In Tuesday’s (3/1) Washington Post, T. Rees Shapiro reports, “Eugene Fodor, 60, a violin virtuoso whose pyrotechnic style and good looks made him one of the most dazzling performers of classical music in the 1970s … died Feb. 26 at his home in Arlington County. He had liver disease, his wife, Susan Davis, said.” Born in Denver and raised in rural Colorado, Fodor went on to study at The Juilliard School and briefly with Jascha Heifetz. He “made international headlines in 1974 after taking top honors at the prestigious Tchaikovsky violin competition in Moscow, where he was the first American-born violinist to win a prize … Ultimately, no gold medal was given. … The American violinist ended up sharing the silver medal with two Russians.” At the height of his career Fodor performed with such orchestras as the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and “wowed sold-out audiences at Carnegie Hall with his passionate solo performances and near-perfect technical ability.”
Posted March 3, 2011
