I said I would share more about the young man who played one of the “Violins of Hope” for us, and I do try to always keep my promises …
Learn the name “
Tamir Tavor” because you will be hearing it again in years to come.
At the time I write this, Israeli violinist Tamir Tavor is a 21-year-old student at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel-Aviv under Prof. Hagai Shaham. (Amnon told me that Professor Shaham is both the finest violinist and the finest violin teacher in Israel today.)
Tamir has been granted numerous scholarships, including from the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the ‘Ronen’ Foundation, and the America-Israel Cultural Foundation (with exceptional distinction). As you might expect, he has also received numerous awards and won first place in several competitions, including the string competition of the BMSM, and the “Spring Competitions” in Ra’anana.
The violin Tamir played for us is at least 150 years old. Its precise origins are unknown but every aspect of its construction points to it being the work of one of the true masters of violin making, almost certainly in Cremona, Italy.
Once it had become the cherished instrument of a Jewish musician, it was inlaid with three shimmering Stars of David. This expensive addition may explain why it survived the Holocaust at all: many of the violins belonging to Jewish prisoners were destroyed or left to deteriorate, but others were kept in better condition because the Nazis considered them works of art to be hoarded. And this one is indisputably a work of art!
Yet more about Tamir: as a soloist, he has performed with various orchestras in Israel and abroad. Tamir is a member of the representative quartet “Gertler” of the BMSM and has participated in the “Goldman” program in Jerusalem for outstanding young musicians, the Chamber Music Festival in Eilat and more.
Tamir’s record of excellence has given him the opportunity, even at such a young age, to study and play in the highest echelons of music in Israel and to work with the established masters. He regularly participates in the Perlman Music Program and in the summer courses of “Keshet Eilon,” and has had the opportunity to learn from renowned teachers such as Boris Garlitsky, Vadim Gluzman, Li Lin, Miriam Fried, Sergey Ostrovsky, Ilya Kaler and others.