![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
![]() |
You are in: World: Americas | ||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
![]() |
Sunday, 23 September, 2001, 06:58 GMT 07:58 UK
Violinist Isaac Stern dies
![]() Stern started playing the violin when he was eight
Master violinist Isaac Stern, who is credited with saving Carnegie Hall from demolition, has died at the age of 81.
The cause of death was heart failure.
Although acclaimed for his renditions of classical works, he was also a champion of contemporary music and recorded new works by many of the 20th century's finest composers. He was the soloist in the Oscar-winning soundtrack of the film Fiddler on the Roof. His pioneering 1979 trip to China, as an official guest of the government, was immortalised in the film From Mao to Mozart, which won an Oscar for best documentary,
Child prodigy Russian-born, Isaac Stern was brought to the United States as a baby. He began taking violin lessons at the age of eight, and made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra when he was 16. He is widely remembered for his fearless performance at a 1991 concert in Jerusalem during the Gulf War.
Mr Stern, however, ignored the intrusion and focused all his attentions on a Bach solo. Carnegie's saviour In the late 1950s, he saved Carnegie Hall. New York was planning Lincoln Center, and a developer suggested knocking down the hall to make way for a 44-story office tower. The hall, which opened in 1891, has been described as America's musical temple, and is famous for its acoustics. The violinist once said of the structure: "it's not only a building. It's an idea. It's a necessary mythology about music." Mr Stern campaigned against its destruction, rallied the opposition and ultimately secured legislation that allowed the city to acquire the structure in 1960 for $5 million. "When you believe in something, you can move mountains," Mr Stern said in a 1997 interview. The violin virtuoso is survived by his wife Linda Reynolds Stern, whom he married in 1996, three children from a previous marriage, and five grandchildren. |
![]() |
Top Americas stories now:
![]() ![]() Links to more Americas stories are at the foot of the page.
![]() |
![]() |
Links to more Americas stories
|
![]() |
![]() |
^^ Back to top News Front Page | World | UK | UK Politics | Business | Sci/Tech | Health | Education | Entertainment | Talking Point | In Depth | AudioVideo ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To BBC Sport>> | To BBC Weather>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII | News Sources | Privacy |