“In 1955, Sylvia Kunin founded the Young Musicians Foundation in Los Angeles that provided support and a showcase for budding classical-music talents—including conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, guitarist Christopher Parkening and soprano Shirley Verrett—long before they were world-famous,” writes David Colker in Sunday’s (3/8) Los Angeles Times. Kunin died on February 12 in Seattle. “The YMF is still going strong. Other musicians who got an early boost … include violinists Misha Dichter and Glenn Dicterow, conductors Lawrence Foster and Henry Lewis and cellist Nathaniel Rosen…. Kunin was a piano prodigy who won competitions and studied with Artur Schnabel in prewar Europe.… In 1951 Kunin created a TV talent contest, ‘Young Musical America,’ shown on KLAC-TV (now KCOP).… In 1954 came her follow-up show, ‘Debut,’ with musicians competing for $1,000 scholarships…. She and her husband, actor Al Eben, moved to Hawaii, where he had a recurring role as the medical officer in the TV series ‘Hawaii Five-0.’ While there she started a new TV program featuring student musicians, ‘Musical Encounters,’ for distribution to schools and showings on public television…. In addition to her son [Barry Eben], Kunin is survived by her sister Edie Gaines of Los Angeles; and brother Ralph Kunin of Santa Monica.”
Posted March 10, 2015
