Miriam Fried has her Stradivarius always at hand, whether she's traveling the world or teaching in her School of Music studio. Near the window, lying in an open case, is a 1718 Stradivarius. In the eighteenth century, the instrument was owned by composer Louis Spohr and also by a woman, the Italian virtuoso Regina Strinasacchi. But in Fried's modest presence, even this icon of classical music seems less charged with mystique and more like a cherished working companion. Fried, a professor of violin at the IU School of Music in Bloomington since 1986, dispels mystiques, including the idea that classical music belongs only to the realm of the intellectual elite.
Musical performance is a form of communication.
It cuts straight to emotions, where we are all the same. Of course, music has an intellectual component. But if you play, and the person listening to you does not receive the emotional content, you haven't touched them. I believe that music has the ability to give happiness and peace to everyone in this world. And I feel forever sorry and saddened that this is happening less and less.