 191612 March 1999), was an American-born British violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in Britain. He is widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century. ...

, with a request that the renowned violinist make him a student. Menuhin had never mentored a pupil, and Lysy returned to

. Narrowly skirting military conscription (mandatory in Argentina until 1994), Lysy was recommended by Menuhin for a

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

grant, and he rejoined his benefactor in Gstaad (becoming his first and only personal pupil). He lived and performed with Menuhin for the next several years, and the elder performer gave him a prized Guarnerius violin, dated 1742. Menuhin arranged performances for Lysy with consular figures in classical music such as cellist Pablo Casals, pianist Benjamin Britten, and conductor Nadia Boulanger. Returning to Argentina, he established a

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

ensemble, Camerata Bariloche, in 1967. Touring extensively and around the world, he set aside a select group of students to create Camerata Lysy, in 1971. Directing both groups for the next decade, Lysy and these ensembles performed with numerous celebrated conductors and orchestras, including

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 19255 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 contemporary classical music. Born in Montb ...

, Adrian Boult, Colin Davis, Igor Markevitch, the New York Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra (

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

), the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, and the Amsterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. He has appeared at the Concertgebouw in

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, the Queen Elizabeth Hall of

, and Victoria Hall (Geneva), as well as in the former

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and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The ensembles recorded numerous albums for the EMI label. Lysy honored his mentor by founding the International Menuhin Music Academy, in 1977, in Gstaad. He also established musical events such as the Festival Delle Nazioni in Città di Castello and directed the Recontres Musicales in Switzerland and the Lysy Festival in Argentina. His work with children earned him the Stradivari International Pedagogical Prize in 2006, and he retired as Director of the Menuhin Music Academy, the following year.

Personal life

Lysy married Benedetta Origo, daughter of Iris Origo. One of his children, Antonio Lysy, became a renowned cellist and is the head of the music program at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

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. The renowned performer and teacher died in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

on December 30, 2009; he was 74.''Swiss Info'': Alberto Lysy murió en Lausana
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lysy, Alberto 1935 births 2009 deaths Argentine classical musicians Argentine male conductors (music) Music of Argentina Argentine people of Ukrainian descent Argentine violinists Male classical violinists 20th-century classical violinists 20th-century Argentine conductors (music) 20th-century Argentine male musicians Prize-winners of the Queen Elisabeth Competition