100th birthday honors violin legend

As the Gingold Celebration Orchestra warmed up onstage for its performance, the everlasting spirit of former Jacobs faculty member Josef Gingold rang true throughout every string tuned and played.

“Josef Gingold: A 100th Birthday Celebration for a Musical Legend” took place at the IU Auditorium on Sunday. The orchestra accompanied Jacobs faculty members Joshua Bell and Jaime Laredo at the birthday performance. The Jacobs School of Music’s Violin Virtuosi also performed.

Students such as freshman Ben Hauser attended because the show was free.
“It’s free tickets,” Hauser said. “You can’t pass that up.”

Many other students, such as freshman Lauren Raby, came because of their appreciation of Bell’s talent.

“I saw Bell at the ASO last year,” Raby said. “He’s awesome.”

The concert consisted of five classical pieces, along with remarks by Gingold’s former colleagues and a rememberance video. Jacobs faculty member Mimi Zweig reminisced about working with Gingold at his home. His violin room was described as a shrine to violin legends and the beauty of the instrument.

“His room was always a hub of activity,” Zweig said.

Zweig went on to talk about Gingold’s lasting presence in her life as an instructor.
“I still feel he is present, whispering in my ear,” Zweig said.

All speakers noted how important the violin was to his life and how music brought joy to his ears. Zweig told the audience about Gingold requesting a 5-year-old girl to repeat a piece for his wife on the phone, after the first performance made him smile.
“He had a lifelong love affair with the violin,” Zweig said.

Between remarks, all musicians played a variety of pieces by Johann Bach, Peter Tchaikovsky  and Camille Saint-Saens. As the bows flowed with ease over the strings, a quiet harmony grew across the stage and through the audience. The musicians swayed along to the music, as though they became one with their own bows, and as if they were the bows Gingold used to play his beloved violin tenderly beneath his chin.

Thomas Beczkiewicz, executive director of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, worked with Gingold when creating the competition. He said that Gingold’s appreciation of music was a religious experience.

“Playing the violin was a form of prayer,” Beczkiewicz said.

He added that Gingold’s involvement in music did not exist purely out of love for the instrument. Gingold affected each of his students in a positive light, and Beczkiewicz said this became a way to better help  all musicians.

“Music was not just a matter of aesthetics,” Beczkiewicz said. “Music was more of an ethical act.”

All of the people who knew Gingold said they recognize that as long as the music world continued its appreciation of the violin, his presence will remain.

“His generous spirit will never die,” Beczkiewicz said.