Gabor Rejto

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Gabor Rejto (born Gábor Rejtő ; * 1916 in Budapest , Hungary ; † June 26, 1987 in Los Angeles ) was an American cellist and music teacher of Hungarian origin.

Life

Gabor Rejto was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1916. His first cello teacher was Friedrich Teller, a teacher whose ideas were extraordinarily progressive for the time. At the age of sixteen Rejto was accepted into the Liszt Academy (now the Liszt Ferenc Memorial Museum). He studied under Adolf Schiffer (a pupil and former assistant to the great David Popper ), and two years later he began his European concert career with his diploma.

At the age of twenty he went to classes with Pablo Casals for two years , first in Barcelona and then in Prades . Casals worked with him for almost a month only on the basic technique - composition followed later. Casal's cello technique was considered revolutionary at that time.

Rejto has given extensive concerts throughout Europe and played with the great symphony orchestras of Vienna, Budapest, Rome, Warsaw and others. He also gave solo appearances in major European cities. In 1939 he emigrated to the USA. Soon he settled in California.

Here Yehudi Menuhin lived in his house on Highway 17 from San Jose to Santa Cruz near Los Gatos. He had married and two children, born in 1939 and 1940. Because the war was raging in Europe and concerts there became more and more sporadic, he had more free time and he initiated regular music sessions with several of his friends who came from San Francisco every week. Adolph Baller , the pianist, took Menuhin into his guest house in 1938 and Gabor Rejto joined as a cellist.

Alma Trio

When they founded the Alma Trio - named after Menuhin's house - in 1942 , the violinist Jenő Léner was also a founding member, because Menuhin did not want to be tied to the trio. In June 1942, in anger, Lener parted ways with his string quartet, which he had founded in 1918 as the “Lehner Quartet” at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest. However, it only took about a year until he had formed a new quartet, so that he was replaced by Roman Totenberg , who belonged to the trio until 1953. Rejto also occasionally played in the Lener quartet. Baller and Rejto also performed as a duo from time to time. They were the first trio to be invited to Russia after 1963, where they gave 18 concerts and another 19 in Czechoslovakia.

His recordings with Adolph Baller are historically valuable: Sonata for violoncello and piano No. 2 in F major op. 99 (Brahms 1887) and Sonata for violoncello and piano No. 1 in E minor, op. 38 (Brahms 1865).

In 1952, Gabor Rejto undertook an extensive tour of Hawaii through New Zealand with Yaltah Menuhin as the pianist. Over a period of five weeks they gave around 25 concerts with great success.

Teacher

During his career he taught at the Manhattan School of Music and Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, and from 1954 until his death was Professor of Cello at the University of Southern California . Here he taught the master class at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. His experience in chamber music drew many students into his "cello workshops", which he offered in several American cities.

Rejto was named “Artist Teacher of the Year” on the 25th anniversary of the American String Teachers Association . He was a teacher who believed that students should be taught as individuals. Not only the instrumental approach was important to him, but also the personal point of view. A teacher should be both a psychologist and a trainer. He also taught the summer courses in Marlboro, Sion and Aspen.

His wife Alice Rejto was a pianist. His son Peter Rejto founded the Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival in Arizona and plays the cello like his father.

Rejto's last public appearance was in May 1987 in a Dvorak concert with the USC Community Symphony Orchestra. He died of a brain tumor on June 26, 1987.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Liszt Academy history  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.lfze.hu  
  2. ↑ Brahms Cello Sonata in F major, 4th movement on YouTube
  3. ↑ Gabor and Yaltah Menuhin
  4. ^ Gabor Rejto - Tributes ( Memento of October 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive ).
personal data
SURNAME Rejto, Gabor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rejtő, Gábor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American cellist and music teacher
DATE OF BIRTH 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Budapest
DATE OF DEATH June 26, 1987
Place of death los Angeles