Tel-Hai International Piano Master Classes

The Master Class will take place between August 4-16, 2024
at the Lin & Ted Arison Israel Conservatory of Music, Tel Aviv

Professor Jonathan Zak (1932 - 2024)

Tel Hai community deeply mourns the passing of Professor Jonathan Zak, among the artistic pillars of the Masterclasses for many years.

With enthusiasm, profound knowledge and great skill he conducted the Art-Song workshop year in and year out, implanting in young pianists the understanding and appreciation of the unique connection between the poetic content, human voice and the piano in this fascinating repertoire.

The concluding concerts of Art-Song Workshop -- among the joyous events every year -- would bring out in the young pianists qualities of sensitive music-making, sometimes less obvious on other occasions.

The memory of Jonathan Zak -- a great musician, charismatic teacher and charming human being -- is to stay with us forever.

Dmitri Bashkirov (1931-2021)

“In my pedagogic life, there have been perhaps hundreds of master classes, yet one of the very best ones, giving me most joy, where my soul rests, where I open up to people and people open up to me – this is the atmosphere of Tel Hai. …I wish to say that in my life one the happiest feelings is being here, interacting with musicians, interacting with young students, and all the atmosphere in which this festival exists. May God grand – really, that God would grant – this festival a long life and a fruitful one, that this atmosphere does not disappear, does not become substituted by practical, business-like relationships. May this genuine involvement with music remain in all whom I met here.” Dmitri Bashkirov, August 2019, Sde Boker, Israel

Among the greatest, globally celebrated pianists and pedagogues of the second half of 20th century and first quarter of 21st, Dmitri Alexandrovich Bashkirov (1931 – 2021) was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, where he studied piano with Anastasia Virsaladze, moving later to Moscow to work with the famous pianist and pedagogue Alexander Goldenweiser at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory. After winning the Grand Prix at the Marguerite Long competition in Paris, he established himself as one of the most outstanding Russian pianists.

Dmitri Bashkirov has performed with leading orchestras: the Chicago Symphony, Cleveland, San Francisco, the Israel Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, the Vienna Symphony, l’Orchestre de Paris, St. Petersburg, the Gewandhaus, under conductors John Barbirolli, Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Wolfgang Sawallish, George Szell, Kurt Masur, Kurt Sanderling, Carlo Zecchi, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Vladimir Ashkenazy, among others. He has played at the Vienna, Dubrovnik, Helsinki, Toulouse, Santander, Berlin, Lüdwigsburg, Granada festivals.

In 1957, Bashkirov began teaching at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory as a 26- year-old assistant to Prof. Goldenweiser, thus jump-starting an auspicious pedagogic career, an activity he loved and was dedicated to with all his heart till last breath. In addition to the Moscow Conservatory, he served as a Titular Professor at Escuela Superior de Reina Sofia in Madrid from its inception and at the International Piano Foundation at Lake Como, Italy. A widely sought-after mentor, he taught master-classes at the Conservatoire Superieur National in Paris, Sibelius Music Academy in Helsinki, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Gilmore Festival and Oberlin College in USA, Santander Festival in Spain. Dmitri Alexeev, Arcadi Volodos, Nikolai Demidenko, Kirill Gerstein, Claudio Matinez Mehner, Denis Kozhukhin, Eldar Nebolsin, Stanislav Ioudenitch – are just a few of his acclaimed students. (Remarkably, Bashkirov’s passion for teaching infected many of them, presently nurturing the next generation of piano virtuosi at leading conservatories in the US and Europe.)

Bashkirov judged prestigious international piano competitions, including the Arthur Rubinstein in Tel Aviv (1992 and 1998), Leeds, Tchaikovsky, Maj Lind in Helsinki, Santander among numerous others. He taught at Tel Hai for fifteen consecutive summers. An admired and beloved master and colleague, he returned love and affection generously. Not even amidst most crowded schedule of summer festivals, master classes and competitions would he consider skipping Tel Hai, in his words “one of the best [master classes], giving me most joy, where my soul rests, where I open up to people and people open up to me”.

Here is a short heart-warming moment with Prof. Bashkirov, recorded a few years ago at our summer Master Classes.

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