On Tuesday’s (7/31) Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Patch (Illinois), Jacob Nelson writes, “ ‘We have lost a legend,’ begins the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s obituary for Victor Aitay, the Highland Park resident and former CSO concertmaster who died last Tuesday. He was 91. Born in Budapest in 1921, Aitay didn’t waste any time before jumping into musical training at age 7 when he entered the Franz Liszt Royal Academy, according to the CSO. After receiving an artist’s diploma, Aitay became concertmaster of the Hungarian Royal Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra. He also organized the Aitay String Quartet, with which he toured Europe. Though he lost much of his family in the Holocaust, Aitay was one of tens of thousands of Jews who survived because of the efforts of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, according to a 2001 Chicago Tribune story. … Aitay emigrated to the United States with his wife, Eva Vera Kellner, in 1946. Soon after, the musician joined the Pittsburgh Symphony. It wasn’t long before he was performing in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, where he remained until joining the CSO in 1954. … In addition to his work for the CSO, Aitay also conducted the Lake Forest Symphony from 1967 to 1988. Aitay was awarded an honorary doctor of fine arts degree from Lake Forest College, the CSO reports.”
Posted August 1, 2012
