Violin Resources – A Performing, Learning, Artistic, and Teaching Web Resource and Platform for Violinists and Musicians, By Orion Music and Arts, Cambridge, MA, est. 2023

Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999), American-born, British violinist, cultural ambassador, and educator

Yehudi Menuhin (far left), here pictured with Stephan Grappelli (far right)

The great American-born British violinist Yehudi Menuhin is widely known as one of the most outstandingly brilliant violinists of the 20th century. A pathbreaking musician, Menuhin is often as widely known for his musical and cultural legacy as much as his great musical work. 

Making a concert debut at the age of 7, Menuhin was both an astoundingly musical violinist as well as a child prodigy whose soon and subsequent debuts with the San Francisco Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, and the Berlin Philharmonic would feature dazzlingly lengthy and complex works from Lalo’s Symphony Espagnole to the Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms violin concertos all in a row. 

In addition to performing for Allied troops in the Second World War alongside the great British pianist and composer Benjamin Britten, Menuhin was also a champion of new and contemporary music of the 20th century, from performing, recording, and popularizing the musical works of Edward Elgar and Benjamin Britten – he performed and recorded the Elgar violin concerto with the former at the helm – to works like Bela Bartok’s solo violin sonata and Walton’s violin and piano sonata, which he also commissioned. Further as contribution and living legacy to all violinists moving forward, he commissioned, for his 80th birthday, no less than 40 works of contemporary composers from Bloch to Panufaik, Walton, Walton, and Williamson, to name a few, and as part of an 80th birthday tribute, in a groundbreaking concert held also at Avery Fisher Hall. Further to this, Menuhin is known also for intercultural work at the very edge of genre with renowned jazz musician Stephan Grappelli and classical Indian musician Ravi Shankar, respectively; endeavours which further paved the way for a greater awareness of music of all disciplines, as well as a higher degree of rapport between difference forms of the arts.

Menhuin used recordings, performances, performance opportunities, commissions, and all manner of repertoire – new, classical, and multi-cultural – to teach and to bring his vision of  peace, harmony, progress, and a kind of visionary music to the world. 

For more on Menuhin’s music, as well as purchases regarding these performances, and compositional commissions, please contact us using the contact form.

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