János Starker

János Starker ( born July 5, 1924 in Budapest, † April 28, 2013 in Bloomington (Indiana), USA ) was an American cellist and music teacher of Hungarian origin. He is next to Pau Casals, Emanuel fire man, Paul Tortelier and Mstislav Rostropovich as one of the leading cello virtuosos of the 20th century.

Life

Strong, who grew up in a musical family, first appeared as a child prodigy. At age eleven, he was accepted at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, at the age of twelve years he taught five students already. The persecution of the Jews in Hungary during World War II survived Strong through the help of the Swedish teachers Valdemar Langlet, while his two older brothers, both talented violinists, were confiscated as a Jewish forced laborers and perished. Strong was stateless and emigrated in 1948 to the United States, where he was sponsored by Antal Doráti and Fritz Reiner. There followed a brilliant career, testify to the numerous recordings and Grammy Awards. Since 2001, Strong served only as a teacher at the Jacobs School of Music.

From 1950 to 1965 he played on the Lord Aylesford Stradivarius and then had the one Gofriller cello. Strong was a member of the piano trio of his frequent concert and recording partner Julius Katchen Josef Suk.