“There was something unsettling about the 13-year-old violinist as he made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1956,” writes Margalit Fox in Wednesday’s (6/21) New York Times. “ ‘Never once did his face break into a smile or a shadow of any emotion cross it,’ [wrote] Harold C. Schonberg…. That stoic youth, Paul Zukofsky, would grow up to be one of the finest violinists of his time…. But to the end of his life, Mr. Zukofsky, who died in Hong Kong on June 6, at 73, would retain much of the stance he displayed at 13, seemingly deeply ill at ease with the world…. Mr. Zukofsky was … an ardent champion of composers including Philip Glass, John Cage, Milton Babbitt and Charles Wuorinen. He was … an ardent defender … of the intellectual property of his father, the American poet Louis Zukofsky…. Institutions for which Mr. Zukofsky worked … include Juilliard … the Colonial Symphony of Madison, N.J., which he conducted; the Youth Orchestra of Iceland, which he founded … and the Arnold Schoenberg Institute at the University of Southern California, which he directed…. His recent conducting work includes music by the Japanese composer Jo Kondo, scheduled to be released this year on Mr. Zukofsky’s record label, CP2. Mr. Zukofsky leaves no immediate survivors.”
Posted June 21, 2017
