Fredell Lack

Edit links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Fredell Lack
Born(1922-02-19)February 19, 1922
Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.
DiedAugust 20, 2017(2017-08-20) (aged 95)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
GenresClassical
Occupation(s)Musician, music teacher
Instrument(s)Violin

Fredell Lack (February 19, 1922 – August 20, 2017) was an American violinist. Noted as a concert soloist, recording artist, chamber musician, and teacher, she was the C. W. Moores Distinguished Professor of Violin at the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston in Houston, Texas.

Early life and musical training

Fredell Lack was born in

St. Louis Symphony. Subsequently she received a full scholarship to the Juilliard School in New York. She continued studying violin with Persinger there and also was deeply influenced by her study of chamber music with Felix Salmond
. She received the Diploma from Juilliard at age 21.

Career

Fredell Lack had a long-lasting career during which she made dozens of concert tours worldwide, including more than twenty to Europe alone. She soloed with the orchestras of

Hallé Orchestra, and others. With the RIAS Orchestra, Lack performed the European premieres of the Menotti Violin Concerto and the Bernstein Serenade.[3]
She also made a number of recordings (see "Selected discography" below).

Lack made her New York recital debut in 1943 at

Dohnányi, and pieces by Shostakovich, Poulenc, Ysaÿe, and Wieniawski. She commenced artistic study with Ivan Galamian, widely regarded among violinists as the greatest pedagogical influence of the latter half of the twentieth century. She performed frequently in master classes with the Romanian violinist George Enescu, and often traveled to Boston to play new works for the composition studio of Nadia Boulanger
.

In 1947, Lack was selected to be the first concertmaster of the prestigious

Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels
, Belgium. Despite the fact that both American finalists were given scores of 0 by the Soviet judge in the final round, Fredell Lack came away with a bronze medal and the Prize of Liège.

Also in 1951, Lack moved to Houston, Texas, where her husband had been offered a professorship. About a year later, she suffered what could have been a major setback to her career when a dog bit off the tip of the little finger of her left hand. However, following a year of focused rehabilitation and relearning of technique, she was able to continue performing.

Lack and three principal string players from the Houston Symphony formed the Lyric Art Quartet in 1955 and began several chamber music series around Houston. She began a highly successful Young Audiences program in Houston, which brings classical music to schoolchildren. In 1979, that organization gave to Lack its first in an annual series of awards, and the honor was thenceforth named the "Fredell Lack Award."

In 1959, Fredell Lack began teaching violin at the University of Houston, where she remained on the faculty for 50 years before retiring in 2009. She was the 1982–83 recipient of the Esther Farfel Award, given by colleagues to a single University of Houston faculty member each year. The Texas Music Teachers Association awarded her the Outstanding Teaching Achievement Award (Collegiate), a statewide distinction, in 1990. In 1997, the University of Houston Moores School of Music presented Lack with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2007, TexASTA, the Texas division of the American String Teachers Association, presented Lack with the Phyllis Young Outstanding Studio Teacher of the Year Award. Lack also maintained a private studio outside the school.

A great many of her students have gone on to musical careers as professional performers and teachers, and a number have become successful solo concert artists. One of Lack's former students,

New England Conservatory’s Contemporary Improvisation department and lead singer and violinist of the Klezmer Conservatory Band (KCB). Brett Deubner, David Mazzeo, Pálína Árnadóttir, Joyce Hammann, Mariko Inaba, Anabel Ramirez, Gloria Justen, Sharman Plesner, William Pu, Gregory Ewer, Beverly Shin, Maurice Sklar, Martin Valdeschack, Chuong Vu, and Zuo Jun are among other Lack students who have had successful concert careers. Lack also taught numerous sessions at the Meadowmount School of Music, an annual summer program in Upstate New York
that was founded and for many years was directed by Lack's former mentor Ivan Galamian.

During her performing career, Fredell Lack played the "Baron Deurbroucq" violin, made in 1727 by Antonio Stradivari. Her bow was crafted by François Tourte.

Personal

Fredell Lack was married to Ralph Eichhorn, a gastroenterologist, from 1947 until his death in 2014.[4] She did not use her married name, Eichhorn, professionally. Lack had a daughter, a son, and several grandchildren. She was an active advocate for animal welfare.

She died in Houston on August 20, 2017, aged 95.[5]

Selected discography

References

  1. ^ "Obituary: Fredell Lack, 19 February 1922 - 20 August 2017".
  2. ^ It Happened in Texas: Josephine Boudreaux at the Houston Symphony by Sherry Cheng. Arts and Culture Texas, 9 Jan 2019. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
  3. ^ "An American in Vienna" by Tanya Tintner. The Record Collector, Winter 2012, p. 39. Retrieved 2017-10-29.
  4. ^ Ralph Eichhorn death notice. Houston Chronicle, 29 Apr 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  5. ^ violinist.com. Retrieved August 25, 2017
  6. ^ Orchestral Music: Albany Records

Sources

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fredell_Lack&oldid=1220509080"