Steven Staryk

Steven Staryk (born April 28, 1932 in Toronto ) is a Canadian violinist and music teacher.

The son of Ukrainian immigrants had his first violin lessons at the age of six with John Moskalyk and took them between 1942 and 1956 with Elie Spivak , Chris Dadeff , John Dembeck and Albert Pratz in Toronto and with Mischa Mischakoff , Oscar Shumsky and Alexander Schneider in New York away. In 1936 he made his radio debut with the CBC , and in 1949 he played Niccolo Paganini's First Violin Concerto at Massey Hall with the Royal Conservatory Orchestra . He also performed at the Promenade Symphony Concerts and was a member of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1950 to 1952 and, after his dismissal as an alleged sympathizer of communism, of the CBC Symphony Orchetra from 1952 to 1956 . He has also appeared as a freelance soloist and member of various chamber music groups as well as a member and concertmaster of the Hart House Orchestra .

After taking part in the Carl Flesch International Competition in London, he became the youngest concertmaster in the history of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Thomas Beecham . In 1960 he took up works by Igor Stravinski as concertmaster with the CBC Symphony Orchestra under the composer's direction. In the same year, on the recommendation of Rafael Kubelik, he was also concertmaster of the Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Amsterdam Chamber Orchestra. During this time he also taught at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam .

In 1963 George Szell and Henryk Szeryng brought him to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as concertmaster , with whom he also appeared as a soloist until 1967. During his time in Chicago, he taught at Northwestern University and the American Conservatory . After concert tours through Europe from 1967-68, Staryk taught at the Oberlin College Conservatory and played in the Oberlin String Quartet . In his first solo appearance with the Toronto Symphony Orchestera , he played Lothar Klein's Paganini Collage, dedicated to him , in 1971 under the direction of Karel Ančerl .

With pianist John Perry founded Staryk 1969 Staryk-Perry Duo gave the concerts in the US and Canada, and Harry Freedman's Encounter premiered (1975) and all violin sonatas of Beethoven and Jean Papineau-Couture Sonata in G recorded. During this time he also gave classes at the Shawnigan Summer School of the Arts (1972) and at the Courtenay Youth Music Center (1972–1976) and from 1972–1975 headed the string department of the Vancouver Academy of Music .

As a visiting professor, Staryk taught at the University of Victoria from 1973 to 1974 , from 1975 to 1976 at the University of Ottawa and from 1977 to 1979 at the University of Western Ontario . He taught at the Royal Conservatory of Music from 1975 to 1987 (and then continued as a visiting professor), at the University of Toronto from 1978 to 1987. From 1982 he was concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra . From 1987 to 1997 he taught at the University of Washington in Seattle. His numerous students include Gwen Hoebig and Roger Chase .

Staryk was particularly interested in contemporary Canadian music. He has played works by Murray Adaskin and Harry Somers and the world premieres of the violin concertos by George Fialas (1973), Talivaldis Kenins ' (1974), Srul Irving Glicks (1976) and Paul Hofferts (1976) and received two awards from the Canada Council . In 2007 he was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada .

Out of the numerous CD recordings of Staryk, the Staryk Collection stands out, a collection of concert and studio recordings as well as previously unpublished material that has been made over more than 50 years and comprises 30 CDs. Under the pseudonym Primas Stefan he recorded traditional Roma music in 1958 and 1968; the recordings appeared on CD under the title Primas Stefan and his Royal Tziganes .

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• Steven Staryk ( English, French ) In: Encyclopedia of Music in Canada . published by The Canadian Encyclopedia .
• Steven Staryk at Allmusic (English)
• Staryk Anthology