Alice Schoenfeld

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Alice Schoenfeld (born February 19, 1921 in Maribor ; † May 25, 2019 in Pasadena ) was a German -American violinist , music teacher at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music Los Angeles and a patron . Together with her sister, the cellist Eleonore Schoenfeld , she performed as the Schoenfeld Duo . She taught at the Thornton School of Music for over 60 years. After her sister died, she donated a substantial amount of money to found the Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld Endowed Scholarship Fund and to remodel a concert hall at the University of Southern California.

life and work

Alice Schoenfeld was born in Maribor in 1921 as the eldest daughter of Johanna Schoenfeld, born in Ukraine . Schendel and the violinist Johannes Schoenfeld from Poland . She spent her childhood in Maribor, where her sister Eleonore was born in 1925. In the early 1930s the family moved to Berlin . Here, the musically gifted Alice Schoenfeld was taught by the renowned violin teacher Karl Klingler . She made her debut in 1931 at the age of ten with the Berliner Philharmoniker . Since the late 1930s she has given concerts in Berlin, a. a. in the Bach and Schumann Hall. She regularly spent the summers with her sister at Klingler's country estate, at Krumke Castle , where they were taught with Klingler's daughters. After the Second World War , she performed as a Schoenfeld duo with her sister . Together they recorded numerous solo and chamber music pieces for radio and television stations in Europe, the United States, Asia and Australia.

In December 1952, the Schoenfeld family emigrated to the United States and settled in Los Angeles. Alice Schoenfeld also gave numerous concerts in America - mostly together with her sister. In addition, she began giving violin lessons in the mid-1950s. In 1959 she and her sister were invited to teach at the Thornton School of Music alongside Jascha Heifetz and Gregor Piatigorsky . At first she taught parallel to her concert tours, later as a professor for violin she concentrated exclusively on training young musicians. Until her retirement at the age of 95, she taught ten master class students a week at Thornton School, including Rebekka Hartmann , Anne Akiko Meyers and Suli Xue .

In the 1980s, both Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld were among the first internationally recognized musicians to visit China after formal diplomatic relations were established between China and the United States. On her recommendation, more than a hundred Chinese students studying abroad received scholarships. She received the USC Ramo Music Faculty Award and the Artist Teacher Award 2008 from the American String Teacher's Association for outstanding teaching performance.

Alice Schoenfeld died on May 25, 2019 at the age of 98 in Pasadena. She was buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena .

Patronage

Alice Schoenfeld was a generous supporter of the Thornton School of Music. 2013 she donated ten million dollars to the music school. Three million dollars were used to convert the former University of Southern California film school into a concert hall - the Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld Symphonic Hall . With the remaining seven million dollars, the Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld Endowed Scholarship Fund was founded, which financially supports young music students at the Thornton School of Music. Together with her student Suli Xue, she initiated the Harbin Schoenfeld International String Competition in China , an international competition that takes place every two years and is held in the categories of violin, cello and chamber music. In 2015 she founded and financed the Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld International Music Society Inc.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lexicon of persecuted musicians during the Nazi era: Karl Klingler. University of Hamburg, accessed on March 5, 2020 .
  2. a b c Los Angeles Times: Gift to USC continues a legacy of mentoring. February 28, 2013, Retrieved March 6, 2020 (American English).
  3. a b c d Remembering Alice Schoenfeld. Retrieved March 6, 2020 (American English).
  4. ^ Artist Teacher Award. Retrieved March 6, 2020 .
  5. Remembering USC Violin Professor Alice Schoenfeld (1921-2019). Retrieved March 6, 2020 (American English).
  6. ^ Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld International String Competition. Retrieved March 6, 2020 .

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