UW CONCERT HONORS FAMED VIOLINIST AND TEACHER MANOOGIAN
By Gayle Worland
Wisconsin State Journal, WI
Oct 29 2007
Vartan Manoogian was a violinist who left his mark throughout the
world. Born in Baghdad of Armenian parents, he enrolled at the Paris
Conservatory at age 16 and earned his masters at the Juilliard
School before developing a broad reputation in Europe, in part
as the concertmaster of L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. At one
point in his career, he was sent by the U.S. State Department on a
performance tour of nine South American countries. But for the better
part of 27 years, Manoogian also planted his luggage in Madison and
opened his violin case in the teaching studios of the UW School of
Music. From 1980 until his July 12 death in Spain from pneumonia,
Manoogian, 71, taught hundreds of students, setting them off on
their own international lives in performance and academics. On
Thursday, Manoogian will be remembered, aptly, with music. A free
public concert at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall is expected to draw fans,
friends, faculty and former students. One, Manuel Guillen will be
the featured soloist in the world premiere of "Concierto Americano,"
written by renowned Spanish composer Zulema de la Cruz. De la Cruz
has woven themes from Armenian folk songs into the second movement
of her concerto as a salute to the late violinist’s heritage. Both
the piece and soloist were booked for Mills Hall last spring, but
the performance has since been dedicated to Manoogian. "He was an
outstanding musician, and he passed this on to his students," says
James Smith, who will conduct the 25-student Philomusica string
ensemble for the concert. "The violin was his musical voice. His
inner musicianship spoke through the violin." Manoogian’s son Avedis,
a Minneapolis-based pianist, also will join Guillen in a performance
of Debussy’s "Sonata for Violin and Piano." Other former students
are expected to join the Philomusica in the concert’s final piece,
Dvorak’s "Serenade for Strings in E Major." Guillen, who performs on
a 1767 T. Carcassi violin, studied with Manoogian at UW-Madison and
today is concertmaster/conductor of Camerata of Madrid and violin
professor at Madrid’s Royal Superior Conservatory of Music. Composer
de la Cruz is professor of electroacoustic composition at the Royal
Superior Conservatory of Music in Madrid, where she is director
of the conservatory’s computer music laboratory. Manoogian, also
artistic director of the Madeline Island Music Camp near Bayfield,
was known for non-traditional collaborations; in 1997 he performed
the finale of the Mendelssohn violin concerto with the Varsity Band
directed by Michael Leckrone at the "Farewell to the Field House"
concert. At the time of his death, he was in the process of creating
a multi-track recording of Henk Bading’s "Trio-Cosmos," comprised of
16 suites for three violins. Manoogian’s wife of 40 years, Brigitte,
still lives in Madison. His "international stature" helped draw top
students to the university, says Janet Jensen, associate director of
the School of Music. "He was very direct and incisive," she says, but
always "put students first. That was part of his artistry," she says.
That, "and his love of the violin."
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