Eight years after a fire on his family farm burned much of his upper body,
including his face and bowing arm, violin virtuoso Augustin Hadelich downplays
the accident's impact on his career.
"It obviously didn't make it any easier," he concedes in a telephone
interview. Hadelich lost a couple of years of performing during recovery, which
involved some 20 operations, but anyone would agree he's more than made up for
the time spent recuperating.
In 2003 he came to New York to study at the Juilliard School, and in 2006
Hadelich, a German who grew up in Italy, went on to sweep eight of nine special
prizes and take the gold prize in the 2006 International Violin Competition of
Indianapolis, a quadrennial event that drew 45 elite violinists from 22
countries.
Hadelich's prizes included $38,000 in cash, a recording contract and the
series of concerts and recitals that will bring him to The Victory on Saturday.
It will be his second area appearance. Last February, Hadelich played a
recital in New Harmony, Ind., as part of the Under the Beams series in the
Rapp-Owen Granary.
Saturday he'll play Ludwig van Beethoven's Violin Concerto, performing on the
late Josef Gingold's 1683 Stradivarius lent him for four years as part of his
International Violin Competition prize package.
A week later he'll make his Carnegie Hall orchestral debut playing Johannes
Brahms' Double Concerto under Miguel Harth-Bedoya, with cellist Alban Gerhardt
and the Fort Worth Symphony. "I'm very excited," he says.
Hadelich has made several recordings, he is booked three weekends a month and
he's received press coverage across the nation and abroad for the award and for
the concerts awarded as part of the gold prize.
For Hadelich, they're high points in a career he spent most of his life
preparing for. It began when he was just 5, learning the violin from his father.
By the time he was 12, he'd toured Europe and was playing with the Lucerne
Festival Strings.
By that point, he knew he wanted to make his life as a violin soloist. "It
seemed obvious," he says. "The answer was already there."
At 15 his future didn't seem so certain, however, when a farm accident left
him badly burned. He didn't think much about how it might affect his career at
the time, he says.
"It was a life-threatening situation. As important as the violin is, there
are times when there are other priorities."
Once he was well enough to think about playing again, "I was worried at
first," he says, "but then when I tried to play, I realized it wouldn't be any
more difficult. It was more of a cosmetic injury, in the end."
He proved that beyond a doubt at the International Violin Competition of
Indianapolis, wowing judges, critics and audiences alike in the 17-day
event.
"It was a very big deal for me to win that competition," he says. "It really
gave my career a big push."
One of the best things about the win was that it meant he could put contests
behind him and focus on building his career as a violin soloist. "It is very
stressful, when you're playing to win competitions, going from competition to
competition. It's not very good for your playing, either."
Hadelich relishes the opportunity to play the Beethoven Concerto in The
Victory.
"It's one of the pieces I play most often, this season at least. I think it's
one of the greatest concertos. It's very rewarding to play."
He'll talk about the music at 7 p.m. Saturday, in The Victory, in a Concert
Conversation with Alfred Savia, the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra's music
director and conductor.
The pre-concert talk is open to anyone with a ticket for Saturday's
performance.
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2008/jan/17/accident-didnt-stop-violinists-rise-to-top-of/
