Elizabeth Gilels, Mikhail Fichtenholtz, Piotr Stolyarsky, David Oistrakh, Boris Goldstein
Peter Stolyarsky with his students (Odesa, 1929 year)
The Odesa International Violin Competition was founded in 2018 by Ukrainian violinist Andrii Murza in order to preserve the memory of the great violin school of the city of Odesa. Since 2021 another ukrainian violinist Alexey Semenenko has joined the competiton direction.
The formation of violin music education in Odesa is closely linked to the activities of the outstanding violin teacher Peter Stolyarsky. Since 1920, he taught at the Odesa Conservatory (currently the Odesa National A. V. Nezhdanova Academy of Music), and in 1933 founded the first specialized music school in the USSR for gifted children. Jacques Thibaud, for example, said: “His pedagogy is what world art should be proud of.” The educational experience of Stolyarsky yielded brilliant results. His students, in particular David Oistrakh, Boris Goldstein, Nathan Milstein, Elizabeth Gilels, Michael Fichtenholz brought the Odesa violin school international recognition. Prominent violinists such as Zakhar Bron, Pavel Vernikov, Rosa Fain, Dora Schwarzberg, Alexander Vinnitsky, Mikhael Vaiman, Sergey Kravchenko, Eduard Grach and many others became bright followers of the Odesa violin school.
Taking into account such a rich history, the emergence of the Odesa International Violin Competition has become an important event in the cultural life of the city, which can rightfully be considered the cradle of violin performing art and one of the largest cultural centers in Eastern Europe.
The competition provides a unique opportunity to get a start in a great creative life in the homeland of musicians whose names are written in golden letters in the world history of classical music.
Peter Stolyarsky with his student
David Oistrakh and Peter Stolyarsky